The stunning arrest Thursday of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has shed light on the wild west that is sports betting in 2025.

The FBI arrested Billups and more than 30 other people in connection with illegal gambling. Billups was charged with wire fraud and money laundering for his alleged connection to illegal, rigged poker games with connections to the mafia.

A separate indictment that included charges against an active NBA player said an unnamed person with the Blazers — whose description greatly resembles Billups — allegedly divulged inside information on NBA games to bettors.

The federal investigation and charges landed as the NBA season was days old. The news continued to reverberate across the league, and is a huge hit to the public perception of the league.

This all comes as sports betting has surged in recent years and is now legal in some form in 40 states. What was once taboo in most states outside of Nevada has quickly become accepted and promoted by television networks, sports leagues and many teams.

In Oregon, the total amount wagered on sports has continued to surge. In 2024, Oregonians wagered a total of $787 million on sports, according to Oregon Lottery figures. That’s a 39% increase from the previous year’s total.

But the state’s unique platform has raised concerns about hooking a younger generation on gambling. Here’s what you need to know about sports betting in Oregon:

Unlike many states, it’s almost completely digital

Many sports teams around the country now have in-person sportsbooks attached or near their stadium, like Wrigley Field in Chicago and Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Most states with legal sports betting have it available in person or online.

But Oregon is one of a handful of states in which residents can only bet online. That’s primarily done through the DraftKings mobile app or on a computer. The exceptions are a handful of tribal casinos located around the state.

Jeff Marotta, president of Portland-based consultancy Problem Gambling Solutions, told OPB in 2024 that other forms of gambling like slot machines and scratcher cards are more appealing to an older generation. But online gambling attracts a younger following.

“What this did is offer a new kind of product that is much more attractive to a younger audience, who are very comfortable engaging in transactions over the internet,” Marotta said.

And those who gamble online are at much higher risk of developing issues with gambling addiction, he said.

The Oregon Lottery has said players have multiple options to limit their betting on sports in the app, either by the number of bets or total dollars spent.

It’s a monopoly run by the Oregon Lottery

Sports fans across the nation have become accustomed to the barrage of gambling ads from many different companies: FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM, just to name a few.

But Oregon is one of several states where the state lottery oversees sports betting operations. The Oregon Lottery partnered with Boston-based DraftKings in 2022, making it the digital sports betting game in town.

In 2021, a bill in the Oregon House of Representative could have opened up sports betting to a competitive marketplace, but it died in committee.

It continues to grow in popularity

Sports betting still isn’t as popular in Oregon as video lottery machines, which are ubiquitous in bars and restaurants. The Lottery had nearly 11,000 machines across the state as of 2023, according to state data.

But in just a few years, it has become one of the most popular forms of betting in the state. In 2023, the Oregon Lottery netted $55 million from sports betting after prizes were awarded. In 2024, that number rose to $75 million.

The Oregon Lottery forecast in its 2026 budget that the total money wagered on sports in the state would cross $1 billion for the first time.

It’s a huge source of revenue for the Oregon Lottery, which is the second-largest source of revenue in the state after the general fund.

You cannot bet on college sports — mostly

College football and basketball remain some of the most popular sports to gamble on. Many states have rules preventing betting on in-state college sports or prop bets (for example, that an Oregon Ducks receiver will score three touchdowns).

But Oregon doesn’t allow all betting on college sports. The only venues for that are tribal casinos.

State Rep. John Lively, D-Springfield, previously served on the now-defunct House Committee on Gambling Regulation. He said in 2024 that betting on college sports is a contentious issue between tribes and the state government.

“If we were to expand that to college betting, we would indeed be moving revenue that’s now in those casinos and more would be coming to the state,” he said.

Oregon had sports betting in the 1990s. Leagues were not happy.

Perhaps nothing illustrates the changing attitudes in sports betting quite like Sports Action. It was Oregon’s first attempt at legalized sports betting, launched in 1989. The goal was to raise money for college athletics in Oregon.

It bore little resemblance to the online gambling of today. People would predict a slate of NFL games on a piece of paper. The more games they got right, the higher the payout.

But leagues did not embrace Sports Action. The NCAA refused to host basketball tournaments in Portland and the NFL said Oregon would never receive an expansion team.

Up until the Oregon Legislature banned it in 2005, Sports Action was the only state-sponsored sports betting product in the country.

Oregon lawmakers have sponsored legislation in recent years to open up betting on college sports, but those bills went nowhere.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/24/5-things-oregon-sports-betting/