Lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann said Oregon Lottery staff were already working on launching a virtual sports betting game when news of the Supreme Court ruling arrived Monday. In the game, players will be able to predict and bet on what will happen next in a computer-generated football game

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a nationwide ban on betting on college and professional games on Monday, Oregon Lottery officials say they are open to the possibility of bringing sports betting back to the state. 

The addition wouldn't be completely out-of-character for the state, which allowed players to bet on the outcomes of NFL games in its Sports Action lottery game from 1989 to 2007. 

Oregon, along with three others states, was allowed to grandfather in sports betting after the passage of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, said Oregon Lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann.

Oregonians were able to place wagers in Sports Action until 2007.

But under pressure from NCAA officials, who said they would never bring a tournament to a state with legalized forms of sports betting, the Oregon Legislature moved to eliminate the game. In 2007, the Oregon Lottery did away with the Sports Action games. 

The justices ruled 6-3 that the federal law prohibiting sports betting outside Nevada by forcing states to keep prohibitions on the books was unconstitutional. The ruling could lead states to create their own legalized betting programs to generate funds or cause Congress to pass legislation regulating sports gambling. 

Baumann said Oregon Lottery staff were already working on launching a virtual sports betting game when news of the Supreme Court ruling arrived Monday. In the game, players will be able to predict and bet on what will happen next in a computer-generated football game.

Baumann said it will soon be available on Keno monitors in retail locations across the state. 

The Supreme Court ruling opens the possibility of even more sports betting games, but Baumann was hesitant to say when, or if, that would happen. 

"We wouldn’t move on anything until we had conversation with our stakeholders at the Capitol," he said. "We are not in any hurry to offer up other sports games."

Officials are also waiting to see what the ruling means for tribal gaming in Oregon. 

"We're certainly looking into what this means for Oregon," said Justin Martin, lobbyist for the Grand Ronde tribe and a tribal member.

Martin said Grand Ronde officials are monitoring the changes and plan to speak with the governor about how those changes impact tribal gaming.

If the gaming landscape changes in Oregon, the Grand Ronde tribe wants to be part of the evolution, he added.  

Over the years, people have called the Oregon Lottery asking when the Sports Action game will return. During the fiscal year ending in 2007, the game brought in $14 million in revenue. 

The addition of sports betting games could attract new players, not just existing lottery customers, Baumann said.

"The key thing is offering games people want to play," he said, adding that more players means more revenue for the lottery's beneficiaries, including veterans services, state parks and schools. 

The benefits are promising, but Baumann stressed several conversations would need to happen with the governor and Legislature before sports betting is back in the books. 

"We want to see how this is all going to shake out across the country," he said. 

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2018/05/14/could-u-s-supreme-court-ruling-bring-sports-betting-back-oregon/608908002/