The Oregon Lottery has taken what appears to be a decisive step toward implementing full-scale sports betting, selecting UK-based SBTech to develop a platform for expanding the lottery’s offerings.
SBTech, which is headquartered in the Isle of Man and operates in 15 regulated betting markets, including New Jersey and Mississippi, was chosen for its ability to provide a “turn-key, sports-betting platform and sportsbook for digital and on-property wagering,” the state’s Lottery Commission said.
The commission added, “With (SBTech’s) innovative features and capabilities, OSL can compete with black market operators effectively with a solid go-to-market strategy and positioning itself very well at launch.”
The two were slated to enter contract negotiations last week. The goal is to have a platform available to Oregonians by the start of the NFL season.
“Our initial offering will need to be mobile-based, leveraging the Oregon Lottery app,” a lottery spokesman said.
Oregon was one of the four states with betting regulations on the books back in 1992 when Congress enacted a nationwide prohibition. As a result, it was exempted from the ban, but only for the Lottery-operated parlay cards that were legal in the state at the time.
The Lottery estimates that full-scale betting could generate annual revenue of $100 million in the early going, ultimately maturing to a $120 million market.
