Tribes Oppose Oklahoma Governor's Sports Betting Proposal

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00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - So we've got 35 states already

00:09 have legalized sports betting here in the country.

00:13 Oklahoma, I thought would have been one of the last ones

00:17 to get it, but it appears the governor

00:20 might be interested in pushing a plan forward

00:23 unbeknownst to the tribes in Oklahoma, is that correct?

00:28 - Yeah, 100%.

00:30 To your point, Oklahoma, a deep red state,

00:33 probably a lot of moral opposition

00:35 that you see in the deep South area,

00:38 which that's why we haven't seen Alabama

00:40 and Georgia and South Carolina really move much of a needle

00:44 with sports betting.

00:45 But Oklahoma also has a very vibrant gaming community

00:50 in the tribes.

00:51 I mean, I've listened to a lot of tribal gaming conferences

00:54 and it might be the most robust gaming market

00:59 in the tribal world.

01:00 And I guess that's where this comes in.

01:03 Governor Kevin Stitt has come in and said,

01:06 I wanna legalize sports betting in Oklahoma.

01:08 So the residents in Oklahoma who want sports betting,

01:12 they see him say that and say,

01:13 okay, we're gonna get sports betting.

01:15 Well, the last couple of years,

01:17 he's thrown out a couple of things

01:18 and it's all just kind of been throwing

01:22 and seeing what sticks and nothing has stuck.

01:25 Legislators are at odds, not just 'cause of sports betting,

01:29 but just some other issues with Stitt.

01:31 So there's kind of this infighting

01:33 in his own Republican party.

01:35 And so there's that issue.

01:37 But the bigger part is the tribes control

01:40 gaming exclusivity.

01:42 I think there's something like 28 gaming tribes in Oklahoma.

01:46 They have casinos, they have the gaming rights,

01:49 and they don't like Stitt's proposals,

01:52 including this last one that he came out with that said,

01:56 we're gonna open the state to commercial gaming operators.

01:58 So the likes of FanDuel and DraftKings and whatever

02:00 can just license straight with the state.

02:03 The tribes don't like that.

02:05 Stitt did not contact either the tribes or legislators

02:09 to talk about this plan beforehand.

02:11 Both will need to approve it.

02:13 And so that's not going over well with anybody.

02:17 And it's basically from what I've heard,

02:19 this is pretty much dead on arrival from the get-go.

02:23 And I watched a podcast episode

02:26 with the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association,

02:29 Executive Director Matthew Morgan.

02:31 He said, yeah, we are willing to sit down

02:34 with the legislators, the governor, and have this out.

02:38 He's too worried about who can have gaming.

02:40 We know who can have gaming.

02:42 It's not the commercial operators.

02:44 And he said, he even talked to commercial operators

02:46 and they said they don't wanna infringe

02:47 on the exclusivity.

02:49 So there's just a lot of huge hurdles

02:51 to get through in Oklahoma.

02:52 And so maybe you are right.

02:55 Maybe it will be one of the last ones that legalizes.

02:58 But I think states like Utah and Idaho

03:00 might have something to argue about that with you

03:04 on their own.

03:05 But Oklahoma, we'll see.

03:08 I don't have high hopes until at least Stitt's gone.

03:11 His relationships with the tribes are not great.

03:14 And that's a huge hurdle, as I mentioned,

03:16 with the tribal exclusivity.

03:18 So we'll see what happens in Oklahoma,

03:20 but I'm not holding my breath.

03:22 (upbeat music)

03:25 [MUSIC]

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