Sports betting bill fails to advance in Oklahoma Senate

House Bill 1027 was passed by the House, but the Senate wants more talks with tribes. 

US.- Oklahoma’s House Bill 1027, introduced by state representative Ken Luttrell, has failed to get out of a Senate committee before the deadline. It means it will be at least another year before sports betting has a chance of advancing in the state.

It was the second year in a row that Luttrell filed a bill to legalise sports betting. He said HB 1027 failed to advance because the Senate wanted more conversations between the tribes and the governor. The bill had been passed by the House in a 66-22 vote. It would have allowed in-person and retail sports betting to be conducted by tribes that already have gaming compacts with the state.

Some 35 tribes currently offer some form of gambling in Oklahoma. The bill proposed that the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission oversee sports betting so long as the tribal nations agree to a tribal-state compact. Tribal operators would have to pay 4 per cent of gross gaming revenue on the first $5m of annual revenue, 5 per cent on the next $5m of gross revenue and 6 per cent of revenue above that.

Of the taxes raised, 12 per cent would have gone to the general revenue fund and 88 per cent to the Education Reform Revolving Fund. Luttrell said legal sports betting would add about $9m a year to the state budget.

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