Recent court rulings have opened up more potential Native American gaming expansions, but the nation’s largest per capita tribal gaming market is a notable exception.
Oklahoma remains without legal sports betting options more than six years after the Supreme Court struck down the federal wagering ban. As there are 38 states with legal sports betting plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, the state that ranks alongside Nevada for the most casinos per resident remains far from sportsbook authorization.
The state’s gaming tribes have been unable to reach a deal with Gov. Kevin Stitt about a regulated sports betting infrastructure. Though tribes would approve of another gaming form, few are willing to sacrifice the current tribal-state status quo for what they would consider a counterproductive regulatory structure.
A series of court victories this year by the Florida Seminole Tribe has potentially opened the door for new tribal gaming expansions. Those still can’t come without consensus between the tribes and the governor.
That remains a major stumbling block in Oklahoma, said John Sparks, Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission Chair, during a gaming industry conference earlier this month,
“Our governor has just been overtly hostile and antagonistic toward the tribes to the point where he's signing illegal compacts with various other tribes,” Sparks said during a National Council of Legislators from Gaming States panel July 20. “To say it’s been ‘tense’ is very gracious.”
Oklahoma gaming background
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 placed federal regulations on state-level tribal gaming. By the early 2000s, tribes in more than a dozen states, including Oklahoma, had earned approval to open full-scale “Las Vegas” style casinos.
Oklahoma, the base for many of America’s largest Indian tribes, has seen more than 30 tribes open over 60 casinos. This includes massive facilities such as WinStar World Casino and Resort, the largest casino in the Western Hemisphere, down to small venues adjacent to truck stops.
The dichotomy between gaming revenues and the tribes themselves has led Native American stakeholders to pursue different goals. This contrast remains a key factor in the delayed sports betting implementation.
Gov. Stitt remains another. Federal law requires a state governor’s approval before implementing or altering a compact, the regulatory apparatus that guides tribal gaming authorizations.
Oklahoma could be a leading contender to adopt a Florida-style regulatory model that would allow mobile sports betting, attorney Joseph Webster said during an industry conference today; OK sports betting legalization efforts have stalled over differences between Gov and tribes
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) July 24, 2024
The governor signed a deal with two smaller tribes in 2021 but it was opposed by much of the rest of Oklahoma’s Native gaming establishment as well as elected officials from Stitt’s party. The deal never took effect and Oklahoma remains without a legal sports betting option.
Policymakers have tried several times in the legislature to reach a deal, but haven’t overcome differences between tribes that want retail-only sportsbooks on their properties, others that want mobile betting geofenced to their respective reservation areas, and those that want statewide mobile wagering.
Gov. Stitt’s plan would legalize sports betting but increase taxes on more lucrative existing gaming forms. The tribes largely oppose the proposal.
At stake is one of the nation’s largest untapped sports betting markets.
Conservative political interests in Texas have also prevented sports betting expansion in the nation’s second-largest state. Casinos such as the WinStar, located miles from the Oklahoma-Texas border, have thrived in large part due to visitors from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Oklahoma would be the closest location to place a legal sports bet for millions of Texans.
New nationwide tribal gaming potential
Oklahoma’s struggles come as new tribal gaming frontiers are opening up across the US.
The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up a challenge to the Florida Seminole’s gaming compact could lead to new legal gaming avenues for tribes in other states. The Seminoles, in conjunction with the Florida government, became the first state to allow mobile sports betting off tribal lands under the auspices of federal Native American law.
The "hub & spoke" model that allowed the Florida Seminole Tribe to launch mobile sports betting in Fla. can be a blueprint for other tribes pursuing mobile gaming but there are unique state-level structures that could lead to other avenues, attorney Joseph Webster said today
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) July 24, 2024
This novel approach by the Seminoles could give tribes greater autonomy to pursue digital sports betting or online casino gaming under their own terms. Gaming industry stakeholders have considered what this could mean for other large population states such as California, which also has no legal sportsbooks.
Still, overarching federal regulation requires a governor’s approval. Federally recognized gaming tribes in roughly two dozen jurisdictions could have an easier logistical path to online sports betting, but won’t be able to do so without their respective state government’s approval.
In Oklahoma, this means reaching a consensus between the tribes about a sports betting structure and then a deal with Gov. Stitt, or preserving the prohibition on a growing gaming form in what is otherwise one of the nation’s most extensive gaming markets.
Oklahoma sports betting interest remains strong despite the difficulties. Proponents remain optimistic that a half-decade of struggle can – finally – pave the way for meaningful progress in the coming years.
“Hopefully we can get that worked out pretty soon,” Sparks said. “You know what they say, ‘sometimes you have to have a funeral to change the carpet in the church’.”
