Is Gambling Coming To Tulsa? Supreme Court Decision Makes It Likely

On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court rocked the country with a 5-4 decision in which they ruled that the United States had not honored their obligations to Native Americans in Oklahoma. Therefore, in essence, the case has given back the entire eastern side of the state to Native Americans.

That includes the city of Tulsa, which makes the whole thing a bit more interesting. Oklahoma long ago made gambling illegal in the entire state – except on Native American reservations. That meant there were just a few casinos, and they were hard to get to.

Now, all that has changed. With all of this land now officially in Native American hands, you can bet they will want to build casinos there. This won't happen quickly – if only because the coronavirus has put a halt to all major construction projects. But once this crisis passes,  it's almost a slam dunk that Native Americans will want to get into the physical gambling business.

A win for Tulsa

That will be a real win for the city of Tulsa, and Oklahoma as a whole. There are a lot of construction jobs involved in building casinos, especially in places where there may not be many other amenities. That means hotels, stores, and other businesses will be popping up. Plus once the casinos are up and operating they will employ hundreds if not thousands of people for years to come.

There is no guarantee the Native Americans will do this. But if what's happened in every other Native American land is any indication they will. And there won't be anything the state can do to stop them.

We believe casino gambling is coming to Oklahoma – and we salute this Native American win.