Sports betting remains stalled in Oklahoma, home to the most casinos in the country

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John Billings and a small group of friends make regular road trips to Kansas and Arkansas to do something that is still illegal in Oklahoma: Bet on sports.

“The money you spend on hotels, dining, drinks and things of that nature — would all stay here, locally,” he said.

Billings, 48, who lives in Tulsa and works in the energy industry, said the number of his out-of-state sports betting road trips would likely be “zero” if and when it becomes legal in Oklahoma.

“With all the casinos we have here, we haven’t fallen off the map,” he said. “It’s just the modern thing to do.”

Meanwhile, the founder and CEO of a global gaming management firm only needed a few words to describe sports betting in the U.S. since it became legal five years ago:

“It’s been a wild ride,” said Stephen Crystal of Las Vegas-based SCCG Management.

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That ride continues to the tune of nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars and counting that has been legally bet.

“Despite not being as profitable as people had hoped in the beginning because of the taxation, cost structures and the marketing expenses,” he said, “I think a core group of operators and suppliers have found their way five years later, and I think we’re poised to see sports betting continue to grow.”

Crystal was among several breakout session panelists at the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association’s annual conference and trade show in Tulsa last week.

Since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a federal ban on sports betting outside of Nevada, more than $246.4 billion has been legally bet on sports in more than 30 U.S. states as of mid-August, according to legalsportsreport.com.

In that five years, more than $3.5 billion has gone to states, tribes and local governments, according to the site.

“The first five years have been really a time for operators getting the basics correct … dealing with the opening of so many jurisdictions,” Crystal said.

“I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere near the innovation we’re going to see. Obviously, the leaders in the marketplace — the four or five top companies — control almost 90% of the market nationwide and that will change over time,” he said.

“Things like in-play betting, same-day parlays — the things that allow people to enjoy an interactive experience … I think I even saw that professional pillow fighting was going to be added to the sports books. I think if we can add pillow fighting … I’ve seen putt-putt golf … I think you’re seeing a proliferation of niche sports that is actually quite exciting.”

“Sports (betting) can be very attractive to the next generation, and I think we’ve just begun to see what that can be.”

Oklahoma’s status

Despite having the most casinos in the country (143), efforts to legalize sports betting in Oklahoma have remained stalled.

So people like Billings who want to legally bet make trips to Caney and Wichita, Kansas, and to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

He said his group has gone on such trips during the beginning of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and before college and NFL football seasons start.

Their preseason football bets, he said, are for teams’ total season wins, and for winners in divisions and conferences.

At least one member of his group, he said, makes several additional trips a year to Caney, “a one-hour and five-minute drive and a straight shot up (U.S.) 75, with virtually no traffic” to bet on weekly and live games.

Billings said he and his group typically use DraftKings, Fanduel or BetMGM phone apps to place wagers.

The phone’s location services setting must be on for the apps to work in placing bets, he said.

“As soon as you cross the state line, you can make a bet,” he said, through a nearby Kansas or Arkansas casino.

By law in Oklahoma, Native American tribes have gaming exclusivity, meaning commercial enterprises — such as Bally’s, Caesars or other corporate entities can not simply come in and build a casino in Oklahoma, nor offer online betting.

Many observers have cited ongoing disputes between Gov. Kevin Stitt and the state’s tribes as a major obstacle, including Matthew Morgan, the chairman of the OIGA.

“We have an impasse with the chief executive of the state of Oklahoma,” he said last week at the OIGA conference.

“I will continue to hope that somewhere along this journey that he will change the way he acts towards our tribes.”

Stitt, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, has a rocky history with most Oklahoma tribes since he unsuccessfully sought to renegotiate the state’s tribal gaming compacts.

Stitt has also feuded with tribes over tobacco compacts, hunting and fishing licenses, and over a myriad of issues surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt decision.

“It’s like two divorced parents who are fighting over the kids,” said Jack “The Fat Jack“ Ross, a professional sports better and handicapper who grew up in Norman and has been in the business 25 years.

“Nothing is going to happen if the governor and the tribes can’t come to some sort of agreement.”

Stitt started this year stating his support for legalizing sports betting. Legislation to do just that passed in the House but stalled in the Senate.

Rep. Ken Luttrell, R-Ponca City, introduced legislation to add in-person and mobile sports betting as a supplement to the state-tribal model gaming compact. It was the second year in a row Luttrell has pushed to legalize sports books.

In its current form, HB 1027 would net exclusivity fees of 4% on the first $5 million bet each month, 5% on the next $5 million and 6% on everything above that.

Luttrell said sports betting could bring the state up to $9.35 million a year, of which 12% would enter the general revenue fund and 88% would go toward education.

In addition to Kansas and Arkansas, regional states that have legalized sports betting include Colorado, Louisiana and New Mexico.

