Two sports betting bills that would require four tribes to sign model legislation passed out of an Oklahoma subcommittee on Monday (10 February).
The bills unanimously passed out of the house subcommittee on appropriations and budget select agencies. They will now move to the full appropriations committee, although no hearing date has been set. Oklahoma’s legislature is set to adjourn on 30 May and there is no crossover deadline.
Representative Ken Luttrell, who has sponsored gambling legislation in the past, is carrying the bills. He is also the subcommittee chairman. On Monday, he explained that HB 1047 would bring sports betting to the state via the legislature. If the bill fails, HB 1101 would then be “triggered” and the decision would go to the voters via referendum.
Luttrell did not specify in either bill whether retail or digital betting – or both – would be legalised should either bill become law. He says that the “tribes can decide” and that “we’re not going to legislate..