Oregon was very keen on getting in on the lucrative sports betting market and the state government wasted no time in passing a sports betting bill that legalized betting. However, Oregon only offered a single operating system via Scoreboard which went live in October 2019.
It’s been over a year since Oregon has had legalised sports betting and the results have not been very impressive. It’s not hard to see why the results are not impressive as the betting regulations in Oregon don’t make it attractive for betting operators or punters.
Oregon state legislators wanted the betting bill to be as stringent as possible in order to protect residents from gambling harm. However, by making things overtly stringent it has backfired and not brought in the results that the state government expected when it approved betting legislation.
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This is why Gov. Kate Brown is now pushing for betting legislation to be amended. Gov. Brown is now pushing for mobile sports betting to be made legal, for multi-provider betting licenses, for collegiate betting and for licensed betting operators to purchase official league data to make in-play betting possible.
A new bill called HB 2127 has made provisions for all of the above and the Governor is keen on getting it fast tracked and approved. Under current betting regulations, Oregon only has online betting and no mobile betting. Betting on collegiate sports is illegal and there is no compulsion for betting operators to purchase league data.
The new regulations will look to make things more attractive for sports betting operators and bettors in the state. The Oregon Racing Commission (ORC) is expected to be the new sports betting regulator under HB 2127. The new bill also puts a cap of $50,000 on license fees per year.
However, some of the language of HB 2127 is a little confusing and might put off betting operators. This bill specifies that apart from the $50,000 license cap, licensed betting operators must also pay a max of 10 percent on gross sports wagering receipts.
The bill says 75 percent of this amount will be credited to the ORC account and go to the General Fund in the State Treasury. The remaining 25 percent will also go to the ORC but will be used to support horse racing. One wonders, if this extra tax will discourage betting operators from entering Oregon.
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