00:00Okay, so listen, we're probably going to go the whole year without legalizing any other state, but at least we have some updates when some things move in different directions. And another one to explore today is Oklahoma. I know that the tribes will be very heavily involved in some of these states in the Midwest and out West as well, if it does end up happening. What's the latest there?
00:20Yeah, so the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association is having one of their annual shows and they're talking about things. And of course, sports betting is a big deal when it comes to the gaming community. And I mean, the tribes in Oklahoma have gaming exclusivity. They have a say in what sports betting is going to look like. Now, if you've been listening to me when I come on the show, we talk a lot about Oklahoma, especially this year. The tribes do want it, but of course they want exclusivity, which is not a surprise as they do have gaming.
00:50Exclusivity. Governor Kevin Stitt, on the other hand, back in 2020, when he first took office or right after he first took office said, you know what, I want to legalize sports betting and do it through two compacts. And then we're going to see if we can open up the commercial market that those amended compacts were later deemed illegal. And we've now been in kind of a stagnated stalemate between the tribes and Stitt so much so that Stitt's own Republican Party have long gone kind of against him said, you know, at one point, maybe we'll even take over.
01:20The negotiations and, you know, kick him completely out of the tribal relations situation. Doesn't matter. This year we got, you know, a couple bills that were introduced, largely supported by the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association. Those got as far as they'd ever gotten just short of a Senate vote out of the House.
01:39So, you know, probably 75% of the way there. Even so, Stitt said, you know what, if any of these bills get through, I'm going to veto them.
01:47Well, they didn't end up getting through, so it was not that big of a deal. One of them even would have kind of circumvented him and gone to the ballot instead, but it doesn't matter.
01:57Back to the Indian Gaming shows we've mentioned, you know, they've been big discussions and they're kind of putting the target to 2026 or 2027 when Stitt is voted out.
02:09You know, there was a recent local article that had, you know, comments from two different gubernatorial candidates for 2026 saying, this is important.
02:18We need to give our tribes more leverage. We need to give them more assets to thrive and kind of looking towards, you know, okay, whoever is governor next understands the tribes want this.
02:29Understand that's how it's going to get done. Understand the Oklahomans probably want sports betting because most of the rest of the country has it.
02:36And so here we are at a spot where, you know, pretty much everybody except for Kevin Stitt and even Kevin Stitt, the governor, has said, you know, I want it.
02:44I just want commercial entities involved. So again, push-pull, but at this point, I think with him in office, it's not going to get done.
02:51We're going to have to wait until whoever is the new governor in Oklahoma comes in and then you'll very likely, very quickly see sports betting in Oklahoma.
