A Las Vegas firm’s proposal to create a nationwide “online poker” network linking American Indian casinos in several states is generating anxious, if not angry, responses from tribes and tribal associations accusing the company and its software partner of issuing misleading press releases.

Atlantis Internet Group and Cake Gaming, an international poker software company, said in a Sept. 8 press release it had entered into a partnership “to allow patrons in tribal casinos in more than 30 states to play poker online, legally and immediately.”

The release said the proposed “Tribal Gateway Network” is “backed by the legal opinion of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC),” the federal regulatory agency for the nation’s 440 tribal casinos.

Tribal leaders and consultants claim the press releases and resulting articles give the impression tribes plan to use the network to launch an interstate, Internet poker operation. But no tribe has joined the network, which would not be run on the Internet, but on virtual private networks (VPNs), dedicated communication lines linking slot and bingo machines to interstate, progressive jackpot systems.

“It’s not Internet poker,” said Michael Lombardi, chairman of the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians Tribal Gaming Commission. “It’s a dedicated line, running from one Indian reservation casino to another. We do that today. We do that with bingo and our wide-area progressive (WAP) machines. You have to be in an Indian casino to make the wager. You have to be in an Indian casino to collect winnings.

“The articles may be technically accurate, but they are misleading,” said Lombardi, who sought clarification from Eric Schalansky, director of NIGC’s regional office in Sacramento.

“He was caught completely by surprise,” Lombardi said of Schalansky. “He was stunned.”

The Atlantis/Cake announcement came as the nation’s 240 tribes and Alaska Native villages operating casinos are in often heated debate over whether to embrace congressional efforts to legalize and tax Internet gambling, oppose cyberspace wagering or limit online wagering to individual states. Many tribes fear Internet wagering would keep customers from going to casinos.

“Obviously, this has gotten a lot of attention,” a Capitol Hill lobbyist said of the Atlantis/Cake announcement.

Washington Indian Gaming Association Executive Director Ernest Stebbins said he mistakenly surmised from Atlantis releases and subsequent articles that the network involved Internet wagering and that tribes had joined the system. He called NIGC’s main office in Washington, D.C.

“The intent of the press release was to give readers the impression tribes had signed onto the deal,” Stebbins said. “The words they used gave you that impression.”

“These articles are misleading,” said David J. Qualls, chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association. “Oklahoma tribes basically invented reservation-to-reservation bingo games. As I understand the NIGC opinion that is all this type of gaming is doing.”

Lee Acebedo, executive director of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, said: “There’re a lot of gaps, a lot they didn’t say. I don’t understand what they are doing. I’m not sure what they have is valid.”

 A number of California tribes are partnering with card clubs to establish an intrastate, Internet poker website in an effort to capture some of the $30bn that is gambled internationally on the Internet, largely through offshore websites.

“The Tribal Council hasn’t had the opportunity to review this (Atlantis/Cake partnership) in detail,” said Patrick Dorinson, spokesman for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which founded the tribal/card club coalition. “But on first review it doesn’t look like something that is going to work in the long term.

“This would be a system where you would have to go to a tribal casino and jump on a computer to bet. If somebody goes out to a tribal casino (to play poker) it’s likely they’re going to go to a live table.”

Atlantis CEO Donald Bailey blamed misinterpretation of the Atlantis and Cake press releases on media coverage, largely by online gambling trade magazines and blogs. He denied trying to misrepresent his company’s partnership with Cake Gaming.

“Our release is written to the letter,” Bailey said. “We would not put anything out that was not exactly accurate. Most of our advisers are also lawyers. We do everything by the book.”

The Atlantis release uses the term “online poker,” a phrase synonymous with Internet poker. But it does not characterize the network as an Internet site. Nor does Atlantis state that tribes have signed onto the network.

News articles announcing the Atlantis/Cake partnership go a bit further.

One article on the announcement quoted an unidentified spokesman for Atlantis saying: “This revolutionary technology will allow tribal casinos to offer a form of Internet poker across state lines.”

A parttimepoker.com article began, “Tribal casinos in the United States are moving to offer interstate online poker, after an announcement that Cake Gaming has signed a licensing agreement to provide a network on Native American lands.”

Casinoscamreport.com ran a headline that read, “Indian Tribal Casinos Sign Agreement with ATIG for Legal Online Poker.” The article said the NIGC “applied for a patent” for the network. The NIGC does not issue or apply for patents.

“It (company press release) has been rewritten 100 different ways,” Bailey said.

Bailey said he conceived of the network when Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, a prohibition which went into effect this summer. The act exempts tribal governments and states enacting intrastate Internet gambling legislation.

An effort to legalize and tax Internet gambling is working its way through Congress. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-WA., on Monday said chances are better than 75 percent the House Ways and Means Committee will vote on his bill to tax Internet gambling before Congress adjourns this year. But the bill faces an uphill fight in the House and Senate. Individual states can opt out of the legislation.

Atlantis’ Tribal Gateway Network “offers an immediate and legal solution to Indian casinos nationwide, providing the largest online poker network in the U.S,” Bailey said. “This is a significant milestone… and will become an immediate economical shot in the arm for tribes and states facing deficits nationwide.”

The Atlantis/Cake partnership will focus on poker, regarded by regulators as a Class II game because, like bingo, it is bankrolled by the players, not the casino.

The Tribal Gateway Network will offer other games, including Class III, casino-style games. Manufacturers serve as the host in interstate, wide- area progressive (WAP) jackpot systems. Tribes and Atlantis would be the host in the Tribal Gateway Network.

Former NIGC Acting General Counsel Penny Coleman, in an opinion dated Sept. 24, 2009, said because the network works like a traditional WAP it is not a violation of the Internet gambling prohibition.

The network could position the tribes, Atlantis and Cake to take advantage of the legalization of Internet wagering.

“It’s actually a roadmap,” Bailey said the network. “Internet gaming in any form will eventually be here. We’re giving tribes an opportunity to take advantage of it.”

Although he’s concerned about the misperceptions generated by the Atlantis press releases and news coverage, Bailey is not discouraged, or surprised, by the brouhaha.

“We thought it might catch a lot of people by surprise,” he said.