Seeking to establish sports betting in the state before the new NFL season starts in September, the Oregon State Lottery (OSL) is partnering with SBTech to host and operate the gambling body’s retail and mobile sportsbooks.
The collaboration aims to get its sportsbooks fully operational by September 2019, just as the NFL regular season kicks off. Seeing sports betting as an additional revenue channel for the state’s programs, Oregon also plans to launch new betting kiosks in the first quarter of 2020. The kiosks are envisioned to offer flexibility and free selection to bettors in placing their wagers.
The Oregon Lottery Commission (OLC) considered a number of other tech companies including Playtech and Scientific Game. In the end, OLCs decided to go with SBTech as the firm was confident of getting things up and running before the proposed September deadline. During the selection process, OLC visited SBTech’s headquarters in Sofia, Bulgaria.
SBTech, one of the biggest sports gambling platforms in the world has been able to secure major multi-year deals in the United States as well as other international locations. Cherry-subsidiary ComeOn, a business-to-consumer gambling operator based in Stockholm, Sweden, has a decade-long pact with SBTech.
While SBTech was confident of meeting the September deadline in Oregon, it appears that may not be entirely possible. It looks like online sports betting should be up and running by September but mobile sports betting will face a small delay. The main reason for this delay is due to an amendment that Senator Mark Hass highlighted which states that the Commission can only offer sports betting services when shares for the game or tickets are directly purchased through equipment that is leased or owned by the Oregon State Lottery.
While the amendment makes it difficult for mobile sports betting to proceed in full flow, Senator Hass does not expect this amendment to stand. Oregon legislators realize that mobile sports betting will play a major role in generating revenues and putting a stop to mobile sports betting will significantly cut into their profits.
Oregon legislators will have to work together to address this amendment highlighted by Senator Hass and make a decision on how to proceed. Unless a decision is made quickly, it seems unlikely as of now that mobile sports betting will be available before the start of the new NFL season.
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