Oklahoma Leaders Demand Regulation of Online Prediction Markets

Oklahoma tribal leaders are calling on Congress and federal regulators to crack down on online prediction markets, which they say exploit legal loopholes to offer services that resemble sports betting.

The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes has raised concerns about these platforms, emphasizing the importance of tribal sovereignty, consumer protection, and maintaining the regulation framework that has governed tribal gaming for decades.

"They're functionally indistinguishable from sports wagering and other forms of gaming," said Matthew Morgan, chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association.

Morgan said he was concerned that these companies are operating outside the regulation systems that tribal casinos follow.

"Going around the state and the tribes and going to offer these activities to citizens in the state of Oklahoma circumvents all these governmental infrastructures that have been set up to legally regulate these activities," Morgan said.

Illegal Betting vs. Prediction Markets: The New Fight for Oklahoma's Gaming Revenue

The debate comes months after Oklahoma's latest attempt to legalize sports betting failed at the state Capitol. House Bill 1047, which had the support of the tribes, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the state's major public universities, would have allowed sports betting through existing tribal gaming compacts.

Morgan said that while sports betting remains illegal in Oklahoma, residents are still spending money through prediction markets, resulting in lost revenue for the state and tribes.

"One of the things that both the state and tribal governments are looking at is they look at this activity to provide, whether it's the state side of the equation, looking at tax revenue or, you know, exclusivity payments from the tribes offering this activity, should it become legalized, sports betting in the state. That's a lot of economic activity that's going outside of the state. A lot of it's going outside of the country right now to operators that are operating outside of the United States," Morgan said.

More and more residents are turning to illegal sports betting networks

Morgan also said that many Oklahomans are already participating in sports betting through unregulated channels.

"I think if you looked or just talked to your circle of friends, you would find the vast majority of them that want to participate in sports betting or participating in sports betting, without the legal guardrails around protecting not only the activity and the integrity of the offering, but also without either government receiving any economic benefit from those activities," Morgan said.

As the legal fight continues, tribal leaders expect the conversation about legal sports betting in Oklahoma to remain a prominent issue.