Key Takeaways
Victor Rocha is a member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. Victor also created and runs Pechanga.Net. Chances are if you are reading this blog you are familiar with the news aggregating website. Victor created Pechanga.Net 17 years ago and has been operating it ever since.
Victor Rocha grew up in San Bernardino and was a music junkie. He spent the first few decades of his life working in the music industry. After spending some time on the East Coast, he moved back home. He was trying to figure out “what was next” after his musician days.
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Around that time, the Pechanga Band was getting into the gaming industry. After some rapid growth, Pechanga and other tribes were battling the state of California, which was trying to impose unfavorable gaming compacts on the tribes. The tribes used the state’s referendum process and took Proposition 5 to the voters in 1998. Proposition 5 passed overwhelmingly (in favor of tribes), with 64 percent of the voters supporting it.
Victor Rocha found himself at the center of information regarding the ballot initiative. The Chairman of Pechanga, Mark Maccarro, was a leading public voice for the tribes during the debate of Proposition 5. And Victor decided that he would create a website where he collected and shared information with the tribes regarding the proposition. He decided to call the website pechanga.net. California tribes found the resource valuable. After the election, someone told Victor “That website was useful! I guess we don’t need it anymore.” But in Victor’s mind, this was only the beginning.
In Pechanga.net, Victor found his calling. He realized the potential for the website. It was his way of giving back to Indian Country. Pechanga.net could be used to empower tribes to organize for political and legal purposes around information that was aggregated through his website. In 2015 this may not seem like a revolutionary idea. But Victor did it in 1998. Before Huffington Post and others. Victor estimates that only the Drudge Report was created before Pechanga.net.
Because Victor updates the site daily (at 3AM!!) the information provided through Pechanga.net was in inboxes and online as journalists, politicians and others went to work. It was when others realized he was a valuable source of information that he became not only an aggregator of information but a source of information in his own right. Before long he was being asked not only about tribal gaming but about gaming. Period.
Victor has received numerous awards and accolades for his work with Pechanga.net. He still loves the work and the service he created. I really came away from the conversation amazed at how it all came together. Victor started the website with a very focused purpose. It was only after running the website for a few months did he realize what he created. It was also early in the Internet age. He found himself at a unique moment in time for the ability to create what he did, and as he said he “rode the wave” of the internet.
Victor provides a ton of information and insight in this conversation. From lessons and insight regarding Pechanga.net to some brief thoughts on the gaming industry today, economic diversification and more. Be sure to listen to the episode to learn more about his journey.
