Why only Indian Casinos in Oklahoma?

[Keyser328]

I use to work for a Class II slot vendor then a local tribal casino. If I recall, it is all about classifications and sovereignty, as mentioned before. OK doesn't allow gambling (outside the federal, lotto version), thus there are no private casinos. The tribes have sovereign land, which is outside of the state's jurisdiction. I believe the tribes had to negotiate with the fed (again, this is rough memory, so anyone feel free to correct me) and were given Class II licensing, which is "bingo only". Early on, this was the only form of gambling that was available.

At some point, some industrious people figured out how to play bingo and make it look like a slot machine, thus the creation of tribal Class II slots. I want to say there are a couple of different kinds of Class II gaming as well, but the details are fuzzy after a few years. Either way, I know OK tribes have been able to update/alter their classification status to allow cards and such, but that happened about the time I left that industry and I haven't looked back.

Other random info, the famous Vegas gaming is Class III, which allows pretty much anything.



As the guy that use to load the percentage payout tables and such on the slot machines, I can say without a doubt - the house always wins.

 

[JustPlainStrange]

I read an article where Foxwoods Casino (N.E. part of the U.S...not sure what state) was losing money or profits. So, what did they do? As a tribal casino applied for federal money to help revive their casino. Hmmm, federal money . Could any casino in Vegas apply for a federal bailout? Don't think so....free enterprise/free market is slapped on them.

**Don't get me wrong. Oklahoma tribes..or the majority of them have needed a financial boost. The lucky ones had oil and gas royality**

I just wish...here we go again..Oklahoma would have opened the pathway for ALL casinos. Do it CORRECTLY OR NOT AT ALL.

Heck, Texas refuses to allow casinos!! Those Texans are spending their money where?? Yep, Oklahoma and Louisana.

Just one of those questions about Oklahoma that makes you wonder...hmmm.

Texas does have Indian casinos. They can build whatever they want, as long as it's on their land.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

I don't know, man. I've spent my fair share of time (and EARNED money) in casinos across our state. In keeping up with the gambling trend, I'd wager money on quite a few of the casino's dollars coming from direct and indirect Government-issued individual handouts.

[not so] Funny story, my wife works for DHS (one of the good, honest divisions that never receives media coverage but gets labeled as evil and corrupt since they still fall under the DHS umbrella) and she's told me about individuals in her office receiving non-earned pay and then going outside to bum rides to Remington Park. As a reminder, my wife is the "Obama is the PERFECT president!" type liberal, so she's not one to usually bash social welfare programs or recipients, so I don't doubt her story.

How do you get along?

 

[SoonerP226]

As the guy that use to load the percentage payout tables and such on the slot machines, I can say without a doubt - the house always wins.

Years ago, I read Harry Anderson's Games You Can't Lose: A Guide For Suckers, and he explained the odds/chances of the games in a casino, and they're all in the house's favor--and only craps and blackjack are anywhere close to even. He did say that you should never play the slots at the airport, as they're set to the legal minimum payout; the casino payouts are set higher because the casinos want you to keep spending your money...

As for gambling in Oklahoma, if it weren't for tribal sovereignty, we wouldn't have it at all, and don't look for it to be allowed anytime soon. If the Democrats wouldn't allow it while they held the state gov't, what makes you think the Republicans will?

 

[bettingpython]

I use to work for a Class II slot vendor then a local tribal casino. If I recall, it is all about classifications and sovereignty, as mentioned before. OK doesn't allow gambling (outside the federal, lotto version), thus there are no private casinos. The tribes have sovereign land, which is outside of the state's jurisdiction. I believe the tribes had to negotiate with the fed (again, this is rough memory, so anyone feel free to correct me) and were given Class II licensing, which is "bingo only". Early on, this was the only form of gambling that was available.

At some point, some industrious people figured out how to play bingo and make it look like a slot machine, thus the creation of tribal Class II slots. I want to say there are a couple of different kinds of Class II gaming as well, but the details are fuzzy after a few years. Either way, I know OK tribes have been able to update/alter their classification status to allow cards and such, but that happened about the time I left that industry and I haven't looked back.

Other random info, the famous Vegas gaming is Class III, which allows pretty much anything.



As the guy that use to load the percentage payout tables and such on the slot machines, I can say without a doubt - the house always wins.

Friend of mine was gaming commission inspector for the Cherokees for a while and I worked for VGT for a time.

Indian gaming is restricted to class 2 the Oklahoma compact was based on the Colorado compact, we are actually now what has been referred to as class 2.5, Class 3 is true random chance vegas style. At 2.5 we can have tournament poker and tournament blackjack where players play each other and a portion of the ante goes to the house, but we can't have real blackjack or roulette because they are considered games of chance rather than skill.

As for the Hard Rock name the Seminole tribe of Florida actually bought the Hard Rock Cafe brand Hard Rock is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Seminole tribe.

The payout on the machines is actually quite generous the reason the house wins is no one is smart enough to quit while ahead, VGT popped at a 92% average but lets face it 8% of a billion is no small change. I had to do trend analysis on all the machines I serviced and if the percentage was substantially different they had to look at the individual machine as well as the coding on the bingo server that the machine was receiving it's ball drop from.

You have to have a minimum of 2 people on any single bingo server node to run the "slot" machine because bingo takes a minimum of 2 people to play.

 

[uncle money bags]

We dont have them because the politicians have not figured out a way to sell it to the voters as our only chance to save the schools.

Buy your lotto ticket now and support our schools!

 

[Cohiba]

Hey JustPlainStrange,
The last I heard(when I lived in Houston) Texas was saying no to tirbes along the Texas/Louisana border. If I remember correctly...I thought Texas shut down a few indian casinos.
I know a couple of years ago, I did an environmental job in El Paso and the closest casinos were in New Mexico.

 

[TedKennedy]

It's just like the Indian smoke shops - originally they were shut down by the state, good old Feds said tribes were sovereign. The whole deal stinks real bad.

 

[Danny Tanner]

Hey JustPlainStrange,
The last I heard(when I lived in Houston) Texas was saying no to tirbes along the Texas/Louisana border. If I remember correctly...I thought Texas shut down a few indian casinos.
I know a couple of years ago, I did an environmental job in El Paso and the closest casinos were in New Mexico.

I was also under the impression that Texas allowed no casinos within their borders, except possibly on water. Isn't that why Winstar is situated right on the OK|TX border? If you've ever been there, take notice of the license plates in the parking lot. I'd say at least 7 out of every 10 plates is a Texas plate.

Of course they have porn on their side. The grass is always greener, eh?

 

[BikerHT]

Kill whitey!

I thought we wanted to Free Whitey?!

... my wife is the "Obama is the PERFECT president!"

Prayers sent!