Santa Ysabel Launching Real Money Online Poker for California Players

Online poker may come to California sooner than expected. As reported by CaliforniaOnlinePoker.com, the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel Indians could launch real money online poker in the state as soon as Monday.

Marco Valerio was the first to report on the tribe’s intentions. The tribe has already launched PrivateTable.com as a free-play online poker site but Sacramento attorney Martin Owens revealed to Valerio that real money play could start as early as Monday morning.

Valerio also posted a press release that was provided by Owen. In that release, the Santa Ysabel have chosen to rely on tribal sovereignty and the provisions from the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to offer online poker from their reservation.
According to the Press Release, “California Tribes have been actively involved in gaming in the state since the passage of Proposition 1A in 1999. The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel successfully negotiated a Tribal-State gaming compact with California in 2003 and operated the Santa Ysabel Casino from the Tribe’s reservation.

The regulatory structure implemented by the Santa Ysabel Gaming Commission is more stringent than the regulatory requirements contained in either of California’s proposed I-gaming legislative proposals currently under consideration by the California Legislature.

Spokesman Dave Vialpando was also quoted in the release, stating, “The Tribe supports the effort by the Legislature to enact interactive gambling legislation in the State, but has decided to rely on the tribal sovereignty and the provisions of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to offer I-poker from the Tribe’s reservation. Santa Ysabel Interactive currently has no plans to offer Internet-based slot machines or banked-games through its website, PrivateTable.com, but will consider offering other gaming consistent with IGRA.”

The site will only spread real money online poker to California residents 18 years of age and older. Players will be able to make deposits through the Financial Payment Network, or FinPay for short. Deposit options include credit cards, electronic checks, Bitcoin and in person at the tribe’s smoke shop.

One unique option of PrivateTable over other legal U.S. online poker sites is the ability to conduct player-to-player transfers. Transfers do come with a catch. Players must earn 3.3 Status Points for every $1 transferred in order to make a withdrawal.

Privatetable.com is powered by IG Soft, the current backend provider of the Winning Poker Network.