Oregon - First West Coast State to Offer Legalized Sports Gambling

For more than 50 years, Nevada had been the only American state that could offer legalized sports betting services. That stood until late last year when the US Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on other states offering such services. While several states on the East coast immediately jumped on board with the legalization of sports betting for its residents, thing have been moving much slower on the West Coast. Perhaps, there has been a reluctance to compete with established bookmakers located throughout Nevada.

Times are changing. A West coast state has finally made the move to allow its residents to legally bet on sports events being played in American and around the globe. What's most surprising is the first West coast state to offer such services is not California or Arizona. In fact, it's Oregon.

It was only a couple of short months ago that the Oregon state legislature passed the bill that legalized sports betting for its residents. Fast forward to now, the first Oregon sports book to start accepting sports wagers will start doing so on August, 27, 2019, just in time for the start of the NCAA FB and NFL 2019 seasons. That first Oregon sports book is owned and operated by the Chinook Winds Casino Resort, located in Lincoln City on the Oregon coast.

Beating the Competition

There might have been a sense of urgency for Chinook Woods to make its move. Sitting in the wings is the lottery’s Oregon Lottery Scoreboard, which is slated to start offering its own version of sports parlay betting at some point later this year. It's noteworthy that the Oregon Lottery was offering lottery parlays to residents as recently as 2007, but had operations shutdown due to public outcry. With preexisting barriers now out of the way, the games are about to begin.

With a good head start, Chinook Woods will have the opportunity to build up a loyal customer base before the lottery's option comes to market. Chinook's sports book will operate under the direction of Las Vegas Dissemination Company (LVDC). According to LVDC Director of Sales Jay Vaccaro:

“We are grateful to the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians for this opportunity and are looking forward to sharing our Las Vegas style of sports wagering with the customers of Chinook Winds Casino Resort. The support and cooperation we have received has been outstanding and together we will bring additional fun and excitement to this great property.”