00:00Okay, so a new story here for our Monday viewers, especially for those of our viewers and listeners in Oklahoma.
00:07Sports betting is a possibility in 2025 has come and gone.
00:11What about the future, though, Pat?
00:12Does it seem like there's any momentum at all?
00:15This was an interesting story that was done by local media, and we just went ahead and kind of amplified the message.
00:21Governor Kevin Stitt came out and said, you know what, the tribes are waiting until I'm gone.
00:25And if you've been following Oklahoma sports betting, which, of course, I have and we've talked about on here, that is kind of not true.
00:33And we kind of have known that sports betting probably won't happen until Stitt is out of office.
00:37But he's been kind of the major roadblock, even though he's come out and said multiple times, you know, this is a proposal that I want.
00:43And this is what we should do in Oklahoma, which is open up the online market to commercial operators.
00:50Pretty much everyone else in the state doesn't want to do that.
00:53The Oklahoma gaming tribes have contributed millions and millions of dollars to the state for gaming exclusivity.
01:00They have a very ripe gambling industry there that just doesn't include sports betting yet.
01:05And they've tried multiple times to kind of get to the table and have some sort of agreement.
01:12Back in 2020, Stitt amended two compacts with tribes to offer sports betting.
01:19And the rest of the tribe said, whoa, whoa, no way, this isn't OK.
01:22The court system said, ruled with those tribes and said, no, this isn't OK.
01:27So since then, we've had lawmakers trying to get to the table with the tribes and kind of overrule what Stitt is trying to push.
01:36And this year we had a very strong push by a House bill that made it the furthest the sports betting bill has passing a Senate committee and just stalling out right before the session ended.
01:47And that would have could have created a framework, but Stitt vowed to veto it.
01:54But there was also a companion bill that if that passed would have gone to the electorate, which Oklahoma lawmakers did in 2003 to legalize the lottery, which, you know, lawmakers were kind of on the same fence of like, we don't want to be the ones to do this.
02:10We'll give it to the constituents. You guys go ahead and and say this is what we want and the like.
02:15So, again, this article is just stick coming out saying, you know, the tribe, this isn't going to get done, but I don't want to take blame for it not getting done.
02:22I'll say they want to wait till I'm gone, which is 2027.
02:25I mean, I guess there's a possibility something could happen next year, maybe similar to the election bill that was in the works this year, next year.
02:35But again, even if that went into the fall for the election, then it still wouldn't be legal till 2027.
02:40So I think we're still looking a couple of years out in Oklahoma, but I do think it is coming just of, you know, how it comes and when is still up in the air.
