Gambling in Arizona
The state of Arizona actually shares a birthday with Valentine’s Day, as the state became official on February 14th, 1912. The state is on the larger side with over 114,000 square miles and is the 48th state to join the United States with a large population of over 6.553 million.
The state is known for cotton, dairy products, hay and cattle in terms of its agricultural attributes, but also as the Grand Canyon state. There are tons of different fun things about the state including several different casinos to help beat the heat on scorching hot days.
Gambling History and Scenario
Currently, Arizona has 23 casinos, but the facts that lead to this situation are rather unique and involved an armed standoff between the FBI and the casino supporters.
The boom in the casino activity in Arizona, similarly to other casinos in the country outside of Las Vegas or Atlantic City, happened in the 1990s, after the 1988 Indian Regulatory Gaming Act. This act allowed the tribes to have casinos on their lands, which meant that the 22 tribes from Arizona tried to make agreements with the state to build casinos.
Surprisingly and unfortunately, several tribes went ahead with gaming venues without negotiating with the state, despite the National Indian Gaming Commission clarifications, in 1992, that each tribe needed to have an agreement to operate slots.
This dispute leads to the intervention of the FBI that seized the slot machines from several casinos. The Yavapai Indians were warned about these FBI raids, and when the FBI agents tried to seize the 300 slot machines from the Fort McDowell Casino, the tribe blocked the way with heavy machinery and vehicles.
This standoff lasted for eight hours and even had an FBI agent at the roof of the casino with a rifle. Finally, the FBI decided to leave the slot machines behind and after some weeks the tribe’s pleas about the economic impact the casino had were heard and an agreement was found with 16 of the 22 tribes of Arizona.
Today 22 tribes have signed an agreement with the state, just the Hopi tribe is out of the deal, and 16 tribes operate at least a casino, including the Desert Diamond Casinos.
In Tucson, Sahuarita, Glendale and Why, metropolitan areas of Arizona, we find a group of tribal casinos called Desert Diamond Casinos, which offer dining and entertainment, apart from gambling. Here we have hundreds of slots, table games and a lot of shopping.
These casinos are directed to the local citizens who get off work and live nearby, explaining a setting more geared for gaming, despite the existing entertainment options. The Desert Diamond are the property of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Summing up Types of Gambling Found in Arizona
Arizona has some pretty relaxed gambling laws. Players will need to be at least 21 or over to walk into a land-based casino with the intention of playing the games offered there, even if only tribal casinos are allowed.
Within the state, you will have a lottery which requires players to be at least 21 as well. Most of the states require players to just be 18 or over for lotteries so Arizona is different in that aspect. Both state and multi-state drawings are available.
You will find fifteen different cities which offer to game to players with more than 13,000 slot machines found throughout the state. In terms of charitable gaming, it’s possible to play both raffles and bingo.
Arizona also has Pari-mutuel betting for greyhounds at 21 and over and bingo halls where the age limit varies. At some places, the minimum age for bingo is 18 while at others it’s 21. You will find most of the land-based casinos in Arizona in the main metro areas like Phoenix and Tucson.
In what concerns online gambling, it’s a similar situation to what happens in most states of the country, it’s not stated if it’s legal or not, leaving the activity in a grey zone.
The residents of Arizona will not be sanctioned to play online inside the state lines, so it’s just another case where the state law hasn’t followed the evolution of gambling to the digital online days.
