Chris Boline
When it comes to people hoping for Oklahoma sports betting to arrive in the near future, that’s not going to happen. There was hope that the senate would step in and get something done, but the opposite has been the case. This left plenty of people in the state angry. Now, Oklahoma sports betting fans are furious with Kansas update that they’ve legalized betting. Oh brother.
After it was announced that Kansas sports betting would be made legal, it has since been announced that things will come into play on July 1. That means that the opening day for sports betting in the state is right around the corner. This news comes shortly after it was announced that no sports betting in Oklahoma will be coming in 2022.
As you might have been able to guess, this has left people in Oklahoma pretty ticked off. Not only did they have their hopes of having sports betting arrive get destroyed, but now they’re seeing a nearby state move forward with the plans. This is frustrating not only for sports fans in Oklahoma, but it’s also bad for local officials as well.
There were several legislators who were pushing for sports betting to go down, as they know what kind of opportunities it would have provided from a revenue standpoint. Instead, the state won’t be able to see things until at least 2023, but there’s little hope that anything positive will come then either. All in all, this Kansas update has made things worse for Oklahoma.
There is hope to have betting in Kansas by football season 🤞@RLinnehanXl gives an update on the recently approved sports betting bill that will go into effect on July 1#gamblingtwitter https://t.co/NkW7WRlaSW
— SportsBettingDime (@SBD) June 3, 2022
What happened to the Oklahoma sports betting bill?
A lot of people continue to ask themselves what happened to the Oklahoma sports betting bill? Well, it was announced last month that things died in the senate. At first, it looked like things were going to get signed off and then a date would be revealed for things to get underway. However, with the state shutting things down, it ended everything that people were hoping for.
“It’s truly an economic issue for the tribes and for the state,” Republican Ken Luttrell said. “We’re missing millions of dollars in revenue each week. Oklahomans are sports bettors whether they’re doing it online, under the table or journeying out of state placing their bets. We should be participating in that income and using that revenue for public education and for core services.”
Luttrell, who has strongly been pushing for Oklahoma sports betting, was one of the many people not happy with the decision. It indeed looked like sports betting was going to make its way to tribal casinos, with the option for online betting to follow soon after. Instead, Oklahoma is back to square one with everything and no one knows if things are going to change.
The fact of the matter – which Luttrell eluded too – is that people are still making illegal bets. The hope was that by legalizing sports betting, things could finally be regulated. We’ve seen this issue across the United States, as places like Texas, Florida, California and more are battling these issues. Oklahoma was ready for things to end in this department, but they’ll have to keep battling it.
Oklahoma fails to pass tribal sports betting bill amid lack of "appetite," moral issues in Senate | Yogonet International https://t.co/y6TdtC8q7K
— Yanni Tesh (@yannitesh22) May 18, 2022
No sports betting for football season is terrible for Oklahoma
As you might have been able to guess, no sports betting for football season is terrible for Oklahoma and it has people even more up in arms. Especially for college football, people are always ready to check out the NCAAF odds through the best rated sportsbooks to try and make some bets. College football no doubt is king in Oklahoma, especially since there’s no NFL team. This adds to the intrigue.
With that said, both the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys are exciting teams that people are always going to be following closely. There’s a new regime for Oklahoma, as Lincoln Riley is now the new head coach at USC. Not only that, but quarterback Caleb Williams is also at USC, while former 5-star signee Spencer Rattler has transferred to South Carolina. That was a big move by him.
Meanwhile for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, head coach Mike Gundy continues to make a splash out on the recruiting trail and he’s ready for his guys to make some serious noise in the Big 12. With this, there’s plenty of hype around the team and people would have loved the opportunity to place some bets on them each week during the football season. This is something people have wanted for a long time.
Instead, they can’t do that, as the bill wasn’t passed. People in Oklahoma are going to have to leave the state if they want to make legal sports bets. For them, Kansas will now become a new option for them as of July 1. This shouldn’t be the case, though, as people in Oklahoma feel like they shouldn’t have to cross state lines to make their wagers. It will be on the state to change that down the road.
