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Oregon Lottery sets provisional sportsbook launch date

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Mobile sports betting could be coming to Oregon next week, with the state lottery aiming to launch its Scoreboard-branded app the week commencing 7 October.

An Oregon Lottery spokesperson confirmed the provisional start date to iGB North America.

However, they added, this is pending a final end-to-end test, and checks of its payment solutions.

The SBTech-powered app was originally scheduled to go live in time for Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season.

However the lottery said that it would not rush through the roll-out, preferring to ensure the product was ready before going live.

Assuming it does in fact launch next week, this will coincide with the start of the National Basketball Association season and the latter stages of the Major League Baseball playoffs.

The status of Scoreboard was briefly in doubt after state Senators Mark Hass and Chuck Riley each filed an amendment to House Bill 3389 — a bill concerning the confidentiality of lottery winners’ names — which would have prevented players in Oregon from placing online or mobile bets.

Although Riley’s amendment was adopted, the bill stalled in at the committee stage in the Senate after passing the House.

The offering would be the only online sportsbook product in the state. Only the state lottery and tribal casinos are licensed to offer sports betting, and the state’s tribal casinos may only offer retail sports wagers under their current compact.

In June, Oregon Lottery signed a contract with SBTech ensuring that the its retail and mobile sportsbook offerings would be powered by the supplier’s technology, after it was selected as the preferred bidder by the Lottery Commission’s RFP team, ahead of rival bidders Scientific Games and Playtech, in April.

After signing the deal, the lottery revealed that it expected to generate $141.2m in revenue over the first three years following the launch of the retail and mobile sportsbook products.

The roll-out of retail wagering is expected to take place in early next year.