Oregon Lottery brings online mobile sports betting to Oregon in partnership with SBTech; it’s the first-ever legal and mobile online betting sportsbook in the state since 2018. In Oregon, the 1992’s federal law banning wagering was not applicable until it was ruled out as illegal by the Supreme Court, in 2018 by the House Bill 3389. But, now Oregon Lottery will take bets both via its mobile app and lottery retailers.
Oregonwill be the first Northwestern state to have a mobile betting sportsbook which will transcend state boundaries. The online mobile wager can be accessed by bettors from anywhere except sovereign Native American lands.
Matt Shelby, thespokesman of Oregon Lottery, gave a detailed insight about the state’s betting plans. He mentioned that the sportsbook would contain,mobile betting, tailgated by retail locations in the form of self-service kiosks, lottery retailers, and games similar to those which were offered in the past. However, mobile-video lottery games, like video lottery terminals (VLTs), will be strictly excluded from the platter. Online lottery products may also cover games based on scratch-offs and draw-tickets, like Powerball and Megabucks.
He stated,
To meet that timeline, our initial offering will need to be mobile-based – leveraging the Oregon Lottery app. As you probably know there are already mobile sportsbook operators out there who offer their platforms to gaming companies. Picking one and incorporating it into our app would be the fastest path to a sports offering.
Shelby also clarified the rumor of disagreeing with his sports betting partner, SBTech. He stressed that there is no concern regarding the Oregon Lottery’s dealings with SBTech. He added,
I don’t know if there is a growing concern about SBTech… We know there’s a vendor that bid for this contract and did not get it (that) made some claims. We looked into those claims.… As the concerns were raised, we took them seriously. State police investigated. At the end of the day, they didn’t surface anything worth moving forward.
The Oregon Lottery announced its Scoreboard app feature which will allow users to place bets on professional sports like, basketball, Olympics, baseball, tennis, or others. For now, college sports have been excluded from the betting menu, but they may be added back in the future.
Two very crucial rules to be noted by bettors are:
- Users have to be at least 21 years old
- Winning tickets are valid for 30 days after an event’s ends (it is half of the time which is usually provided in other states as per the sportsbooks in Nevada).
Oregon is up for a 12-18-month rollout for its sports betting offerings with a three-phase rollout, beginning with an online offering in the opening weekend of the NFL season.
