The West Is Next: Oregon Online Sports Betting Goes Live

Like Lewis and Clark, legalized online sports betting has made its way to Oregon.

After months of anticipation, the Oregon Lottery launched its Scoreboard betting app on Wednesday.

In rolling out the SBTech-powered product, Oregon becomes the eighth state to introduce regulated online wagering and is the first on the West Coast.

How Oregon online sports betting works

Available on desktop and for by Android s, the Scoreboard app also exists in the Apple App Store.

s who are at least 21 years or older will need to establish a player and their identity using their Social Security numbers.

Per state regulations, bettors will only be allowed to wager on “sporting events associated with a recognized governing body.” Interestingly, though, NCAA action is not included. Instead, the lottery allows for betting only on the major professional leagues, such as the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.

Additionally, the public will see lines set for:

• Australian rules football
• Cricket
• Cycling
• Darts
• Golf  
• MLS and NWSL soccer
• MMA
• Motorsports
• Rugby
• Snooker
• Tennis

Betting can only take place within Oregon state lines, but the Scoreboard app will be unavailable on tribal lands.

s have the option of placing single-event wagers, parlay bets and in-play betting. They also have the opportunity for early cash-outs on unsettled wagers, allowing s to salvage as much of a loss as possible or capitalize early on big wins.

Payment and withdrawal methods

The Scoreboard app affords s several deposit options, including:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• Discover
• PayPal
• ACH

Bettors can set their deposit, bet and loss limits in the app, a “responsible gaming tool,” as the state puts it, to allow s to curb their play.

Additionally, the lottery “reserves the right” to implement minimum and maximum limits on bet amounts, which will be communicated to s when applicable.

Still more to come for Oregon sports betting

The Scoreboard app is only the first step of the Oregon Lottery’s three-phase rollout of regulated sports betting. The next objective: Install and activate self-service kiosks throughout the state.

As spokesman Matthew Shelby detailed over the summer, the Oregon Lottery intends to introduce “beta” machines at select lottery retailers. A larger rollout would then follow some “six or so months” after the initial introduction.

Shelby noted that current retailers would have the opportunity to integrate these kiosks, as would any other businesses in the state that isn’t currently a retailer.

The final phase features Oregon bringing back a variation of its old Sports Action parlay game that was discontinued in 2007.

Could Oregon bring on college betting?

As noted, Oregon sports betting will begin with only professional sports. In earlier interviews, Shelby noted that university officials in the state expressed concern with bringing collegiate sports closer to gambling.

Shelby emphasized how the lottery wants to ensure “our university system is OK with where we’re going” and that “it was easier to roll out with professional sports first.”

That said, he added, the Oregon Lottery will keep an eye on how the market performs. And perhaps down the road, “you can start having conversations about what sports betting is yielding and what it could yield if we offered NCAA.”

The long road to Oregon online sports betting

Initially, the Oregon Lottery aimed to introduce its sports betting app in time for the first Sunday of the NFL season. It seemed possible after the lottery selected SBTech as its sports betting partner early in 2019.

The opening weekend came, yet the Scoreboard app remained on the shelf. As the weeks wore on, the lottery continued to put off a target launch date.

The sports betting team noted during a September meeting of the Oregon State Lottery Commission that it remained cautious in rolling out the mobile solution. As such, the team aimed for a late-September or early-October launch.

Yet again, however, the lottery was not ready. Despite confirming that the app was “in the home stretch” and had completed testing, thus ready in time for an Oct. 7 debut, the lottery had to delay.

As a lottery spokesman confirmed later, the Oregon Lottery needed the OK from banking partners before unveiling the app. Additionally, following a weekend of light testing with banking partners, the lottery requested to polish up a few details.

After all this, though, Oregon finally has its online sportsbook. And not a moment too soon.

Not the first to the sports betting party

The lottery’s Scoreboard app provides Oregon with its first online wagering option. It also becomes an alternative to retail betting that went live in August.

Chinook Winds Casino Resort, a tribal casino on the coast, debuted a brick-and-mortar sportsbook that month. Several other tribal-owned properties have also expressed interest in doing so.

The app will not be functional on tribal lands, per state regulations. In fact, if they have the desire to, tribes can revisit compact agreements with the state to potentially receive the authority to launch mobile betting options.

Until then, Scoreboard will run unopposed. And Oregon is officially online.