Whether the Oklahoma Legislature reveals and advances a invoice to legalize sports wagering is likely to be the largest proposition guess left on this session’s ledger.
In latest weeks, Sen. Bill Coleman (R-Ponca City) and Rep. Ken Luttrell (R-Ponca City) — the 2 legislators who’ve led advanced negotiations on the nuanced matter — have fluctuated between jubilation that a deal appeared finished and frustration it could have fallen aside.
“They’re about to wear me out,” Luttrell stated April 15 of conversations amongst stakeholders.
Asked concerning the scenario a number of occasions the identical day as Luttrell, Coleman’s optimism oscillated by the hour.
“We’re still working on it,” Coleman stated. “We’ve got plenty of time left to get something across the finish line.”
Two payments on the subject — SB 585 and HB 1047 — have remained alive however in a holding pattern since final session. Stakeholders consider a new model of 1 or each payments may very well be revealed as early as immediately for a potential vote this week.
According to Luttrell, the present proposal would offer the state income from an 8 p.c exclusivity fee, a part of which might go into “a revolving fund to be used to boost tourism, promote the Oklahoma City Thunder” and assist the NBA franchise’s “promotional activities worldwide.”
“We thought we had final language ready to present on the Senate side,” Luttrell stated. “A couple of smaller issues have come up. Not major issues, just maybe some fine tuning to try to make something that is more acceptable, perhaps to the governor’s office. Little tweaks.”
But not the entire tribes are in settlement on language. At concern, particularly, are the small print about the place tribes that undertake sports betting packages can be in a position to settle for bets from their prospects. According to Luttrell, Coleman and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association‘s proposal is that each tribe’s jurisdiction for sports betting be constrained to its formal boundaries.
“The Cherokee Nation disagrees with the OIGA’s proposal, so there’s not unanimity among tribes,” Hoskin stated April 8. “I don’t even know if there’s unanimity among all the OIGA tribes. I just know that we’re not as supportive of the current measure, so we’ll have to see. Things could change.”
Matthew Morgan, OIGA’s chairman and the Chickasaw Nation’s special envoy for presidency relations, didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark prior to the publication of this text.
“It’s not what Coleman and I wanted either,” Luttrell stated of the proposal to prohibit a tribe’s sports betting footprint to its historic territory. “We wanted border to border, open mobile. The rest of OIGA besides the Cherokees want to roll it out and start it and maybe keep it at traditional tribal boundaries. I just want to get it done — something done.”
Luttrell, a Cherokee Nation citizen in his remaining yr as a legislator owing to time period limits, stated he believes Oklahomans will need simplicity in any sports betting setup.
“I visited with the tribes — OIGA members — and I told them, I said, I think what you’re going to find is that your customers find this is not what they want and this is not what they expected out of ‘mobile,’” Luttrell stated. “If my app is with Osage casinos where I’m at, I feel like I should be able to bet with that app wherever I am in the state. Some of the tribes oppose that. They want it restricted. Maybe, particularly, the Chickasaws don’t want any other tribe’s app to work in Chickasaw territory. But they’re going to find out, as you and I both know, that’s not what the customers want. They’ll be back next year to ask for an amendment to change part of the compact [to make it] statewide if we can get it passed this year.”
Hoskin supplied a related evaluation.
“Part of [our concern with the OIGA proposal] is because it delves into issues with former reservation lands, which is something the state really shouldn’t be involved in, and part of it is sort of the geography of the sportsbook footprint,” Hoskin stated. “There’s sort of a fractionalization of the apps that are usable, so we’re just not there. I think the Legislature said they don’t want to move forward unless all the tribes are together, so we’ll have to work on that.”
Hoskin stated the state of Oklahoma is “not historically the experts in what former reservation land is.”
“It just seems like territory that the state of Oklahoma shouldn’t be delving into,” Hoskin stated. “There’s a federal body of case law on what former reservation land is, and that’ll stay with the federal government. It worries us that it would be something of a state construction.”
Hoskin stated it’s “a good question” as to why any tribe would need to restrict the geographic boundary inside which its sports betting app would work.
“It’s not real clear to us what the utility of that is,” Hoskin stated.
‘It’s type of a forwards and backwards deal’
As Luttrell and Coleman preserve negotiating language in hopes of bringing one thing to a vote, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton are each awaiting updates.
“I have heard that all the tribes involved in gaming — except one — are supportive of the language, and so we take that into consideration,” Hilbert (R-Bristow) stated Thursday. “I know Rep. Luttrell has been working on it for eight years now, but I have not seen final language myself yet.”
Paxton supplied a related evaluation, saying “as of right now, there’s not a solution.”
“It’s kind of a back and forth deal, and I’m not sure exactly where it’s at right now,” Paxton (R-Tuttle) stated Thursday. “There’s not just a side of the state and the tribes, right? There’s also the Thunder involved. We’ve got universities in Oklahoma that want to be involved in this conversation. So Sen. Coleman is working extremely hard trying to find a solution. I’m very proud of the work that he’s done. I don’t know where this ends up. I just know he’s still working.”
Hilbert stated he has “heard in the ether that there’s agreement” however that he had not seen “final language.”
“I honestly am not a big fan of gambling, personally,” Hilbert stated. “However, it’s a situation with sportsbook where everybody is doing it already, and there’s avenues to do it, and it’s happening on the dark web and foreign markets. And if it’s going to happen, then it should happen in a way that is regulated and in the light. So I’m open to proposals, and I supported Luttrell’s bill last year that we sent to the Senate that I believe they’re looking at now. But ultimately, we’ll look at the package when it comes together. Obviously we want stakeholder support, but ultimately, for anything pass, it’s up to legislators to get on board and vet it.”
Paxton stated he mentioned the scenario with Hoskin on April 8 throughout “Cherokee Day” on the Capitol.
“His conversation with me was that they had some issues the way it was written,” Paxton stated. “It was a very productive conversation. He said his team was still working with Sen. Coleman and everybody else to come up with something that could work for everybody.”
Hilbert, nevertheless, stated he and Hoskin didn’t focus on sports betting coverage after they met April 8. From a political perspective, Hoskin’s look within the House that day drew Hilbert’s ire after the chief delivered a speech from the ground the place he pushed again on Republican lawmakers’ proposals to loosen a voter-approved requirement within the Oklahoma Constitution making low-income adults eligible for Medicaid protection.
Whether that spat — for which Hilbert stated Hoskin wouldn’t be invited again to converse on the House ground — will have an effect on this session’s sports betting dialog stays to be seen, particularly with Gov. Kevin Stitt carrying a veto pen and preferring an approach that will authorize state-licensed operators past sovereign tribal nations.
Still, Luttrell and Coleman stated the conversations will proceed this week as legislative leaders push for an early adjournment that might see lawmakers exit the Capitol by Friday, May 8.
“I don’t know,” Luttrell stated with a sigh. “We’ve given it our best shot. We’re closer than we’ve ever been.”
