After several unsuccessful attempts to bring retail and mobile sports betting to the Oklahoma masses, another effort has already been launched in this year’s state legislative session. However, the verdict is still out as to whether this latest bill will have any more success than the previous iterations.
Tribal Influence
Oklahoma is home to over 140 casinos operated exclusively by the state’s gaming tribes, giving them heavy sway over any gaming legislation that could impact them. This is primarily why sports betting legislation has not been successful, but another reason is the adversarial relationship the tribal nations have with the sitting governor, Kevin Stitt.
Throughout his tenure, Stitt has alienated the tribes by questioning the automatic renewals of their 15-year compacts and threatening to bring commercial casino operators into the mix. The tribes believe Stitt has not respected their sovereign nation status or the agreements between the parties.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the tribal nations would be disinterested in Stitt’s mobile and retail sports betting vision. The tribal nations have expressed an appetite for sports betting but are leery to authorize any change to their current gaming compacts with Stitt as the state’s chief negotiator
It should also be noted that, under Stitt’s plan, the tribes would get exclusivity for retail sports betting, but commercial operators would control the much more lucrative mobile sports betting market that would in turn pay 20% of their profits to the state. Senator Casey Murdock took the components of Stitt’s legal framework and sponsored a sports betting bill last February that went nowhere.
The tribal leaders reacted negatively to the proposal, with Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton releasing the following statement: “Upon initial review, we do not believe the plan represents the best interests for the people of Oklahoma or the tribal nations that have done so much to support the state.”
New Bill in Town
Despite the rancor and the acrimony between the gaming tribes and the governor, Senator Dave Rader introduced S.B. 125 on Friday, which is the latest sports betting bill to come out of the halls of the Oklahoma legislature. “Sports pools are defined by the measure as any in-person wagering and conducted on a mobile device on the outcome of sporting events or other events, other than horse or other animal races,” the filed bill states.
The bill would also impose a staggered fee schedule based on revenue. The first $5 million would be taxed at 5% while the next $5 million would be taxed at 6%, and then capped at 7% for revenues above $10 million. The bill calls for national operators, ala FanDuel, DraftKings, and Caesars, to partner with the tribes as a prerequisite for doing business in Oklahoma.
Yet, despite the most recent effort, the tribes will likely oppose any sports betting or gaming bill as long as Governor Stitt remains in office. “Our governor has just been overtly hostile and antagonistic toward the tribes to the point where he’s signing illegal compacts with various other tribes,” Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission chair John Sparks said last summer. “To say it’s been ‘tense’ is very gracious.”
