PokerStars Responds to California Tribes

PokerStars is firing back with regard to tribal objections to it enter the California market. Eric Hollreiser, the corporate communications chief at The Rational Group has issued a public response to the California Tribal Business Alliance and several Californian tribes. Hollreiser said: "We have consistently met those standards in jurisdictions around the world, where we hold 11 licenses – more than any other company, including licenses in leading European jurisdictions such as Italy, France and Spain." "PokerStars has not, will not and need not request any changes to the California gaming regulations," Hollreiser asserts. "Most regulatory frameworks around the world leave the assessment of suitability to qualified expert regulators. The same position has been taken by the legislators in New Jersey. "The California Gambling Control Commission has a 15-year history of successful consumer protection and is more than qualified to continue to determine suitability." "The only parties seeking to change this are certain groups who want to use the Legislature to gain a competitive market advantage and to limit competition. Their efforts are not in the best interest of consumer choice or consumer protection. "These groups are misrepresenting the Unlawful Internet Enforcement Gambling Act (UIGEA) and PokerStars' past U.S. operations serving only to exclude PokerStars from the market in order to avoid what should be fair competition. "The fact is that UIGEA did not make illegal any gaming that was not already illegal before its passage. This has been confirmed by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals and by the U.S. Department of Justice (**reference below). "PokerStars operated under legal opinion that its offering of online poker did not violate U.S. law before 2006 and maintained that opinion following the passage of UIGEA."