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And then there were 11 — that is, 11 states without a legalized betting market. Oklahoma is on that short list on non-legal states, and it just might be the most surprising one of the 11.
Surprising because Oklahoma got into the casino business quite early. By our count, it was the seventh state in the country to have land-based casino betting (not riverboat) when it first started in the 2000s. With this head start, naturally, you’d think sports betting would’ve followed once the Supreme Court reversed its federal ban in 2018.
Yet, it hasn’t transpired. Not because the state and its residents are bickering about whether it should be legal. No, no, the argument has centered on who gets to control Oklahoma sports betting.
This remains the case in 2025 as the new legislative year has begun. Oklahoma lawmakers are making a renewed push to legalize betting. Keep reading and we’ll update you on where things stand inside the Sooner State.
Multiple Oklahoma Sports Betting Bills Advance On
The legislative year started in January, and begun with a bang. Instantly, bills around betting were floated around in the House. And as of mid-February, there’s been some early progress. Both bills — House Bill 1047 (HB 1047) and House Bill 1101 (HB 1101) — cleared the House Subcommittee on Appropriations and Budget Select Agencies. Both bills would legalize sports betting, but they take different approaches. Here’s the skinny on each:
• HB 1047 would legalize sports betting outright.
• HB 1101 offers a backup plan—if lawmakers can’t agree, voters would decide through a statewide referendum.
Passing the subcommittee is only a small step forward though. Both bills require at least four Oklahoma tribes to sign onto a model compact before the real progress happens. In return, the state would get 10% of adjusted gross revenue from sports betting.
There is a separate bill in the Senate too. Meet Senate Bill 125 (SB 125), which would legalize both retail and online betting. Instead of a flat tax, SB 125 proposes a sliding system, starting at 5 percent for the first $5 million, then moving to 6 percent for the next $5 million, and topping out at 7 percent for anything over $10 million. This tiered model is akin to Illinois sports betting, albeit taxed way, way lower.
It’s all progress on paper, but none of it means a thing unless Oklahoma’s tribes are on board. And that’s where things get tricky as we’ll explain in the next section.
Tribes Are From Sold On New Bills
Getting four tribes to sign on to advance the House bills is very, very unlikely. Not just unlikely now, but probably until 2027. Why? Welp, that’s the first year that Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt could be out of office.
The power game between the governor and the tribes is the reason why betting isn’t legal yet. It’s a game that’s been played since 2019 when Stitt was voted into the position. In that time since, Stitt has tried to renegotiate tribal gaming compacts, pushing for higher exclusivity fees and opening the door for commercial operators — which would cut into the tribes’ gaming monopoly.
Back in 2020, Stitt even signed compacts with two tribes that included sports betting, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled them invalid because sports betting wasn’t authorized under state law. And with that move, Stitt burned a lot of bridges. Heck, burn might be an understatement. It’s more like he blew up the bridges while still on it.
To add insult to injury, in 2023, Stitt proposed a plan that would allow tribes to offer retail sports betting, but he also wanted to open online betting to commercial operators like DraftKings and FanDuel. Unsurprisingly, the tribes rejected that idea, as they should. In states where sports betting is both legal in-person and mobile, the betting apps own 95 percent of the market. The tribes agreeing to allow these apps would be a death kiss to them.
Tensions are still there in 2025. In fact, it might be worse than ever. Multiple tribal leaders have outright said they’re content to wait until he’s out of office after 2026 before making any major moves. Unless there’s a change of heart, we see the House bills dying a quick, painful death this year.
Oklahoma Tribes Are Unique
Oklahoma’s tribal scene is unique in how diverse it is. The state has 39 federally recognized tribes running casinos across the state. That’s the second-most in the country, behind only California. It’s nothing like Florida, which has one tribe — the Seminoles — overseeing all of gaming in the state. A single-tribe state makes it easier to work with state officials.
That luxury doesn’t exist in the Sooner State, obviously, which has created some of the tension with Stitt. Regardless, this huge collective of tribes have exclusive gaming rights under their compacts with the state — signed long before Stitt. That’s a huge opportunity only open to them so you can understand why they want to maintain the exclusivity. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry after all.
The bills on the table all require tribal participation, but getting them to sign on while Stitt is still in office? That’s going to be a tough sell unless a miracle of some sort happens.
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