OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – Gov. Kevin Stitt sharply criticized three sports betting bills that succeeded in the Oklahoma Legislature this week, saying they benefit tribal entities instead of Oklahomans.
House Bill 1047, House Bill 1101 and Senate Bill 585 all succeeded in their respective chambers. All three bills were written by Rep. Ken Luttrell, R-Ponca City, and Sen. Bill Coleman, R-Ponca City, and seek to implement sports betting in Oklahoma.
SB 585 passed the Senate with a vote of 25-15. HB 1047 and HB 1101 both passed the House of Representatives with votes of 62-31 and 66-29, respectively.
“None of those bills that have moved off the floors of the House or Senate have got my input on them. As a matter of fact, they’ve excluded the governor of the State of Oklahoma from these discussions,” Stitt said during his weekly news conference. “When they say all stakeholders have come to the table and agreed on something, the taxpayers that are represented by the governor has not weighed in on those things.”
SB 585 modifies tribal gambling compacts, expanding the compacts to include sports betting operations. The bill states that each tribe is entitled to keep an amount equal to state payments from the operation of sports pools. SB 585 also enables the Oklahoma City Thunder to obtain a gaming license.
HB 1047 authorizes sports betting in Oklahoma and outlines provisions for the tribes to run sports betting. HB 1101 establishes a voter referendum for the approval of sports betting that would take effect if HB 1047 fails to clear the entire legislature.
Stitt said he is not opposed to Oklahoma having a sports betting industry
“Conceptually, we’re fine with sports betting. But ultimately, it’s got to be a free market solution before I would put my signature on a bill like that,” Stitt said. “This isn’t complicated. You simply create the program that other states do and you can roll that out. That was the plan that I put forward and unfortunately those are not the two bills that are moving across [to] the Senate.”
Stitt contends that the bills favor the state’s tribal nations.
“These are tribal-pushed bills that are only going to benefit the tribes and not the citizens of Oklahoma,” he said.
Stitt said he proposed a plan on sports betting around three years ago.
“We went to all the different states. I put a team in charge of looking at what other states did,” he said.
Stitt said he and his team developed a free-market sports betting plan that would charge mobile betting companies $500,000 for an initial license to operate in Oklahoma.
“Anybody that wants to pay $500,000, whether you or me or the tribes or anybody else that wants to come into this market and wants to create a website – FanDuel and DraftKings and all the different folks – can come in and pay the state $500,000 and they can become a licensed sports book issuer. We can audit it; we can know exactly how to collect the funds,” Stitt said. “They were going to pay the state, I believe it was, 20 percent.”
He said the plan included a special consideration for Oklahoma’s tribes.
“Then for the tribes, for the brick-and-mortar locations, we were going to give them exclusive brick and mortar in their casinos. So, they can still offer that and pay the state only 10 percent,” Stitt said. “And if they want to do the statewide mobile betting, absolutely. Just come pay the $500,000 and compete like everybody else. That is a free market solution.”
Stitt and Oklahoma’s tribal nations have had a fraught history that goes back several years and is primarily related to the governor’s attempts to renegotiate tribal compacts. His efforts to renegotiate gambling compacts were a frequent source of contention between he and the tribes.
The governor concluded his comments about the sports betting bills with sharply pointed words.
“What you’re seeing across the finish line here is an industry – the tribes in this case – coming to the legislature, saying this is good for me, run this piece of legislation. That’s not the type of governor Oklahomans elected,” Stitt said. “There’s no possible way I’m going to let one industry come into this building, give someone a sheet of paper and say, ‘Run this bill.’ I think that’s the height of corruption. It’s unbelievable. And Oklahomans need to know what happens whenever these bills come to my desk that are being driven from industry-specific people. I’m not going to do it.”
Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association Chair Matthew Morgan said in a statement earlier this week that the bills’ language is in keeping with OIGA’s principles. That statement is as follows:
“Our membership has been listening carefully to the conversations around sports betting legislation in Oklahoma. We have also met with those proposing legislation and some of the key entities supporting the proposed legislation. After much discussion, OIGA members have articulated a position on sports betting.
We believe that the language offered stays true to our guiding principles and puts forth a position that has broad tribal support and attempts to be inclusive of other sports betting stakeholders within parameters of the law.
While we are not finished having our internal discussions around potential future forms of gaming, we think that our proposed language is a great first step to bring legal sports betting to our gaming customers. Finally, we also recognize the importance of letting our friends in the legislature know our thoughts as they work within their legislative timelines.”
Matthew Morgan
