People play high-stakes Bingo at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Conn., March 2002. (Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
It was a sunny Saturday in 1986 — 40 years ago Sunday — when the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation cut the ribbon on its first bingo hall. The hall would soon welcome busloads of eager players for its first night of shouting out numbers and declaring winners. On the prize list were cars, boats and trips to Acapulco, according to a news article from that year. The game’s organizer promised the “highest prizes in New England.”
It was a hopeful moment. One tribe member said he believed the bingo hall could help transform the reservation into a “major tourist…