Exclusive: San Manuel to leave COPA
California tribe was one of the organisation's key members " has been significant investor in so-called 'low risk' venture.
The San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians will announce it is to leave the California Online Poker Association (COPA) with immediate effect eGaming Review North America has learned.
According to sources, San Manuel’s management has been investigating alternative plans to launch an online poker business outside of COPA for many months, having invested significant sums of money into the organisation without any sign of a return.
It is understood that San Manuel does not yet have concrete plans for its own online poker venture or plans to partner with a third party technology supplier.
COPA, made up of 29 tribes and 31 card clubs, was formed in 2009 with the aim of securing the passage of online poker legislation in California and to ensure its members received their fair share of the ensuing revenues.
The exit of San Manuel, one of the five biggest tribes in California and the closest tribal casino to Los Angeles, will come as a huge blow to COPA, as the tribe represented one of its biggest investors. Along with Morongo, San Manuel was responsible for much of the money invested in marketing and the launch of COPA’s own online free-play poker site, Calshark.com, totaling around US$1m.
The lack of regulation in California means both tribes are still some way off seeing a return on their investments.
Joining COPA was viewed by many smaller tribes and card clubs as a low-risk alternative to the costlier undertaking of setting up an independent online poker venture.
However as eGR NA reported earlier this month, the organisation has come under increased pressure due to a lack of regulatory progress, with several of its members tempted to set up an online poker business independently.
Aside from stalling regulation, some of COPA’s members have begun to question the organisation’s business model whereby each member would receive revenue based on how many players they direct to Calshark.com.
With competition set to be tough in California “ primarily from other tribes such as Pechanga and United Auburn Indian Community “ attracting players would be a costly exercise and leave COPA’s card rooms and tribes with a sizeable marketing bill with little returns.
Online poker legislation in California, driven by Senator Rod Wright, failed to garner enough support in the last legislative session, with a compromise between the state’s stakeholders “ namely racetracks, tribes, card rooms and politicians “ still elusive. Wright has, however, stated his intentions to introduce another bill in January.