From Legal Poker Sites

A bill that expands gambling in the United States requires the support of groups that will operate the proposed system.  The bill sponsored by Representative Peter King (R-NY) that would regulate online gambling in the United States will be missing this key element.  Tribal gaming interests are certain to oppose this bill across the board for a number of reasons.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) was enacted by the federal government in 1988.  It settled the long standing issue of reservation casinos.  It gave states the right to enter into gaming compacts with tribes.  Reservations were given the ability to mirror existing gaming laws within a state tax free or agree upon terms that would give Native American tribes exclusivity to certain class III gaming.

Rep. King’s bill takes away some of these rights by removing the Internet as a potential platform for gambling as it pertains to the IGRA.  Tribal lobbyists are certain to see this as an issue.

About 30 states have casinos located on reservations.  Most of these casinos have some sort of exclusivity agreement on at least some forms of class III gaming.  Arizona, Connecticut, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Wyoming are examples of states where tribal gaming has a monopoly on class III gaming through compacts with the state.  Some of these reservation casinos pay high tax rates in exchange for these rights.

California, Florida, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington are examples of states that have a different agreement with tribal casinos.  These states allow expanded gambling on reservations that would otherwise be illegal on state land.  This expansion typically includes the addition of slot machines or games of chance, where commercial casinos might only be allowed to offer poker and certain other card games in these states.  There are often tax agreements negotiated on these compacts as well.

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