Oklahoma Senator Eying 2025 Tribal Sports Betting

• An Oklahoma Senator pre-filed a bill to allow state tribes to amend compacts and allow sports betting
• Both retail and online sports betting would be available
• The federal government would have to approve the tribal gaming compact amendments

Oklahoma’s legislative session does not start for another month, but one senator is already eyeing legalized online and retail sports betting for state tribes.

Sen. Dave Rader (R-39) has pre-filed SB 125, a bill to allow Oklahoma Tribes to amend their gaming compacts to offer retail and online sports betting in the state. The state’s legislative session will officially begin on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.

This will be the third year in a row Oklahoma lawmakers may consider a sports betting bill.

Tribal Control of Sports Betting

Rader’s bill will allow each of the 38 federally recognized Oklahoma Tribes the ability to amend their gaming compacts to offer both retail and online sports betting. The amended gaming compacts would have to be officially approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior prior to the tribes offering the new form of gaming.

His bill preserves sports betting exclusivity for Oklahoma Tribes, a sticking point over the last few legislative sessions.

The legislation requires each tribe participating in sports betting to pay a fee to the state. The fee depends on the amount of adjusted gross sports betting revenues brought in by tribes during a calendar year.

The fees are as such:

• 5% of the first $5 million of monthly net win in a calendar year
• 6% of the next $5 million of adjusted gross revenues in a calendar year
• 7% of all subsequent adjusted gross revenues received in a calendar year

The legislation gives complete control over sports betting to the Oklahoma tribes, which differs from 2024 legislation from Oklahoma Gov. Kenny Stitt (R) that allowed outside sports betting operators to come into the state.

Gov. Stitt Fan of Sports Betting, But at Odds With Tribes

Gov. Stitt has long been a proponent of Oklahoma sports betting, but has found himself at odds with tribes on just how to bring the new form of gaming into the state.

Stitt proposed a plan in 2023, and again in 2024, to legalize both retail and online sports betting in the state, but not give Oklahoma Tribes exclusive control over both. His plan gave tribes exclusive control over retail sports betting, which would have been taxed at a 15% rate, but allowed outside sports betting operators to control Oklahoma online sports betting. Operators would have paid an initial licensing fee of $500,000 and an annual licensing fee of $100,000 to offer sports betting in the state.

Online sports betting would have been taxed at a rate of 20%.

State tribes did not support Stitt’s legislation. A 2020 gaming compact renewal provided Oklahoma Tribes with exclusive sports betting rights, and the tribes believed Stitt’s plan put them in direct competition with outside sports betting companies.