Oklahoma’s growing chance for being No. 1 in anything
by Charles Biggs
While Playboy Magazine is picking the Oklahoma Sooners to be the No. 1 in football in 2008, the state of Oklahoma has the dubious distinction of being No. 1 in Indian gambling.
That’s gambling, not gaming. Gaming sounds like harmless fun while gambling sounds too harsh.
What state has the most Indian casinos? Well, there are 423 Indian casinos in America and about one-fourth - 94 - are in Oklahoma.
That makes us No. 1, thanks to Gov. Brad Henry who made legalized gambling the centerpiece of his administration.
California comes in at No. 2 with a measly 57 and Minnesota is third with 35.
Even though we have the most casinos, California (or known to some as Northern Mexico) is No. 1 with 62,732 gambling machines. We have 41,771 gambling machines in Oklahoma. And again, Minnesota has 20,935. Minnesota has a third the number of casinos we have but about half the machines.
You can see a pattern developing here - Oklahoma has a lot of casinos that don’t bring in a lot of money per unit.
California has the highest gambling revenue with about $7.7 billion a year. Connecticut is No. 2 with $2.5 billion and Arizona rounds out the top three with $2.1 billion.
Oklahoma wasn’t on the list but the revenue is more than $1 billion.
California is seeing the highest percentage of growth (27.7 percent between 2005 and 2006) in revenue while Oklahoma has a 15 percent growth rate for the same period. It is probably higher now. Arizona was growing by 13 percent.
Twelve states have commercial casinos. Twenty-eight states allow Indian casinos. Forty-two states have a lottery. Forty-three states have pari-mutuel wagering. Eleven states have racetrack casinos. Forty-seven states permit charitable gambling.
In 2006, the total take that was reported was $90 billion. Indian gambling accounted for $25.5 billion in 2006.
A breakdown of all gambling revenues in the United States shows the following:
• 36 percent commercial casinos
• 26 percent Indian casinos
• 26 percent state lotteries
• 6 percent illegal Internet gambling
• 4 percent pari-mutuel wagering
• 1 percent card rooms
• 1 percent charitable games and bingo
The source for these numbers is Focus on the Family.
I visited with a man from Texas who recently drove from Branson, Mo., to Tulsa. He made two observations. First, he was repulsed by the number of adult bookstores on the Interstate in Missouri.
Secondly, he couldn’t believe how many casinos we have in Oklahoma.
Normally, when an industry overbuilds, there are casualties. Tulsa’s race track, Fair Meadows, has had a rough couple of years but we haven’t seen any casinos go out of business.
Quite the contrary, many of the bigger casinos are getting bigger - much bigger.
Casinos don’t create a product. They just shift money from one group (gamblers) to another (casino owners).
You can make a bit of an argument that they attract tourists. There’s a casino on the border of Arkansas near Siloam Springs and some of the southern casinos draw suckers out of Texas.
But if an authentic audit were available, it would show the vast majority of the funds gambled and lost at Oklahoma casinos are from Oklahomans.
And you could make a case that the tribes are investing some of their winnings back into Oklahoma with money for education, roads, bridges, etc. Of course, the casinos pay very little in state tax, on a percentage basis, because Gov. Henry and Treasurer Scott Meacham did such a lousy job of negotiating a compact.
What will be the impact of so much gambling? How about loss of savings, loss of jobs, loss of family, bankruptcies, homelessness, robberies, mortgage foreclosures, divorce, restaurant closings, prostitution, property crimes, drunk driving - the list goes on and on.
You reap what you sow in this life. Oklahoma needs a vibrant economy that produces energy, wheat, cattle, aerospace and other tangible products.
A few years ago it was reported that marijuana was the No. 1 cash crop in Oklahoma. Add the distinction of being No. 1 in Indian gambling to that list.
• A Norwegian took a trip to Fargo, North Dakota. While in a bar, a guy on the next stool spoke to the Norwegian in a friendly manner.
“Look,” he said, “let’s have a little game. I’ll ask you a riddle. If you can answer it, I’ll buy you a drink. If you can’t then you buy me one. Okay?”
“Ja, dat sounds purty good,” said the Norwegian.
The guy said, “My father and mother had one child. It wasn’t my brother. It wasn’t my sister. Who was it?”
The Norwegian scratched his head and finally said, “I give up. Who vas it?”
“It was ME,” chortled the guy. So the Norwegian paid for the drinks. Back in Sioux Falls the Norwegian went into the bar and spotted one of his cronies.
“Sven,” he said, “I got a game. If you can answer a question, I’ll buy you a drink. If you can’t, you have to buy me vun. Fair enough?” “Fair enough,” said Sven.
“Okay,” the Norwegian said, “my father and mudder had vun child. It vasn’t my brudder. It vasn’t my sister. Who vas it?”
“Search me,” said Sven. “I give up, who vas it?”
The Norwegian burst out, “It vas some guy up in Fargo, North Dakota!”
• A redneck wanted to learn how to sky dive. He got an instructor and started lessons. The instructor told the redneck to jump out of the plane and pull his rip cord.
The instructor then explained that he himself would jump out right behind him so that they would go down together. The redneck understood and was ready.
The time came to have the redneck jump from the air plane. The instructor reminded the redneck that he would be right behind him. The redneck proceeded to jump from the plane and after being in the air for a few seconds pulled the rip cord.
The instructor followed by jumping from the plane. The instructor pulled his rip cord but the parachute did not open. The instructor, frantically trying to get his parachute open, darted past the redneck.
The redneck, seeing this, yelled as he undid the straps to his parachute, “So you wanna race, eh?”
• The telephone rings in the principal’s office at a school.
“Hello, this is Burbank Elementary,” answers the principal.
“Hi. Jimmy won’t be able to come to school all next week,” replies the voice.
“Well, what seems to be the problem with him?”
“We are all going on a family vacation,” says the voice, “I hope it is all right.”
“I guess that would be fine,” says the principal. “May I ask who is calling?”
“Sure. This is my father!”