Two Oklahoma betting bills get out of subcommittee
The bills unanimously passed out of the house subcommittee on appropriations and budget select agencies. They will now move to the full appropriations committee, although no hearing date has been set. Oklahoma’s legislature is set to adjourn on 30 May and there is no crossover deadline.
Representative Ken Luttrell, who has sponsored gambling legislation in the past, is carrying the bills. He is also the subcommittee chairman. On Monday, he explained that HB 1047 would bring sports betting to the state via the legislature. If the bill fails, HB 1101 would then be “triggered” and the decision would go to the voters via referendum.
Luttrell did not specify in either bill whether retail or digital betting – or both – would be legalised should either bill become law. He says that the “tribes can decide” and that “we’re not going to legislate what the tribes do”.
The issue with both bills – or any gambling bill in Oklahoma – is that Indian Country has a fraught relationship with Governor Kevin Stitt. He has tried multiple times to legalise sports betting but his proposals infringe on tribal sovereignty. The tribes have long said that while they are open to discussion, it is more likely that they will wait until Stitt term-limits out of office in 2026 to make a real push.
Oklahoma would be a big get
In 2023, Stitt laid out a legal wagering framework that would have handed retail betting to Indian Country and also allowed commercial operators to offer digital betting. The tribes staunchly opposed the idea, which would encroach on their federal right to exclusivity. A bill that included Stitt’s proposal died in committee during the 2024 session.
Oklahoma is the second-biggest Indian gaming state behind California. It has fewer tribes – 39 compared to 109 – but those tribes operate nearly twice as many casinos. The biggest is the Chickasaw Nation’s WinStar Casino. Its 370,000sqft gaming floor is the biggest in the world.
Luttrell’s bills would require at least four of the state’s tribes to enter into the model tribal-state compact, which would then have to be approved by the US department of the interior.
As part of the model compact, the tribes would pay the state a 10% revenue share of sports betting adjusted gross revenue.
The bills aren’t the only ones in the state legislature. Senator Dave Rader’s SB 125 would legalise retail and statewide digital betting and also requires four tribes to sign on. His bill includes a revenue share on a sliding scale between 5% and 7%.