00:00The potential next state, if Hawaii is not it, you know, Pat, we're guessing at this point, but it seems like at least you're intimating here that it's time to pivot over to maybe Oklahoma.
00:13Is that the next state to watch?
00:14I think that is definitely the next state to watch.
00:17I think as we were entering the year, you know, nobody really had hope.
00:20Obviously, no one had Hawaii.
00:22People were looking at Texas.
00:23Maybe we can get done in Texas.
00:25But that, of course, has fallen completely apart.
00:27Not that there were high hopes.
00:29Nebraska, that online expansion was a thought and a glimmer of hope.
00:34And, yeah, Oklahoma kind of was another one of these states, kind of like Hawaii.
00:37I was like, I don't know if this is going to happen.
00:39You know, there's been so much disappointment between the relationship of Governor Kevin Stitt and the tribes.
00:46And the tribes in Oklahoma, of course, have they pay for tribal exclusivity and gambling.
00:53And they have a say no matter what.
00:55And there's been a few things that have happened in the past that have just kept that relationship, the tribes and the governor, at odds.
01:02And we've even had legislative leadership in the past say, listen, if this doesn't work out soon, we're going to have to take over compact negotiations from the governor.
01:10Now, that hasn't happened.
01:12And, you know, in the past couple of years, we've had several sports betting proposals come through.
01:18So that includes this year, which Representative Ken Luttrell put forward two bills with language from the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association that they're okay with, that gives the tribes exclusivity.
01:31And, you know, as that's moved through, Luttrell actually passed legislation in 2023 through the House and it fell on the Senate and just fell apart.
01:42This year, he got it through the House.
01:44It went to the Senate and it is now passed a Senate committee.
01:49So the first time ever in Oklahoma, a sports betting bill has passed a committee.
01:53Now, this is where it gets weird.
01:55From the very start of the session, Governor Stitt has said he will veto any sports betting legislation that gives exclusivity to the tribes.
02:05He put forth a plan back in 2023 that he continually says, this is the plan I want for the state that would open up commercial licenses, state issued commercial licenses.
02:16So the tribes are not okay with that.
02:18So there's this thing.
02:19So one of the bills, he can certainly veto, and that's all well and good, and there probably isn't the support to overturn that in the legislature.
02:27But there's another bill that would, if that fails, would then go to the ballot in November.
02:32So Oklahomans may ultimately get a say in whether or not sports betting becomes legal in Oklahoma, possibly as soon as this November.
02:42Stitt cannot veto that from what I've read locally.
02:44You know, I'm not super familiar with the Oklahoma legislative laws yet, but he can simply set the referendum date so he would get to choose when they get to vote on it.
02:53But so it looks like there's enough momentum in Oklahoma that, yeah, sure, maybe an actual bill that just straight legalizes it doesn't happen.
03:02It would just go to the voters.
03:04It's something that happened back in 2003 when lawmakers didn't want to make the definitive say on whether or not to create an Oklahoma lottery, but they sent it to the voters back in 2003, and they voted to approve a lottery.
03:18So we'll see what happens.
03:20Of course, anything can happen in the legislative session.
03:23But, yeah, another state that kind of looked like it probably wouldn't happen this year.
03:28Now there's more hope than maybe we would have said a couple of weeks ago.
