Oklahoma has long been synonymous with Bingo. This is owing to the fact that the American Indian bands of Oklahoma have provided Bingo sessions for ages. Patrons from all of the surrounding states load up in automobiles and travel to Oklahoma to bet on Bingo over the weekends.
The 1988 (IGRA) Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was introduced after a precedent setting determination by The U.S. Supreme Court just the prior year. From that time, twenty three of the thirty nine Native tribes located in Oklahoma have established gambling halls. The Chickasaw were the initial Oklahoma Amerindian band to take advantage of the wagering rules, and today run 10 gambling halls of their own. Bingo is the game on which the above-mentioned gambling dens were founded. computerized games like slots were not allowed, due to the fact that they are thought to contribute to gambling dependency more than bingo.
In the past few years, Oklahoma law have changed to allow for large Amerindian gambling casinos. You will now see Amerindian gambling halls with slot machine games, video poker and chemin de fer tables. Craps and roulette are not yet allowed in the American Indian casinos as of yet, although that is only a matter of time. Nobody can say with what having other casino games in the bingo parlours will do for the popularity of bingo.