GAMING AMERICA | CALIFORNIA
GOLDEN STATE, GOLDEN PRIZE With sports betting legalization to be put to voters in the Golden State next November, Michael Bartlett reports on the divergent opinions. Ever since the May 2018 US Supreme Court decision that struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a 1992 law that prohibited wagering on sports in any state outside Nevada, the eyes of sports betting operators have been focused on one prize: California. Sure, legalizing sports betting in New Jersey – the state that led the legal fight that resulted in the landmark Supreme Court ruling – was nice. Pennsylvania was a big prize, and since New York came online January 8 of this year, numerous wagering records have been set. However, California’s population of 39.6 million dwarfs second place Texas (29.7 million) and is twice that of New York (19.2 million). At a panel discussion on sports betting at the National Indian Gaming Association conference in July 2021, participants referred to the California market as the largest in the country… by “an order of magnitude.” They noted the Golden State has the fifth-largest economy in the world, is more populous than the entire nation of Canada, and has almost two-times the potential of Texas.
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“This is why there is so much effort, so much money going into California. It is the holy grail,” panelists said. This will be the first of a series of stories as Gaming America covers the effort to legalize sports betting in California. While many of the 30 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have done so over the past three-plus years did so via their respective state legislatures, California has opted to stick with its direct democracy tradition of ballot initiatives. When the state’s voters go to the polls on or before November 8, they will be presented with at least one, probably two and potentially up to four competing propositions. The parties behind the ballot props are California’s federally recognized tribes, the state’s legal cardrooms, and a late entrant – a consortium of seven online sportsbook operators led by DraftKings and FanDuel. With eight months still to go, each of these groups already has raised tens of millions of dollars – with predictions of hundreds of millions set to be spent on getting voters to pick their prop. The bulk of this story will be about the one measure that is already qualified for
the ballot. It would allow only in-person betting on tribal lands and four selected racetracks. It is backed by most of the tribes in the state and is opposed by the legal cardrooms, who say a provision to allow private lawsuits in lieu of the attorney general makes a danger to cities that depend on cardroom revenue. We also will take a look at a proposal to legalize online sports betting anywhere in the state. It is sponsored by seven sportsbook operators and is opposed by backers of the in-person tribal initiative. This being politics, the opposing sides make every attempt to tear down the other. Gaming America takes no position on any of these propositions, and made every effort to allow the parties involved to express their opinions. Of course, even if one or more propositions are approved by voters, expect lawsuits to be filed as soon as the ink is dry!
THE EARLY QUALIFIER If not for the pandemic, California might already have legalized sports betting. A ballot measure that seeks to allow
