Iipay Online Bingo Site Struck Down by US District Court

December 23, 2014 by

Iipay Online Bingo SiteWhen it comes to online gambling law in the United States, things are tricky at best. We recently reported on news that the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel was putting together an online gambling site. Recently, the Iipay online bingo site has been struck down by a ruling in the US District Court. This came after the state of California asked for a temporary restraining order that would stop the site from offering its services to Californians until an official decision could be made. This was granted, and it lead to the site being struck down.

Why Was the Iipay Online Bingo Site Stopped?

The heart of the matter has to do with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s definition of bingo according to different classes of games. Bingo is typically considered a class II game as determined by the act. However, the court has ruled that when that’s being played online that it becomes a facsimile of bingo which makes it a class III game. The difference in classes is that they’re allowed to run class II games while they are not allowed to run class III games. A number of industry experts believe this is a bit of a cheap move on the behalf of the state of California.

Problems With the Ruling

There are some major problems that could come with this ruling. One of the problems is that it essentially stops the Iipay Nation and other tribes from offering online games that fall well within what’s defined as being allowed by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s definitions. Another problem is that it kind of means there’s no point in having class II bingo games if they’re just going to be called class III games when they’re played electronically.

This move was a big loss for players in the state of California because it could have turned out to be a really great addition to their lineup. There may be appeals coming in the future, but we’ll have to wait to see what happens.

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