The Oregon Lottery & Sports Betting
The Oregon State Lottery is the public agency responsible for licensing, operating, and regulating online sports betting in the state. Unlike most US states — which use commercial licensing — Oregon runs sports betting as a Lottery-operated monopoly, with DraftKings as the sole online operator.
- Established1984
- Sports Betting Since1989 (Sports Action) / 2019 (modern)
- Current OperatorDraftKings (Jan 2022)
- Previous OperatorSBTech (2019–2022)
- Revenue Share~51% to state
- Withholding8% above $1,500
The Sports Action Era (1989–2007)
The Oregon Lottery launched Sports Action in 1989 — an NFL parlay-only betting product that pre-dated PASPA's 1992 federal restrictions. Because Sports Action existed before PASPA, Oregon was one of only four states (alongside Nevada, Delaware, and Montana) grandfathered to keep its sports betting product. Sports Action was voluntarily ended in 2007 after sustained NCAA pressure that threatened to pull championship events from Oregon.
The 2019 Relaunch & the SBTech Contract
After the Supreme Court struck down PASPA in Murphy v. NCAA (May 2018), Oregon was the first state to act on its grandfathered status. The Lottery launched "Scoreboard" in October 2019 powered by SBTech. The product struggled with usability and brand recognition — bettors largely preferred established sportsbook brands.
The 2022 DraftKings Takeover
DraftKings acquired SBTech as part of a SPAC merger in April 2020, inheriting the Oregon contract. In January 2022 the platform was officially rebranded as DraftKings Sportsbook — with no other operators added. Oregon remained a single-operator state.
Revenue Share & State Funding
The Lottery's contract with DraftKings reportedly directs ~51% of gross sports betting proceeds to the state — tied with New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island as the highest effective rate in the country. Lottery proceeds (across all products, not just sports betting) constitutionally fund Oregon's state university system, public education, and economic development — which is also the rationale for the college betting ban.