Oklahoma has long been synonymous with Bingo. This is because the Native bands of Oklahoma have operated Bingo sessions for generations. Guests from each of the surrounding states get in trucks and travel to Oklahoma to enjoy Bingo on the weekends.
The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) followed a landmark determination by The U.S. Supreme Court just the year prior. Since that time, twenty three of the thirty nine Amerindian bands located in Oklahoma have opened gambling halls. The Chickasaw were the 1st Oklahoma Indian tribes to take advantage of the gaming restrictions, and at this time control ten gambling halls of their very own. Bingo was the game on which the above-mentioned gambling halls were founded. Electronic games such as slot machine games were not allowed, owing to the fact that they are believed to lead to gambling addiction at a higher rate than bingo.
In the past few years, Oklahoma governing edicts has changed to allow for large American Indian betting gambling dens. You will now see Native gambling dens with slot machine games, video poker and chemin de fer tables. Craps and roulette are still not approved in the Indian gambling dens as of yet, however this is simply a matter of time. Nobody can authority what having different games in the bingo houses will do for the popularity of bingo.