Arizona’s sportsbooks began taking wagers just in time for the NFL season opening on September 9. The state easily brushed aside a lawsuit by a tribe claiming that sports betting violates the state constitution.
Two retail sportsbook locations began operating in Phoenix, the FanDuel Sportsbook at the Phoenix Suns Arena and at temporary windows converted from ticket windows and operated by Caesars Entertainment at the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field. Chase Field becomes the first Major League Baseball stadium to host in-person betting. The Caesars Sportsbook will operate from a more permanent location after the first of the year.
Governor Doug Ducey, FanDuel executives and several retired Suns players attended the opening ceremony at the Phoenix Suns Arena and then retired to the sportsbook lounge to watch the season opener between the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Not limited to professional sports, bets may also be taken on college games. The first day of wagers saw steady lines and good size crowds, according to FanDuel senior director for retail operations Jeff Lowich.
The commercial sports betting operations were able to beat the tribal operations out of the gate due to a delay in finalizing an addendum to the tribal gaming compacts, according to the Arizona Department of Gaming.
The compacts negotiated between Governor Doug Ducey and the state’s 22 gaming tribes and signed by him in April, allowed for sports gaming to be operated by ten professional sports operators and 10 tribes. It also legalized daily fantasy sports and the addition of some Las Vegas style table games to tribal casinos and deploy more slot machines.
The Daily Fantasy Sports games went live August 28.
Eventually the Department of Gaming did issue licenses for tribes to offer sports betting. There were 16 applicants, the 10 tribes issued licenses are:
The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe had tried to stop the roll-out of sports betting in the state with a lawsuit that claimed sports betting was illegal and that the process violated Arizona’s Voter Protection Act by amending the 2002 initiative—Proposition 202— that legalized Indian casinos in the state. They also argued that it was unfair to limit the number of sports betting licenses for tribes to 10.
The Yavapai-Prescott did not sign the compacts back in April. They complained that the compact was offered to them as a “take-it-or-leave it” proposition. The state, including some tribes, counter that the tribe always intended to sue no matter what was offered.
However, Superior Court Judge James Smith did not issue an injunction to stop the opening. He wrote that Proposition 202 only applied to tribal gaming, not other types: “Plaintiff did not cite language from the proposition indicating that Arizona would never expand gambling to different activities or locations.” The judge added, “What is more, the proposition contemplated gambling expansions.”
The judge also agreed with the state that the tribe waited too long after the April signing of the compacts before challenging the law. He wrote, “The tribe’s delay filing suit rebuts the notion of irreparable harm.”
A spokesman for the governor, C.J. Karamargin, hailed the ruling:
“Today’s ruling is not just a win in court, but a win for Arizona,” he said. “A tremendous amount of work by a diverse group of stakeholders has gone in to implementing HB2772 and the amended tribal-state gaming compacts. This ruling means that work will be allowed to continue.”
It doesn’t mean there won’t eventually be a trial, and that the tribe could still prevail in that trial, only that there won’t be an injunction to stop sports betting in the meantime.
The judge left a possible line of attack for the tribe to take in court: A challenge based on the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. He wrote, “Tribes using trust land for expanded gambling is a much different argument than H.B. 2772’s treating tribes differently than Sports Franchise Owners.” He added, “And that difference between tribes and sports franchises was the thrust of the Motion. The tribe could not use its Reply to broaden the argument.” Smith concluded, “Those may be legitimate and serious issues to explore in this litigation, but they do not justify the injunction the Tribe requested.”
Three days after sports betting went live in Arizona the tribe filed an amended complaint.
The 20 licenses that have been issued are as follows:
Tribal Licenses Allocated (and their sportsbook operator partners): Fort Mojave Indian Tribe (SuperBook Sports), Navajo Nation, Quechan Tribe (Unibet Arizona), Tonto Apache Tribe (Churchill Downs), Tohono O’odham Nation, Hualapai Tribe (Golden Nugget), Ak-Chin Indian Community, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe (Digital Gaming), San Carlos Apache Tribe (Wynn), Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation.
Sports Team/Organization Licenses Allocated: Arizona Cardinals (BetMGM), Arizona Diamondbacks (William Hill), Phoenix Suns (FanDuel), Arizona Coyotes, Phoenix Mercury (Bally’s), TPC Scottsdale (DraftKings), Phoenix Speedway (Penn National), Arizona Rattlers (Rush Street Interactive).
