Oklahoma has for a long time been synonymous with Bingo. This is due to the fact that the Native tribes of Oklahoma have provided Bingo games for generations. Guests from each of the surrounding states load up in autos and head over to Oklahoma to bet on Bingo on the weekends.
The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) became law after a precedent setting ruling by The U.S. Supreme Court just the year prior. Since that time, twenty three of the thirty nine Native bands of Oklahoma have established gambling halls. The Chickasaw were the first Oklahoma Amerindian band to take advantage of the gambling rules, and at this time operate ten casinos of their own. Bingo was the game on which these casinos were built on. Electronic games like slot machine games were not authorized, owing to the fact that they’re believed to lead to gambling problems at a higher rate than bingo.
In the past few years, Oklahoma rules have changed to allow for big American Indian betting gambling halls. You’ll now find Amerindian casinos with one armed bandits, video poker and chemin de fer tables. Craps and roulette are still not approved in the American Indian casinos yet, but that is simply a waiting game. Nobody can say with what having other casino games in the bingo houses will do for the popularity of bingo.