Oklahoma Sports Betting Dies in Senate Despite Tribal Backing

• Oklahoma Senate rejects tribal-backed mobile sports betting bill HB 1047
• Dispute over gaming compacts and revenue sharing drives political divide
• Governor Kevin Stitt threatens veto amid moral and regulatory opposition

A bill that would have allowed Oklahoma’s numerous tribal operators to offer mobile sports betting was voted down Wednesday after failing to convince the state Senate’s ultra-conservative members, The Oklahoman reports.

HB 1047, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Bill Coleman (R-Ponca City), would have allowed the tribes to operate retail sportsbooks at their casinos while partnering with platforms like FanDuel and DraftKings for online betting.

Crucially, sports betting would have been added as a supplement to the tribes’ existing gaming compacts, meaning the agreements would not have needed to be renegotiated.

Compact Spat

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has long been at loggerheads with the tribes over the amount of gaming revenue they share with the state. Stitt thinks it’s too little and wants to use sports betting as an opportunity to renegotiate the compacts.

Thus, while the tribes would like to offer sports betting, they have been cautious about how the state would leverage it.

Under the bill, revenue from bets outside the NBA and WNBA would have gone to a tourism-focused fund, which would award grants benefiting the team. These wagers would also have gone to the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, as well as student development programs.

Stitt was not a fan of the bill and promised to veto it if it passed.

‘Moral Hazard’

Others objected on moral grounds Wednesday. Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin), who is also a Baptist pastor, warned that passing the bill would make the state “a participant in a moral hazard,”

This bill doesn’t simply legalize a harmless activity,” he said. “It institutionalizes a vice and then asks the state to profit from it. That is a fundamental ethical problem.”

Coleman countered that the bill was not about giving Oklahomans more reasons to gamble but to protect those who already do – through prediction markets and unlicensed offshore sites.

“This is not increasing gambling alternatives in Oklahoma,” Coleman said. “It is providing a regulated industry to operate sports betting with our tribes.”

The bill was ultimately defeated by 27 votes to 21.