Governor Kevin Stitt: ‘I Support Sports Betting in Oklahoma

Oklahoma City (KOKH) – The push for legalized sports betting in Oklahoma is growing by the governor. Kevin Stitt.

“Let’s be clear: I support sports betting in Oklahoma,” the Republican said in a tweet. “If it’s good, understanding that the state can increase their income to invest in important things, like education.”

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Stitt’s comments come after Rep. Ken Luttrell (R-Ponca City) recently introduced another bill to legalize sports betting in the Sooner State. Luttrell proposed a similar bill last session, but it failed.

The Ponca City Republican said Oklahomans have to go to unregulated ports for betting on sports, which costs the state money. “They have little care, there is no other way. There is no advice for compulsive gamblers, there is no such thing. There, they send their money abroad to foreign betting services, “Rep. Luttrell.

He added that now Oklahomans are also traveling to neighboring states that allow sports betting. According to the Legal Sports Report, Colorado, Kansas and Arkansas have legalized it. Sports betting is also accepted at some New Mexico race casinos. As Rep. “The Kansas Star is across the state line from my district,” Luttrell said. I have voters crossing state lines to place bets there and Kansas is benefiting. “

He went on to share that he worked with the tribes to come up with a sliding scale that would take a percentage of their income and send the money to the state coffers. This figure includes four percent of the first $50 million in revenue going to the state, then five percent of the second $50 million, and six percent of everything above that.

All Sports Betting Will Take Place Through the Tribal Gaming Compact Model, as an Agent

He thinks that even mobile betting will be limited to tribal land. In the opinion of Rep. Luttrell, “I think Governor Stitt will be comfortable with this and understand that this is a good economy for the state and that we should take advantage of it and allow our tribal partners to prosper.”

Stitt said there was “something to come” in his tweet about sports betting in Oklahoma. The 2023 legislative session will begin on February 6.

Sports Betting and Other Legalized Gambling May End Long Struggle After Georgia Legislature Revamps

State Representative Ron Stephens, a Republican from Savannah, wanted to provide an update on gambling in the state of Georgia. In 2021 hearing about legalized sports gambling, he went to the house well and said he was introducing a bill to ban all gambling in the state. He asked the representatives to come and sign the bill. His bill, Stephens said, will appear immediately after the end of the Hope Fellowship.

“Not one person stood out,” said Stephens, who chairs the Office of Economic Development and Tourism Committee. “If someone signed it, it would be their political death wish, they would have been thrown out of power with both feet.

Stephens said it’s time the state’s permitted gambling — the lottery — was expanded to include sports betting, along with other measures to allow horse racing in casinos. He said he has no more confidence that the legislature will vote in session beginning in January to have constitutional amendments on the ballot in 2024.

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Stephens said, “We get away with $100 million a year in sports betting, and other states, and places like Antigua, get that money from people here in Georgia.” “Let’s fix it, tax it and invest in Hope and pre-K.”

Gambling legislation may also find a friendly audience in the state Senate this year. Lieutenant Governor-elect Burt Jones, a Republican from Jackson, has supported a sports betting bill as a state legislator in the House he will soon lead. Jones pointed to state Sen. Brandon Beach, an Alpharetta Republican who has consistently supported the expansion of legalized gambling in Georgia, to serve on the Senate Nominations Committee.

Stephens said the gambling law would require two bills before Georgia voters have a final say. One bill would require constitutional amendments to allow sports betting, horse racing and casinos and the second would specify exactly how the money would be spent. Stephens said it will be up to local governments to decide if they want to have horse-riding businesses in “resorts”, which often include casinos.

“There is a passion for horse racing in all equestrian markets, and if the community is allowed to vote, I believe they will,” Stephens said. “Then, on another day, come back to this question of entertainment (casinos) when the time is right.”

In 2022, Sports Betting Legislation Passed the Senate, Survived a Committee Vote, but Died in the Oversight Legislation Committee, Stephens Said.

State Senator Elena Parent, a Democrat from Decatur, said many people are betting on sports across the state. Legislation and “system building,” parents said, would allow the state to collect taxpayer money and “see the benefits of reimbursement.”

But the idea of ​​combining casinos with sports betting laws makes the issue moot, he said. “It’s not a slam dunk, since there are many people who would like to see casino games legalized at the same time (like sports betting), which brings more opposition,” the parent wrote in an e- mail. -mail.

Stephens said he’s ready to roll the dice, so to speak, and let local governments make the call. If their citizens want to race horses in casinos, so be it. Otherwise, it won’t go anywhere. The constitutional amendment does not force gambling or racial discrimination in any city or town, he said.

Opponents of casinos insist that it is a tax return for the poorest Georgians, who gamble to reduce extreme poverty. Many also say that the money from the lottery’s Hope scholarship money goes to wealthy families who can afford better teachers and schools and eat up most of Hope’s profit-based funding.

In May 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States turned on the US $165 billion sports betting industry by allowing states to approve online sports betting as the legislature agreed to close the budget gap. Money from online betting taxes has flowed into banks in 22 states, including neighboring Tennessee, which has generated about $74 million in sports betting taxes since November 2020.

However, South Carolina, Alabama and neighboring Florida do not regulate online betting. According to a state-wide poll conducted by the School of Public Policy and the University of Georgia, 45.6% of potential voters support online sports betting. Experts in the state and 42.6% against, and 11.8 respond “don’ know.”

Given the Poor Understanding of the Election, Did Stephens Read the Book Well?

In the question about gambling in Georgia, 59.7% support, 29.1% against, and 11.3% said “don’t know”.

In her run for governor, Stacey Abrams supported legalizing sports betting to pay for higher education. Governor Brian Kemp opposed the legalization of sports betting in 2018. He did not issue a public statement on the matter during the governor’s race with Abrams in the fall.

However, it does not mean that Kemp will oppose the amendment. “To be able to do that (terror) here, it will require a constitutional amendment. No matter what the governor thinks, you cannot avoid constitutional reform,” he told reporters in August. Stephens said the lottery and funding for Hope and pre-K have been “sacred cows”. The community wants it funded, but funding has not been cut because hope is popular 카지노사이트.

“What the people (voters) are sending us here is why we need it,” he said. “We have 3.6 million families that are affected by Hope and Pre-K and they need an opportunity to continue to support Hope and Pre-K. All of the money that we’ve raised from the football game that we’ve raised over the last two and a half years will support Hope in Pre-K. “These people are grown now, they have children of their own, and they want the program to be funded again.”

Opponents of horse racing and pari-mutuel betting, including the United Baptist Convention and its 1.3 million members, say race tracks in Georgia will eventually give way to slot machines and indoor gambling tables. to play sports. They say, gambling and broken families will follow. Stephens maintains that rural Georgia will benefit greatly from a strong horse industry. He said that horse trading, whether it is showing horses or successful breeders, can stimulate job growth that is lagging behind urban areas in the state.

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Annual Thoroughbred sales in Florida are approximately $156 million, according to a 2017 study from the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association. There are 100,000 thoroughbreds in the state and the direct impact on the thoroughbred industry is $1.5 billion, according to traders. The company says there are 23,000 jobs in the state related to racing.

Jobs include walkers, grooms, jockeys, fencers, barn painters, groomers, groomers, tanners, grocers and grocers, repairmen, car repairers, car repairers, repairmen, etc. “The equine industry fits well with the governor’s workforce development strategy,” Stephens said. “That’s been his biggest problem this whole season. The unemployment rate in rural Georgia is not high, even though the state has full employment.

“We have people who would like to stay in their country, but there are no institutions supporting them.”

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