Prior to the racetracks and casinos, the Tribal games were more akin to electronic bingo in which prizes came from a pooled prize fund (seeds) that were added to the pool of possible results. Prior to that (and still today) Tribal Casinos had been authorized via compacts with the state allowing for table games as well as Class II games with a minimum return percentage of 92%.
New York State is one of the more gambling-liberal states out there having legalized VLT’s at racetracks and creating commercial casinos in recent years.
Short Summary: This page looks at the different forms of gambling in the State of New York, discusses the legality of online gambling and gives a detailed listing of all of the Commercial and Tribal casinos in the state.