U.S. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney recently announced Class III gaming compacts were approved between 13 tribes and the state of Oklahoma, allowing roulette, craps and similar games to be offered at tribal casinos. The notices of approval were published in the Federal Register. The first agreements will expire in 2020.
Many Oklahoma casinos already offered a form of roulette and craps but the outcomes were based on the use of playing cards. The new law will allow electronic roulette and dice games to use outcomes based on a ball or dice.
The Cherokee Nation held a ceremonial roll of the dice at its Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa. Senior Director of Corporate Gaming Mickey Ward said,
“We never really had a clear idea of what the implementation date was going to be until the week of. So we put a lot of teasers out there to the public that this was coming, getting them excited.”
Ward added, “The biggest thing is that it now allows us to offer the products that they’re used to seeing in the traditional commercial gaming market. So dollars that we would normally see leave the state of Oklahoma, they now can stay within the state.”
Cherokee Nation Entertainment will have seven traditional roulette and five craps tables spread across three of its casinos. The tribe built a new training site for about 50 employees. They went through dozens of hours of training to learn how to run the games.
Ball-and-dice games were authorized in Oklahoma this spring as a way to raise additional revenue for the state. State lawmakers expect the games to generate an additional $22 million in revenue for Oklahoma next year, beyond revenue tribes already share under their gaming compacts. In fiscal 2017, tribes shared $113.9 million, up 1.44 percent from the previous year.
Since voters approved Class III gaming in 2004, tribes have shared more than $1.25 billion with the state.
The Chickasaw Nation launched craps and roulette at its Winstar World Casino and Resort on August 17, and roulette at the Riverwind Casino on August 18. The Choctaw Nation also opened 10 roulette and craps tables in three casinos.
“We feel this puts tribal gaming in Oklahoma on the level playing field now with all of your traditional commercial markets. Anything that a player would want to seek in their gaming experience we can now offer here in the state,” Ward said.
Sweeney, who took over her position within the past few weeks, is the first Alaska native to serve as the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs and the second woman to hold the post in its history.
