Casinos and tribes have poked around at free poker play on the Internet for years.
The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians near Indio added a “play free” tab on its Fantasy Springs Resort Casino site in June 2010. That left it one mouse-click from VideoPoker.com, which offers free play or a paid membership for games that can provide prizes such as a stay in Las Vegas.
The Barona Band of Mission Indians near San Diego added a free poker play button on its casino website weeks ago.
But the new CalShark.com — funded by the California Online Poker Association that includes the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Cabazon — appears geared toward convincing California to legalize online gambling. The association has 60 members including tribes and card clubs.
“Everyone is trying to create a footprint, create a brand — so in the event it becomes legalized, you're ready to go,'' said David Quintana, a political director for the California Tribal Business Alliance. The group represents a handful of tribes with Indian casinos.
“As the state figures out how to capture revenues, it will be a much broader and more legitimate place for gaming,'' he said, noting that all major tribes in California are watching the new site.
The state attorney general's office said such websites are legal as long as they are “truly” free.
William Thompson, a decades-long gambling expert and professor emeritus at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said he senses that continuing economic problems in the U.S. have lessened opposition to Internet gambling — especially poker gaming.
“A bold move by tribes to establish Internet operations would not be challenged by the state or federal government as long as there was some revenue-sharing involved,'' he said.
“If that door is opened, then Congress could move to ‘level' the playing field and allow commercial Internet gaming — first with poker,'' he said.
“The train is coming — and (it's) not far down the track.”
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Here's why COPA's new site — a joint venture of Scientific Games Corp. and Playtech Ltd. — is considered pivotal:
Players must register, which allows the site to collect demographic information.
It's still somewhat of a beta site, so it'll work out bugs before cash can ever be exchanged.
It creates a name brand.
“Why did PartyPoker become the No. 1 site in the U.S., and the world?” Rose asked. “It happened because PartyPoker had the first site that worked well, and it had great marketing.”
While COPA will not reveal how many players have signed up, “I'm told traffic has been steady” since it launched, Morongo Band of Mission Indians Chairman Robert Martin said.
Morongo joins the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near Highland and Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians near Coachella as the largest tribal members of COPA.
Competing tribal interests say CalShark won't necessarily translate into the winning bet for COPA in California's push to legalize Internet poker.
“There is some difference of opinion on whether play- for-free sites are valuable or not — whether the loyalty transfers to a pay-to-play site,” said Howard Dickstein, a lawyer for the Pala Band of Mission Indians in San Diego County and United Auburn Indian Community in Northern California.
“Free-play sites may be a bit naive,'' he said. “I'm not sure commercially if it's going to help you.”
It may not.
Mark Hedlund, press secretary for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, said “I don't see it as having much relevance to the legislation.”
However, Steinberg is trying to find an “equitable solution” to advance online gaming legislation in California in 2012, Hedlund said.
Two pieces of legislation, proposed by state Sens. Rod Wright and Lou Correa, remained in committee when lawmakers left for the summer.
Correa, a Santa Ana Democrat, said his bill would provide the state with $1.4 billion in revenue over 10 years and create 1,300 new jobs.
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These days, tribal gaming generates about $350 million annually for California.
On Aug. 22, Steinberg said he would work on compromise legislation.
The terms aren't being revealed at this moment, Hedlund said. “We're playing our cards close to the vest.”
A wide array of free-play sites are there for the surfing.
Barona's poker site offers a $1,000 credit in play money for adult players that can be collected from a virtual cashier up to three times a day. It offers a chance to win prizes — golf, meals or hotel stays — that must be picked up at Barona Resort & Casino in San Diego.
Redeeming a hotel prize requires the winners to be over age 21, and the site advises players of IRS regulations for those with winnings valued at more than $600.
“We all know from companies like Zynga that people will play for free,'' Rose said. Zynga is the company behind online games such as Farmville.
“That's why no-purchase- necessary sweepstakes are successful — some games even require you to pay, and you can't win anything but Avatars or the prestige of claiming victory on Facebook.”
Even the URL names are getting competitive.
“I'm going to play poker, the last place I want to play poker is with a bunch of sharks,'' Quintana said.
George Forman, an attorney for Morongo, turned the analogy around.
“These sharks have no teeth because it's totally a play-for-free site,'' he said. “What better way to learn the game than to play with sharks that can't bite you.”
If there's any sting affiliated with online poker, Forman said it would be to do nothing at this point.
“A lot will depend on what happens at the federal level,'' he said.
“If this Congress adjourns without having taking action, I think there's a reasonable chance we could see some positive action on the state level in the next session of the Legislature.”
Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown, said the administration has not taken a position on online gaming.
There's a lot at stake, Dickstein said.
“There is a huge market in California. Whether state or federal legislation passes, it'll be a very significant development,'' he said.
“Whatever gets authorized should borrow heavily from jurisdictions in Europe that already have online gaming. All the regulatory questions have been vetted over the years,'' Dickstein said. “I don't think we need to rediscover the wheel.”