The Oregon Lottery has introduced its mobile app, which will, say officials, eventually allow players to bet on sporting events. The app is available from the Apple Store.
But for now the app’s launch version will allow customers to check for winning numbers. Soon they will be able to buy lottery tickets. The app will soon be available to Google and Android users.
Lottery officials believe that it is not necessary for the legislature to pass enabling legislation for the Lottery to introduce sports betting. That is because Oregon was one of the few states that was not affected by the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA,) which was held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in May of this year. If the legislature wants to collect taxes on sports betting, it would need to pass taxing and regulatory legislation.
Oregon had been exempted from PASPA in the first place because it had launched a betting game in 1989 called Sports Action, which allowed wagers on NFL and NBA games. The games were shut down in 2007 because of threats that the state would not be allowed to host NCAA basketball games.
The state has about two dozen gaming locations , both commercial and tribal, racetracks and off-track betting, where sports betting could theoretically be introduced.
A spokesman for Oregon Governor Kate Brown said last week she is open to having sports betting as part of the Lottery, particularly in partnership with the state’s nine gaming tribes. Said the spokesman, “The future of commerce is through mobile platforms, and the lottery needs to stay relevant in that world.”
