Oklahoma has 39 federally recognized Native American tribes, most of which operate gambling casinos. And in 2004 Oklahoma voters approved two state questions that created the state Education Lottery Act and an education trust fund financed from lottery proceeds.
These games of chance generate millions of dollars each year for the tribes, their citizens, for the State of Oklahoma, and for public schools.
However, the State of Oklahoma frowns on backroom gambling, as a Chinese national discovered.
Zhong Chen, also known as Chen Zhong, 56, of Oklahoma City, was indicted by the state’s 20th Multi-County Grand Jury on a charge of commercial gambling.
He was accused of operating “a gambling place” on North Classen Boulevard in Oklahoma City where he “received and recorded bets…, received earnings from that gambling place, set up for use and collected the proceeds of gambling devices” at that location, and “alone or with others owned, controlled and managed a gambling business … contrary to the provisions” of state law “and against the peace and dignity of the State of Oklahoma.”
A felony charge of commercial gambling was filed against Chen in Oklahoma County District Court on Nov. 8, 2024, and he pleaded guilty on March 5, 2025.
He admitted that on Sept. 12, 2024, “I participated in operating a small room with gambling devices where people would come and gamble.” He acknowledged that he is not a Native American and does not have “a valid license to gamble.”
District Judge Cindy Truong gave Chen a seven-year deferred prison sentence and he paid $10,479 in f ines, fees and assessments, court records reflect.
Oklahoma’s law which decrees that commercial gambling is a felony crime was enacted in 1975 and amended in 1997 and 1999.
A website called “500 Nations” reports that Oklahoma currently has 33 tribes operating 143 Indian casinos and gaming centers in 50 Oklahoma counties. Those gambling locations include Class III casinos with Vegas-style gambling, Class II casinos with no-banker electronic gaming, travel plazas with slot machines, and Native American smoke shops with games such as pull tabs.
Oklahoma “has more Indian casinos than any other state in the nation,” and “Indian gaming is the state’s second largest industry,” 500 Nations
claims.