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The Sooner State doesn’t have legal sports betting yet, but you can’t say they’re not trying. With the new year comes another attempt to create legal sports betting in Oklahoma.
Will this year be any different? Let’s look at the latest bill proposed — and more importantly, whether it has any realistic chance of passing.
State Senators Drafts New Sports Betting Bill
The new legislative year in Oklahoma hasn’t even started (not til early February). However, when it does, it will include Senate Bill 164. It will be introduced by Senator Casey Murdock. He’ll have until the end of May, when this year’s session concludes, to get the bill through the door.
The bill is yet another attempt to legalize sports betting in Oklahoma. This includes both in-person betting, but also mobile app betting via smart phones.
As it stands, Oklahoma is one of 11 states in the country without a legal sports market — Missouri sports betting was the latest to legalize. For the longest time, pundits believed Oklahoma would be up next. After all, they have hundreds of Native American-owned casinos so the culture and infrastructure are already in place. But there lies the issue, and why we’re doubtful of the senator’s efforts as we’ll explain next.
Senator Misses The Boat
We’re going to be blunt as can be: this bill is most likely destined to fail. This is because there’s one reason why Oklahoma has missed out on the sports betting craze that started in 2018 when the Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on wagering sports. It’s not because of a lack of bills. It’s not because of a lack of votes. It’s all because the tribes in the state and Governor Kevin Stitt are at each other’s throats.
Here’s the deal: the tribes — which there are dozens upon dozens of them — have a compact with the state, one that’s existed for decades. This compact gives them the sole right to offer betting in the state. Stitt has tried to renegotiate these terms with individual tribes and has been rebutted. Not only that, but Stitt has backed sports betting bills that would allow commercial operators like DraftKings or Fanatics into the state. Both moves drew the ire of tribal leadership.
“You have the tribes that want it exclusive. You have the governor that wants to allow anybody to do it,” Murdock said, “My bill is pretty much what the governor wants.”
That quote is the dead giveaway. Murdock decided not to meet in the middle on the issue. Instead, he’s lining up with Stitt’s vision of a wide-open sports betting market. That’s just not going to fly with the tribes.
In fact, when the bill was released, Matthew Morgan — Chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association — sent this statement to local news organizations in the area: “In order not to breach the current state-tribal gaming compacts, any bill purporting to change gaming offerings available in Oklahoma would require a supplemental offer from the State to modify the existing gaming compact between Tribal Nations and the State, and each tribal leader would evaluate the bill on its own merits.”
Unless the senator has new terms drafted up that give the tribes as much, if not more, than it’s taking away with this bill (their exclusivity license), we think the proposal is dead in the water. This is a billion-dollar business, and tribes won’t (and shouldn’t) give up their piece of the pie without a sweet offer for them.
Senator Murdock’s bill is wishful thinking until that’s addressed. “I think we need to, you know, compromise on both sides and get a final product that is good for all Oklahomans,” he said. Well, compromise means the tribes need to get something in return too, Senator.
Alternative Options Putting Pressure On Oklahoma
Many insiders believe the tribes will just wait until 2027 to come to the negotiation table on sports betting — that’s when Stitt is officially out as governor. Tensions are so high between both sides that a whole new person is needed to make amends.
Still, Murdock and company want it sooner to beat out neighboring states. He brought up a story of seeing geotracking data from in-state bettors courtesy of a company he didn’t name. According to Murdock, many Oklahoma bettors drive down I-35 to gamble in Kansas, where betting is legal.
Kansas is bad enough, but the real threat is the neighbor to the south — Texas. The Lone Star State is really putting the sting on Oklahoma.
“If it happens in Texas first,” State Senator Dave Rader said, “then we lose a great opportunity here for the taxpayers.”
Added Murdock: “I think what will happen if they go ahead and pass it, you’ll have people in the southern part of the State running to Texas to make their bets, and as soon as we get it done and get it passed. They’ll just stay at home.”
To reiterate one more time, we’re just not optimistic on this bill at all for the reasons we stated. Stitt will remain a massive roadblock until his term finishes at the tail-end of 2026.
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