Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City): Oklahoma City firm seeks to build gaming machines in state

The pot's getting bigger for gaming companies in Oklahoma since the passage of new gambling laws in November.

Oklahoma City-based Video Gaming Technologies is pushing for legislation that would allow the company to manufacture and store its electronic gaming machines in Oklahoma instead of shuffling them from out of state, for example. And Sodak Gaming, one of the nation's largest distributors of gaming equipment, recently opened a successful service center in Broken Arrow.

This is where the market is, VGT spokesman Aaron Rubin said. We just can't build them fast enough.

When he started working for VGT in 2002, the company had about 800 games in Oklahoma, Rubin said. Now the company is fielding orders that will shortly boost that number more than 7,000 - but only if legislation is passed this session to let the company keep up with demand.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 divides gambling into three classes subject to different regulations: Class 1, primarily social gaming, is left to the jurisdiction of Indian tribes. Class 2 games include bingo and a few others such as pull-tab cards and punchboards, which may be conducted under tribal ordinances approved by the federal commission. Class 3 consists of everything else - slot and video machines, for example, and card table games such as blackjack and poker. Class 3 games are allowed only if the federal commission approves the tribal ordinance and the tribe negotiates a compact with a state with the approval of the secretary of the interior.

Under a state law passed in November by voters with 60 percent approval, tribes are allowed access to some Class 3 gaming. For example, the casinos can offer faster electronic machine games such as video poker, and card games as long as the players compete only against each other and not a house-banked pot. Three of the state's racetracks also are allowed a limited number of electronic games.

Sodak opened its 11,500-square-foot service center because of those new opportunities, said Mike Wilkinson of Jordan Associates, the Oklahoma City public relations company representing Sodak. Sodak is the distribution division of IGT Inc., which produces the popular bingo derivative game, Wheel of Fortune. The Broken Arrow center provides showroom and training facilities.

However, the new law didn't change a particularly bothersome detail for VGT's business in Oklahoma, Rubin said.

Under a strict reading of Oklahoma law, even the mere possession of those games is a felony, Rubin said. So they can't even be warehoused within state lines. Some people have been playing fast and loose with the law, figuring they were probably safe from prosecution for minor infractions. But that's no way to run a major corporation.

Senate Bill 556 authored by Sen. Frank Shurden would fix that, Rubin said. VGT has been operating out of a 2,500-square-foot building near Tulsa on land held by the Creek tribe. If the law is passed, VGT already has a larger building planned so that the company can manufacture and warehouse its product without convoluted, intrastate shipping schedules.

This legislation does absolutely nothing to expand gaming in Oklahoma; it just gives us an opportunity to increase our revenue operations, he said.

The legislation also would lift restrictions on gaming trade shows. Brian Foster, chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association, said he had to work closely with the district attorney's office and the federal government last year to ensure none of the attendees would be arrested for showing their machines in Oklahoma City in November.

That show attracted about 250 vendors and 3,000 visitors. Similar trade shows in other states can draw twice that number of people because they're not worried about legal problems, Foster said.

We could bid on trade shows that are going now to Albuquerque or San Diego, he said. That would be a big benefit to state tourism.