A spokesman for the Oregon Lottery predicts that the state may offer sports betting in time for the 2019 NFL season.
Lottery spokesman Matthew Shelby in an email to Legal Sports Report wrote “We are working internally through various options, but we still have a goal of rolling something out to Oregonians in time for the 2019 NFL season.”
The sports book would allow wagers on mobile platforms, using the existing lottery app. Shelby wrote, “As you probably know there are already mobile sportsbook operators out there who offer their platforms to gaming companies. Picking one and incorporating it into our app would be the fastest path to a sports offering.”
The Lottery would also like to find a way to offer sports betting at lottery retailers. However that will take longer as it will require introducing new hardware, training retailers and incorporate the existing network.
As Shelby described it on a TV interview in Portland, wagers would be simple at first, choosing winners and losers, but allowing them to also bet against the spread. Then wider bets would be added, such as who will have the most yards in the first quarter, etc.
He said it was likely that the bets would be limited to professional sports.
Some reports have said the state could rake in as much as $100 million a year once the sports betting is well-established.
Lottery Chief Gaming Operations Officer Farshad Allahdadi said last year that the Lottery believes it doesn’t need new legislation to offer sports betting. It believes it has the authority to do so now.
Oregon was one of the four states that was not banned from sports betting when PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) was passed by Congress in 1992. That was because it already offered it.
