On the last point, Shelby claims there is a conflict of interest due to the fact a percentage of lottery profits go to state universities.
Anyone looking to place an in-game wager, as bettors in New Jersey , will be left out in the cold. Same goes for prop bets they won’t be available to start, but that could change.
If you were at an Oregon lottery retailer, potentially, you d have the opportunity to bet on additional things, Shelby noted. Who s going to have the most yards in the first half, that type of thing.
Shelby says at this point, they don’t know how much revenue sports betting would generate for the state, nor where exactly that money would go.
Giving Back?Philip Yassenoff is hoping that some of that fresh funding will go towards more support for problem gamblers.
He’s the program manager at a local gambling treatment center and says opening up the sports betting floodgates brings new risk that must be managed. Already, some 2.5 to 3 percent of the population are considered problem gamblers.
“If you increase access, that number will go up,” he told KATU News. “Or it will just reach a new population that isn’t prepared for how much money they can lose.”
Between 2015 and 2017, 58% of the the funds from The Oregon Lottery went to public education. Job creation accounted for 26%, while just 1% of the lottery money went towards problem gambling treatment.
