Oregon Sports Betting Via SBTech To Launch Pending Background Investigation

• Oregon was one of the states that were grandfathered into the recently repealed sports betting federal law PASPA.
• The Oregon Lottery will be the regulatory body over the sports betting industry in the state and sports wagers will be placed with lottery retailers and the Oregon Lottery app.
• SBTech currently has licenses in both New Jersey and Mississippi where sports gambling has been legalized and authorized.

SALEM, Ore. – Sports betting in Oregon is looking for a start date before this year’s upcoming football season, and if all goes right, the state might just his that deadline.

The Oregon Lottery Commission recommended partnering with SBTech during a meeting last month to be the state’s sports betting provider and are now waiting to complete a thorough background check.

“Based on preliminary security and due diligence investigation, the Oregon Lottery believes entering into a contract with SBTech is consistent with our principles of fairness, integrity, security, and honesty,” said Farshad Allahdadi, the chief gaming operations officer of the Oregon Lottery.

SBTech is a global online service provider and currently holds licenses in both New Jersey and Mississippi. Both of those states have legal mobile betting and Oregon is looking to include sports wagering as part of the state-commissioned lottery app.

This comes from a memo that Allahdadi sent to the Oregon Lottery Commission earlier this month. The memo also included an early look into what a final contract may entail financially for SBTech.

“The Oregon Lottery expects to enter into a tiered revenue-sharing agreement with SBTech (Global) Limited, with the vendor’s share ranging between 9% – 11% of monthly net gaming revenue (NGR). The duration of the contract is expected to be between three and five years,” wrote Allahdadi.

The investigation is expected to be finalized by April 19, 2019. While there is no guarantee that a contract will be signed directly afterward, the chances are likely.

Will Any Oregon Sports Betting Bills Need To Pass?

The simple answer to that question is no. Oregon was actually one of four states that were grandfathered into the federal sports gambling ban known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).

This allowed the state to keep any sports betting laws it originally had. At the time the Oregon Lottery had a parlay game known as Sports Action which was used to bet on professional sports matchups.

However, the NBA sued the Portland Trailblazers and ordered them to discontinue the activity, which in turn the lottery stopped serving after only one year. The NCAA also refused to host any basketball tournaments in the state until it ceased sports betting operation.

Although, since PASPA was repealed in May of 2018, every state now has the freedom to create their own laws and regulations concerning sports betting. Since Oregon already had this freedom, state lawmakers didn’t feel the need to create extra legislation.

News tags: Oregon | Oregon sports betting | SBTech