The Oklahoma Senate rejected an online and retail sports betting legalization bill Wednesday, hurting a long-stalled effort to bring legal sportsbooks to the state.
- Oklahoma's Senate rejected a sports betting legalization bill, dealing a setback to efforts to bring legal sportsbooks to the state.
- The proposal faced opposition over tribal exclusivity and problem gambling concerns despite backing from tribes and major operators.
- The bill’s failure underscores ongoing political divisions, with uncertainty around whether lawmakers will revisit the measure before session end.
The bill considered Wednesday would have allowed the state’s gaming tribes exclusive rights to operate an uncapped number of mobile sportsbooks. The state’s roughly 100 tribal gaming facilities would also have been able to open retail sportsbooks.
The Senate rejected the bill 21-27. Several senators argued against the bill ahead of the vote, saying it would exacerbate problem gambling and other issues.
Bill sponsor Bill Coleman said he would move to bring the legislation up again for another vote. It’s unclear if or when such a revote would take place.
The Oklahoma House had passed an earlier, more limited version of the bill in 2025. The legislation lingered without action for more than a year before it was amended earlier this month and brought to the Senate floor.
Oklahoma’s biennial 2025-2026 legislative session is set to conclude in late May.
Sports betting bill background
Along with problem gambling concerns, the legislation faltered largely over disagreement over sports betting license access.
Opponents of tribal exclusivity, including Gov. Kevin Stitt, have pushed for a more wide-reaching sports betting market which would have permitted licensure access for the state lottery, horse tracks and non-gaming businesses. Stitt has maintained opposition leading up to Wednesday’s vote.
He remains a veto threat should the bill ever pass out of the legislature. Stitt will leave office in January 2027.
Supporters determined Stitt’s opposition was not a big enough political roadblock to deter another push for passage. Along with most of the state’s roughly three dozen gaming tribes, the bill has support from FanDuel, the nation’s largest online sportsbook by market share.
The bill could generate $75 million to $100 million in revenue for the state over five years, a FanDuel spokesperson said in a statement provided to Covers.
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account"Oklahomans are already engaging in sports betting on unregulated offshore platforms - legalization would bring this activity into a safe, regulated market,” the spokesperson wrote. “FanDuel welcomes the opportunity to partner with tribal nations to build a responsible framework and encourages lawmakers to move this effort forward.”
Bill details
If passed, Oklahoma online sports betting could be one of the nation’s most robust.
Any qualified third-party sports betting operator could seek licensure in conjunction with one of the tribes. Along with the legislation’s supporters, including FanDuel, other leading books, which includes DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, bet365, Fanatics, Hard Rock, and many others, would likely seek licensure.
Less than a dozen sportsbooks account for more than 99% of the nation’s legal sports betting handle. FanDuel and DraftKings combine for roughly 75% of the nationwide total.
Oklahoma’s retail gaming facilities would have also been eligible for in-person sportsbooks, and many of the state’s casinos would likely move to open such facilities. Most smaller gaming facilities, which include those within rest stops, likely wouldn’t seek to open in-person sportsbooks.
The bill would have taken effect Nov. 1. Online and in-person sports betting could have begun as early as that day.
Oklahoma tribes participating in the sports betting market would partner together and split revenues. This system is unlike tribal-sportsbook partnerships in Michigan, Arizona, and Connecticut where an individual tribe works exclusively with one commercial sportsbook.
Tribes would remit a portion of betting handle to the state, a structure unlike most other states where books pay a percentage of gross gaming revenue. The bill allows extensive deductions, and financial projections have the effective rate near or below the roughly 10% median gaming revenue rate paid in most other jurisdictions.
The bill would also remit up to $7 million annually to marketing funding around the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder. An earlier Oklahoma bill would have given the Thunder access to a sports betting license, a provision not included in the amended proposal advanced Wednesday.
Oklahoma is one of 11 states without legal retail or mobile sportsbooks. It has the most brick-and-mortar casinos per capita of any state, generating more than $6 billion in annual revenue for Oklahoma, roughly 5% of its annual gross domestic product.
