Oklahoma sports betting bills fail in the Senate
Attempts to pass legislation to legalize sports betting in the state of Oklahoma failed on Thursday as two bills fell short in the Senate.
HB1047 and HB1101 failed to get to a vote in the Senate before the Thursday deadline.
Governor Kevin Stitt had said he would veto HB1047. However, HB1101 included a provision to put the issue to a referendum if it was vetoed.
Sports betting has repeatedly gained unanimous support in the House of Representatives. Only a few weeks ago, the Senate approved the bills out of the committee, marking the furthest that proposed sports betting legislation had progressed in the state Legislature.
Yet, according to Fox23, the governor, the Oklahoma tribes, and other stakeholders remain divided on how to implement sports betting in the state.
Speaking about the failure of this latest legislative push, the senator who led on the issue, Sen. Bill Coleman, highlighted the inability of negotiation among interested parties.
“Although the legislation did not move forward this session, the issue is far from dead. The biggest challenge I have noticed through this process has been a lack of communication; no one is sitting down and talking through this,” Coleman told Fox23.
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