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Looks Like Oklahoma Is Still a Long Way from Legal Sports Betting

Article by : Helen Dec 30, 2020

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While Maryland, South Dakota, and Louisiana all got sports betting approved by their locals at polls on November 3, Oklahoma is likely to remain left out of the industry’s legalization wave for now. As reported by Tulsa World, neither the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association nor the state authorities seem to be in a rush to have sports betting legalized for the native tribes.

“There’s no clock ticking on when this needs to get done,” said Matthew Morgan, chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association, in an interview with Tulsa World. “I guess it could come up next legislative session, but it may not,” he added, “I don’t think you’d see most tribal leaders in a hurry to get this done. It needs to be done correctly. And that’s probably going to take time.”

The governor has been supportive of negotiating with Oklahoma’s tribes in good faith to expand opportunity for all parties and remains committed to working with all Oklahomans on top ten solutions that deliver a stronger, more prosperous future for our state.

The state’s legislature, however, seems to feel left out of the discussion – and rightfully so. Gov. Stitt attempted to legalize tribal sports betting all on his own, which was found illegal by the Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier this year.

As Oklahoma Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said in a comment for Tulsa World, “The Oklahoma Supreme Court made clear … that any such change would require action by the Legislature to amend state law.” He also added, “I’ve consistently said that I think sports betting or wagering is a potential negotiating point for the state in its compact negotiations with the tribes.”

After November 3, the road was paved for more than half the U.S. – 25 states and the District of Columbia – to have legal sports betting set up by the end of 2021. It’s a snowballing trend, considering that just less than 3 years ago, sports betting was prohibited on the federal – that is until the Supreme Court cleared the way for the industry to go out of the shadows. In Oklahoma, however, things are far from nice and easy when it comes to sports betting.

Tribal casino operations, in general, were approved in the state in 2004. However, sports betting wasn’t one of the casino games allowed in the tribal casinos. In fact, it remains prohibited under state law as of now. And then there was the whole scandal with gambling compacts signed between two tribes – the Comanche and Otoe-Missouria – and Governor Kevin Stitt in 2019, which might have set back the whole progress on legalizing sports betting – tribal or not – for years to come.

After Gov. Stitt took office in 2019, he announced the gambling compacts between the tribes and the states needed to be renegotiated as they were set to expire at the end of 2019. The tribes argued that the compacts would get automatically renewed without any negotiations or additional agreements. Gov. Stitt still went on with drawing up new compacts that would bind the tribes to pay higher “exclusivity” taxes than before – but they also expanded the set of allowed activities, adding sportsbooks to the list, among other things. He did so without involving the state’s government or legislature.

The scandal got resolved after the Supreme Court of Oklahoma ruled that the state’s governor overstepped his authority by single-handedly drawing up and signing the new tribal deals in July this year. It also sided with the tribes in considering the compacts signed in 2005 and set to expire in 2019 automatically renewed. Gov. Stitt decided to go with the flow and said he wouldn’t appeal the court’s ruling.