Oklahoma lawmakers are working to make sports betting legal in Oklahoma.

We reached out to a casino here in town and spoke with an economist about the impact legalizing sports gambling would have on the tribes and the state.

“We absolutely want sports betting. We invested a lot of money in this facility on the assumption that sports betting would eventually be legalized,” said Pat Crofts, the CEO of Muscogee Nation Gaming Enterprises.

Crofts says he isn’t too familiar with the bills in legislation, but he says that sports betting is something they need.

“The tribes all want sports betting. We have customers asking about it here on a daily basis. This is something that we need to offer our guests,” said Crofts.

The Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association and issued a statement from their chairman saying in part that the “… association will continue to monitor the progress of any bills whose proposed actions pertain to tribal gaming on behalf of our Tribal Nation members. This includes the bills introduced this legislative session.”

But as we’ve reported in the past, bills aiming to legalize sports betting have failed in legislation in previous years because of a lack of agreement between the state and tribes on how sports gambling would work in Oklahoma.