Oklahoma Online Sports Betting

Oklahoma has a healthy gambling industry complete with Tribal casinos, horse racing tracks and a limited number of legal online sites – Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and horse racing betting. The state does not yet allow for online poker or casino games, or mobile sports wagering in the style of NJ sports betting sites.

Oklahoma’s many Tribal Casinos offer slot machines, video poker, table games and slot machines but as yet, no sports betting options are available. Any future expansion of betting types must almost always involve the tribal casinos in the consultation and execution process.

One tribe attempted to bring online casino games to Oklahoma but their effort eventually came to naught in 2014 due to tribal politics and federal intervention. In 2020, there was hope that the tribes were going to be allowed to open sportsbook on their land, but that was overruled by the courts in a controversial lawsuit.

Oklahoma offers its visitors and residents the aforementioned superb Tribal Casino industry, legalized DFS competitions, live poker, horse racing betting (at the track, off-track and online) and charitable gambling.

Oklahoma applies a flat 4% state tax on gambling winnings.

Gambling wins over $600 in the state of Oklahoma may possibly attract an additional Federal Tax.

We recommend contacting your tax attorney to assess your potential Federal tax liability if you have a big win in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma’s Casinos apply a minimum 21-years-of-age limit for those casinos that serve alcohol and 18-years-of-age otherwise. Most other forms of legal gaming apply an age limit of 18, whilst charitable gaming age limits vary from 16 to 18.

Sports betting laws in Oklahoma are tied to developments at the Federal level of government. The odds for introducing sports wagering in Oklahoma changed dramatically in May 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court of 2018 found against the generation-long federal nationwide ban of sports betting.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt thought he brought sports betting to the state when he renegotiated the compacts with the Comanche Nation and Otoe-Missouria Tribe. However, the state attorney general disagreed with Stitt’s actions, claiming that the governor did not have the authority to change the contracts in that manner. 

House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat eventually sued Stitt, claiming he abused his authority in making the deal. In Oklahoma, the governor is only able to authorize games that are listed in the Tribal Gaming Act, and sports betting is not among the games listed in the law. As such, the state courts overturned the compacts and sports betting is still illegal in the state.

In the meantime, Oklahoma’s residents and visitors can enjoy the sports betting options of DFS and horse and greyhound racing.

There have been several efforts to brings online gambling to Oklahoma by the Tribal Casinos, who invested millions of dollars into developing online betting sites in 2013. Yet, online gambling is still illegal in the state despite the push from the tribal casinos. 

As is the norm in many states, the broad wording of the Oklahoman State Statutes, Section §21-942 is considered broad sweeping enough to cover online gambling (both online sports betting and online casino play) as illegal.

However, Oklahoma state law does not apply to Tribal lands. Once the Tribes retail sportsbooks open for operation, online sports wagering will be legal whilst in the grounds of those bricks-and-mortar sportsbooks only.

In the meantime, as mentioned above, DFS and online betting on horse and greyhound racing are both legal ways for the online sports bettor to wager in Oklahoma until the time that full sports betting is legalized in the state.

U.S. federal law legalizes Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) competitions as they are considered to be a contest of player skill, rather than a gambling game of chance. Many state governments have taken the federal ruling onboard and have ruled DFS to be legalized too at the state level.

Oklahoma, so far however, is an exception to the rule. In 2016, the Tribal Casinos came out against DFS in Oklahoma claiming DFS competitions eat into their bottom line, and the DFS contests break the revenue-sharing agreement between the tribal casinos and the state.

However, all major DFS companies still accept players from Oklahoma in their real money DFS competitions under the current status quo.

Given the approaching legality of sports betting for citizens of Oklahoma, legalized eSports betting should transform betting in the Sooner State. Players will win exciting eSports wagers in profoundly new ways through betting markets never before experienced and thereby create a potentially record-setting new tax revenue streams for the State Government of Oklahoma.

eSports Explained

Since the very first days of video games, there’s always been a competitive side to the games and players have always tried to better their colleagues.

Fast forward to the present day and professional video game play at the top level, (i.e. eSports) has led to massive wagering on the outcomes of the global tournaments.

eSports is now a massive and growing industry, where professionals play an official network of gaming tournaments, competing in games like Rocket League, Starcraft II, FIFA 18/19 and Fortnite). With its ancestry in groups of close friends hosting all-niter LAN parties just a few short years ago, the eSports industry shows no signs of slowing down. The global eSports market is expected to cross the $1 billion per annum barrier in 2018/19 and with every tournament, entrance tickets become more difficult to come by.

Naturally, there is big money on offer, and where there is big money, sportsbooks are not far behind. Global sportsbooks now offer betting markets across all the big eSports tournaments.

Expect to see eSports betting in Oklahoma at your favorite legalized Sooner State sportsbook soon.

Passed in 1983, the Oklahoma Horse Racing Act allowed for legal betting on horse racing. In 2004, a referendum was passed to allow racetracks to add casino-style gaming to effectively become ‘racinos’.
The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission oversees the industry and is responsible for licensing of the state racetracks, approving racing events, animal welfare, simulcasting and track management.

Trackside Betting

There are three horse racing tracks offering betting on live racing on weekends and simulcast betting during the week.

Off Track Betting (OTB) in Oklahoma

The state of Oklahoma currently offers a vast network of OTB locations, and occasionally OTB’s are open for service at county fairs.

Online Horse Racing in Oklahoma

Most online horse racing betting sites operating in the United States accept customers from the Sooner State and offer real money betting action on all the big U.S. races (the Kentucky Derby and the rest of the Triple Crown, Arkansas Derby, etc.) and most popular international horse racing venues.

Visit our page about Oklahoma’s Online Casino Gambling Laws for more information about which Online Casinos are licensed to Operate in the State