“All theses states that don’t have it, they are just missing out,” Ross said.

He added that legalizing sports betting eliminates the sometimes nefarious nature of illegal betting.

“It’s much better than dealing with Guido the killer pimp,” he said. “Illegal bookies are much better when you’re losing than when you’re winning.”

Ross also dismissed arguments against legalized sports betting based on addiction or religious concerns.

“These states that have it, they have established specific funds as part of it to help people who have a problem,” he said. “In Oklahoma, you get a 1-800 number and a ‘good luck.’”

Ross said studies also have shown that the lottery, slot machines and other forms of gaming are much more of a problem for some people than sports betting.

“There’s nothing in the Bible that says anything about sports betting,” he said. “With everything you can bet on here … it’s pure hypocrisy to say ‘We shouldn’t have legal sports betting.’

“Ultimately, people don’t want to be told what to do.”

‘We’ve been getting prepared’

Pat Crofts is CEO of River Spirt Casino Resort and Muscogee Nation Gaming Enterprises.

“We’ve been getting prepared for a number of years,” he said of legalized sports betting.

The Muscogee Nation has nine casinos, including its flagship establishment, River Sprit, on Riverside Parkway just south of 81st Street.

“We think it’s not if, but when. We hope it will be sooner rather than later.”

Crofts said an area of River Spirit that may be used for a sports book is the former buffet space on the north side of the casino, which was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained vacant.

“That area is certainly under consideration,” he said, adding that if legalized sports betting were to become legal in the spring, a new sports book with big-screen TVs and and other amenities could be ready by football season.

However, the ability to make bets online through the casino would happen much faster, he said.

“Guests can expect wagering at tribal casino destinations to look really similar to sports books in neighboring states,” said Mickey Ward, vice president of strategy and business development for Cherokee Nation Entertainment, in a statement.

“It’s likely that the larger, resort-style properties, like Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, Cherokee Casino & Hotel Roland and Cherokee Casino & Hotel West Siloam Springs, will offer full-scale sports books, whereas smaller casinos may offer sports wagering via kiosks,” he said.

Crofts said the Muscogee Nation would use a third-party vendor for setting betting lines and other aspects rather than do it in-house.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing you can get burned pretty bad,” he said.

Crofts said that while the profit margin for sports betting is relatively small — Morgan of the OIGA has said it is 3%-5% — the volume could be relatively large.

Crofts also said sports betting likely would attract new cliental to casinos — people who normally would not go to play slot machines nor table games.

Billings is one of those people.

“I normally don’t go to casinos,” he said. “But if there’s a great atmosphere with a lot of big TVs and live games, where you can bet, I would definitely go for that.”

Texas: ‘all of our money is going to Oklahoma or to Louisiana’

Panelists at the OIGA conference also indicated it was only a matter of time before other states legalized it.

In Texas, a state with 30 million people — 7.5 times Oklahoma’s population — “I think it’ll happen, if and when the political forces within the legislature allow it to pass,” said Brant Martin, an attorney with Wick Phillips Attorneys & Counselors of Texas.

He successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court a Texas tribal sovereignty case and wrote legislation considered this year for casinos and legal sports betting in Texas.

The Texas legislature meets once every two years, meaning legalized sports betting and a second measure allowing casinos won’t be taken up again until 2025. Both measures passed the Texas House, but were not taken up in its Senate.

Martin said polls show that most residents in Texas — a hotbed of illegal sports betting, he said — favor some sort of legalized gaming.

“As in Oklahoma … there are lots of competing constituencies that have the ear of various politicians. In Texas, one of the traditional powers is the church. The religions element … they are often, as is their right, very vehemently opposed to gaming, and they have a lot of power.

“But the economic argument, for the vast majority of voters … that all of our money is going to Oklahoma or to Louisiana — why not keep it in the state.”

“That’s the argument that is being used for the pro-gaming forces in the state and I would say that those voices are getting louder than they have been in the past.”

The Winstar World Casino and Resort is the largest casino in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world with 519,000 square feet, according to casnio.com. It is located near Thackerville on Interstate 35, just across the border from Texas and about 80 miles from the Dallas/Fort Worth metro.

The Choctaw Casino and Resort in Durant (about 90 miles from DFW) also is a destination for many Texas residents. It has 218,000 square feet.

California also is among states that have not yet approved legalized sports betting. Last year, the most expensive ballot proposition battle in U.S. history went bust as California voters overwhelmingly rejected sports betting initiatives by Native American tribes and the gaming industry.

“I haven’t not talked about sports betting in two years,” said James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association.

Siva said the battle of competing propositions was between corporate interests, and tribes and their sovereignty, regarding legal sports betting.

“We are taking a break for now … but we are ready to go again. We will be back,” he said.


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