Oklahoma sports betting bill dies after failing to get out of a Senate committee in time

Oklahoma lawmakers will not be legalizing sports betting this year. The bill that would have brought mobile and in-person wagering to the state failed to get out of a Senate committee by Friday’s deadline.

The bill’s author explained it failed to advance because the Senate wanted to see more conversations between the tribes and the governor. As a consequence, Oklahomans will not be able to bet on their favorite sports team, at least for the time being. 

State Rep. Ken Luttrell said: “My colleagues saw the advantage, the economic advantage to this, the restoration of tribal-legislative relations.” His sports betting legislation passed in March and he was confident that support for legalization was stronger than ever before. 

"We feel that this is a win-win and something that the governor can get behind and something that Senator Coleman can work on getting the Senate behind also," Luttrell had said.

Under his plan, tribes with a sportsbook would have paid the state 4% of the first $5 million made in a month. The fee then would have increased to 5% for the next $5 million of betting revenue, and then a 6% fee for anything over $10 million earned in a month. 

The push to legalize sports betting has the support of Gov. Kevin Sttit, who said back in January that he wanted state lawmakers to sign off on sports wagering during the current legislative session. “If we’re going to do it, I’m the kind of person that says, ‘Hey, let’s get it done now,’” Stitt told the hosts of the local sports radio show The Franchise earlier this year.

Stitt’s had a strained relationship with many of the tribes since he aggressively pushed to renegotiate the state’s tribal gaming compacts. But despite his rocky relationship with some of the state’s major tribes, the governor, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, expressed confidence that tribal leaders could back a plan to legalize sports betting.

This is the second year in a row that Rep. Luttrell has filed a bill to legalize sports betting. While it looks like nothing will happen this year, he plans to try again next session, meaning next February, KOCO 5 reported.