Mobile Sports Betting on the Horizon with New Oregon Lottery App

An app with limited functionality released by the Oregon Lottery earlier this month could have bigger implications than initial appearances indicate. Despite the app’s relatively tame functionality at this time, it could be the harbinger of bigger things to come for Oregon concerning online gambling and sports betting.

The new Oregon Lottery app is available on Apple’s App Store and should be launched for Android users in early November, according to Willamette Week. The app currently allows customers to check their scratch-off tickets, draw games and keno tickets for winning outcomes.

Other features in the Oregon Lottery app include responsible gambling tools such as tips for playing responsibly, budgeting tools and cost-of-play calculators. Additionally, customers can use the app to find the nearest lottery retailer and to see where their money goes. The Oregon Lottery has not announced a timetable or specific plans to introduce online lottery sales.

Phase One of Oregon Lottery Sports Betting Launch

What makes the launch of a simple ticket-checking app significant are past statements from the Oregon Lottery clearly indicating they are interested in mobile sports betting. The Oregon Lottery has been raising the alarm for months now that its customer base is aging, stating that it needs to connect with a younger demographic and that mobile gaming is key.

As Willamette Week reported back in June, Farshad Allahdadi of the Oregon Lottery put it this way:

“A portion of the Oregon gaming market is not attracted to the games in our current portfolio. Game attributes that we are missing include social, competitive and mobile/cashless convenience.”

He then suggested that the Oregon Lottery Commission approve sports betting.

In that same story, Willamette Week reported that Lottery spokesman Matt Shelby said the Oregon Lottery has pans in place to launch a mobile app in two phases, First, he said, the lottery would release a basic app allowing players to check their lottery numbers and see the latest jackpots.

Phase two, according to Shelby, is to launch “virtual sports games.” His use of the term “virtual sports games” is a bit confusing, because typically virtual sports betting refers to games in which players bet on the random outcomes of simulated sports events, similar to the Xpress Sports game rolled out by the Pennsylvania Lottery last month.

Shelby could have been referring to those types of games because the Oregon Lottery has discussed introducing a game allowing players to bet on virtual competitions. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn the federal sports betting ban, the Oregon Lottery said it already had a plan to roll out virtual sports betting by 2019.

On the other hand, he could have been referring to actual sports betting because the lottery has made it clear that it is interested in offering the real thing. The Oregon Lottery has also already run projections that forecast the lottery deriving as much as $120 million from sports betting.

Oregon Lottery is Already Authorized for Sports Betting

There are no bills in the works to legalize sports betting in Oregon, but lottery officials have stated no new authorization is needed to launch sports betting on the app or anywhere else.

Oregon was one of just a few states that were grandfathered in under the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) because the state already had a limited form of sports betting in place when PASPA was enacted.

At the time, the Oregon Lottery offered a sports betting game called Sports Action that took parlay-style wagers on NFL and NBA games. The Oregon Lottery shuttered Sports Action in 2007 under pressure from the NCAA, but never passed any legislation to outlaw sports betting.

The Oregon Lottery could theoretically reintroduce some form of sports betting any time it wishes without any additional authorization from the legislature. However, Matt Shelby has cautioned this doesn’t necessarily mean the lottery will move on sports betting unilaterally.

“Just because you can do something on paper doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea,” he told Oregon Live in May. “We have to work with the sports leagues, the NCAA, the governor’s office and everyone else to make sure we’re not getting out over our skis.”

Additionally, Oregon has no legislation in place to regulate full-on sports betting. The lottery could bring back Sports Action on its own and even has broad powers to introduce new game types, but new legislation would be needed to provide regulations and a tax scheme for actual sports betting.

Oregon’s gaming tribes would also have to be taken into consideration. Through pacts with the state, Oregon’s tribes are able to offer all the same games offered by the lottery. Introducing single-game sports betting would free the tribes to offer the same thing.

A number of things need to be worked out before Oregon brings back single-game sports betting, but all the major players seem to be on board. The biggest remaining tasks include getting the legislature on board and ensuring the tribes are satisfied.

Sports Betting in Oregon Could Spur Action in Neighboring States

If Oregon does successfully introduce sports betting, it could spur other states in the West to take a second look at the idea. Since the Supreme Court ruling in May, the vast majority of sports betting efforts have taken place along the East Coast and South.

Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia and Pennsylvania have all passed legislation to legalize sports betting since in recent months. New York is also likely to move on sports betting in 2019.

In many cases, we have seen state officials point to legalization efforts in neighboring states as justification for legalizing sports betting in their own states. The common theme expressed by lawmakers in those states is that if a neighboring state passes a bill before they do, it could siphon wagering dollars away by enticing residents to cross state lines to place their wagers.

The West hasn’t had to deal with those concerns yet aside from the well established Nevada sports betting industry. However, a new state legalizing sports betting could provide pro-gaming lawmakers with ammo to press for legislative efforts in their home states.

That being said, the West also isn’t nearly as crowded as the East Coast. Cross-border cannibalization is a more immediate threat in the Northeast. Even so, a successful launch of sports betting in Oregon will at the very least catch the attention of lawmakers in neighboring states.