Oklahoma senator submits bill to legalize sports betting in 2025
Dave Rader’s draft legislation requires the agreement of at least four tribes in the state as he becomes the latest politician to call for sports betting to be legalized
An Oklahoma lawmaker has filed a sports betting bill ahead of the first legislative session of 2025, as the Sooner State becomes the latest to put wagering legislation on the table for this year.
Senator Dave Rader has introduced Senate Bill 125 before the first session on February 3, with his proposal authorizing the state’s tribes to enter compacts and offer sports betting.
The language used in SB 125 would amend Oklahoma’s Model Tribal Gaming Compact and permit tribes to offer in-person and mobile wagering, though at least four of the state’s tribes would need to enter the updated compact agreement.
Rader’s bill details its plan to generate new fees from sports betting, with 5% of the first $5m of net revenue generated in a calendar year paid in tax, before 6% of the next $5m in revenue and then 7% of any subsequent revenue.
The difficulty surrounding any progression of sports betting-related bills in Oklahoma stems partly from the strained relationship between the tribes and Governor Kevin Stitt.
In July 2024, multiple tribes joined forces to argue that Stitt had not negotiated the issue of sports betting legalization in good faith.
The tribes told The Oklahoman that the governor’s efforts threatened to “to undo decades of work and damage tribal-state cooperation for generations to come.”
Rader’s latest bill comes just under a year after Senator Casey Murdock introduced Senate Bill 1434, which would have implemented a plan first outlined by Stitt in November 2023.
It proposed tribes offer in-person sports betting taxed at 15%, while statewide online sports betting was to be taxed at 20%, but it failed to progress beyond its committee assignment.
Fellow Senator Bill Coleman backed the legalization of sports betting last year and is expected to lend his support once the legislative session gets underway next month.
In September 2024, Coleman talked up the impact legalizing sports betting would have on state revenue from taxes collected.
“The figures I keep hearing is around $150m in state revenue that would come out with sports betting in Oklahoma. If you look at sports betting that’s going across the nation right now it’s very popular and very lucrative in the states that have it,” Coleman said to News Channel 8.
Last year, Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA) chairman Matthew Morgan told Legal Sports Report that the tribes remain open to the prospect of legalized sports betting.
“Our members remain united to move our industry, our communities, and our state forward and will work with any partners who share that vision,” Morgan explained.
“We have several new faces in the state legislature and new leadership in each chamber and will see where the legislature and Governor Stitt’s priorities lie.”
Oklahoma has joined South Carolina in putting forward sports betting bills, while Wyoming legislators are set to debate legalizing igaming.