Oklahoma possesses more than 100 tribal gaming locations. The tribes also claim when it comes to gambling, they have exclusivity, including sports betting. Not everyone agrees with that last assessment—including Governor Kevin Stitt—which makes coming up with a doable piece of legislation that everyone can accept kind of difficult.
And with that as a backdrop, the 2024 legislative agenda wakes up, in some cases picking up where 2023 left off.
Stitt sought to address sports betting by negotiating with just two tribes in 2020. Instead, he faced a lawsuit by legislators and a court order which cast aside the compacts.
Fast forward to 2024. Senator Casey Murdock introduced Senate Bill 1434, which legislates the Stitt version. The tribes would operate in-person betting with a tax rate of 15 percent. Statewide online sports betting with a 20 percent tax rate would be run through the Oklahoma Lottery Commission. The bill is in the rules and appropriations committees.
“I’m most definitely not saying the tribes can’t do it. I’m just saying anybody can do it,” Murdock told Oklahoma Voice. “I want him to be able to. I didn’t want to put any exclusiveness in this.”
Rep. Ken Luttrell and Senator Bill Coleman filed HB1027 last year, one which easily passed the House. It awaits action in the Senate this year. The legislation needs a minimum of four tribes to sign on to accept in-person sportsbooks but when it comes to the all-important online version, the tribes must agree to a partnership with online operators.
Will that bear any more fruit than Stitt’s idea?
“This legislation will take more than just passing a bill through the legislature,” Coleman told KFOR-TV last year. “When dealing with our tribal partners, compacting, and all the nuances that come with exclusivity and future gaming negotiations, we must get the governor in the same room with tribal leaders to build upon the conversation started this year by the legislature.”
“Indeed, it takes the vision of the governor and breathing life into it legislatively,” said Geoff Zochodne, a sports betting journalist at Covers.
But…the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA) reminds lawmakers that compacts are clear. The tribes control all gaming in the state.
Not everyone accepts that view of the law. “When they push back on something like that, it can be very hard to pass a bill, to get buy-in and momentum for legal sports betting, so that could very well be the case here in Oklahoma,” Zochodne said.
Stitt’s plan has run up against backlash from tribes.
Under Stitt’s plan retail sports betting would be offered at tribal casinos and other gaming venues. Online versions would be run through the Oklahoma Lottery Commission. Retail sportsbooks would be taxed at 15 percent, with online betting at 20 percent.
Tribes in Oklahoma opposed this plan. No surprise there, they have a history of contentiousness with Stitt. The gaming compacts were extended 15 years in 2020 after less than cordial proceedings. Stitt said they expired.
Oklahoma’s tribes continued to be at odds with Stitt as he crafted his plan for sports betting last fall.
“The Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association was not consulted prior to Gov. Stitt releasing his sports betting plan,” said the non-profit organization last November. “The members of the OIGA have been preparing to receive an offer from the state on sports betting for the past couple of years, and while we appreciate Gov. Stitt finally joining the sports betting conversation, to date he has not engaged in meaningful and respectful government-to-government discussion with tribes.”
Retailers would be required to pay an initial $500,000 license fee with licenses renewed annually for $100,000. SB 1434, which had its second reading on February 6, has been referred to the state’s Appropriations Committee.
