Sports betting legalization stalls again in the Oklahoma Legislature • Oklahoma Voice

OKLAHOMA CITY – Ongoing disagreements between the governor and the state’s tribes created a difficult path forward for Republicans’ latest hopes of legalizing sports betting, a top gaming official said. 

Matthew Morgan, Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association chairman, said despite Gov. Kevin Stitt’s public push to legalize sports betting during the last session, there seemed to be little enthusiasm to make it a reality.

“Any discussion of sports betting really never left the ground after that because there was just too much posturing, too much disagreement on how the industry worked,” Morgan said. 

He also said his association, which has 25 member tribes, hasn’t seen any “real outreach” or efforts from state leadership to tribes on the subject. 

“I would also tell you, though, that from our perspective, we’ve not really seen the state Legislature or the Governor’s Office have an appetite for sports betting to date,” Morgan said.

Morgan said sports betting is a low-profit margin business, and that he thinks tribal leaders would be open to discuss a deal within the framework of their existing compacts. However, he said, the tribes are not interested in signing new compacts or taking on unnecessary economic risk. 

Republican lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully for years to legalize sports betting following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision that struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which prohibited state-sponsored sports gambling with some exceptions. 

And in November, Stitt surprised tribes and lawmakers with his own plan to legalize it.

But his proposal faced immediate pushback. Tribal leaders said Stitt never consulted them when drafting the plan. And, though it did offer tribes the exclusive right to operate in-person betting, it allowed any vendor willing to pay $500,000 for a license to operate mobile gaming.

Critics at the time said online bets made up 95% of the revenue, and noted that existing state-tribal gaming compacts granted tribes exclusive right to operate gaming.

Stitt, meanwhile, has had a contentious relationship with tribal leaders since he incorrectly contended that the existing gaming compacts didn’t auto renew in a failed attempt to renegotiate the terms.

Stitt’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Several tribal nations also declined or did not respond to requests for comment.

Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia allow a form of sports betting. 

Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, who proposed SB 1434 during the 2024 legislative session, said he is not sure why the bill did not go further. He believed his bill was “fair to every Oklahoman.”

Murdock’s legislation aligned closely with Stitt’s vision, and would have allowed anyone to offer mobile sports betting. It did not make it past the appropriations committee. 

“I think when we made the compacts on gambling, we never even looked at sports betting, and especially mobile betting on your mobile phones,” Murdock said. “This is totally new, and I think we should start over and make it fair for every Oklahoman.”

Jay Finks, Oklahoma Lottery Commission executive director, there is a lot of risk in sports betting, and the profit margins are much lower.