The Great Migration

For the past three years, the National Indian Gaming Commission has been seeking to implement new rules that would create a “bright line” between Class II or electronic bingo machines and Class III slot machines. Of concern to the NIGC as well as prominent members of Congress, such as Senator John McCain, is fact that game makers have used technological innovation to blur the line between such games. (If you’ve ever seen a new Class II bingo machine, you know it’s not your grandmother’s bingo – in fact, sometimes it’s hard to remember that the electronic bingo card is still there, up in the corner of the video screen.)

Aside from the merits of the perceived need for the NIGC to draw a bright line, which we’ve addressed in our regular column in Casino Lawyer magazine and will take up here in future posts, a study commissioned by the NIGC suggests that a great migration will occur in the state of Oklahoma if the proposed rules take effect. The migration will be from Class II to Class III machines, as gaming tribes undertake a shift to more lucrative slots in lieu of what the study suggests will be slower, more cumbersome bingo machines.

Intriguingly, the state will benefit if this occurs, as tribal revenue sharing would be as much as $74.5 million above the $9.3 million that tribes paid the state last year.