bill opening oklahoma casinos to roulette dice

Tribes like the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations operated modest bingo halls in Oklahoma from the early 1990s under IGRA, the federal legislation that codified tribal gaming rights. Other forms of gambling that are legal in Oklahoma include pari-mutuel horse race betting (legalized in 1982), charitable bingo and raffles (1992), and lottery (2004).

The state has more tribal gaming venues than any other, 142, although it comes second to California by actual revenue. The type of variants we are talking about here is the kind that puts gamblers’ winnings and losses in the players’ pool.Oklahoma has a massive tribal gambling industry that's is estimated to generate over $4.5 billion in gross gaming revenue annually, according to the American Gaming Association. Roulette and craps have been illegal in Oklahoma since 2004. Also, the bill appeared to certain tribes as “being rushed” and they did not want to endanger the enactment of the roulette and craps bill (that legalizes all dice and ball games) by overly committing to sports gambling. This may be why the tribes have opted against legalization this time. Since sports-betting is a low-margin business and the only real purpose of legalizing it would be to attract more players to casinos in the hope that they would also play and wager on other games. In Oklahoma, about 60 casinos that exist in its territory are all run by 32 different tribes.

It is still not known what the reason behind halting the sports-betting provision is, but it is assumed that influential tribal operators are behind it. Making it pass would effectively allow casinos in Oklahoma to integrate a sportsbook into their offers. That particular provision was already axed by bill’s sponsor, Kevin Wallace, in March. The provision that should have made sports betting legal too was omitted, however. Last week, the state of Oklahoma made roulette games and craps legal with their tribal casinos upon signing House Bill 3375, signed and sealed by Governor Mary Fallin.

Bill opening oklahoma casinos to roulette dice