An attorney who works with some of California’s more than 90 card clubs as a political consultant has proposed an initiative that would legalize sports betting and give the clubs a piece of the action.
Attorney Russell Lowery is aiming at the November 2020 ballot. Besides card clubs, he also works with online and out-of-state gaming firms and sports leagues. He took the initiative for the initiative and got positive feedback.
He has taken the first step towards collecting signatures on a petition by submitting a request to the state Attorney General.
“I think the biggest reason for this is consumer protection. It’s going on now,” he said. “Because of the revenue the state could generate from legal activity plus the consumer protections that could be afforded the gambling public, it ought to be regulated.”
He is calling the proposed initiative the Gaming Fairness and Accountability Act.
Left unsaid was the fact that in the current state political climate that any proposal originating in the legislature is likely not to include a place for card clubs, or racetracks for that matter. That is due to the opposition of California’s powerful gaming tribes, many of whose leaders argue that sports gaming should be considered a casino game, and thus part of their monopoly guaranteed by the state constitution.
There are no commercial casinos in the Golden State, unless you define a card club as a casino.
Lowery won’t say at this juncture who is financing the push.
Last year state Rep. Adam Gray filed a proposed state constitutional amendment that would legalize sports betting and authorize the legislature to regulate it. The amendment would need to be approved by the voters. But it requires two thirds of each chamber approving it to move it to the November 2018 ballot with a June 28 deadline.
Lowery wrote on Medium.com: “Fierce opposition from entrenched special interest groups makes it unlikely to pass through both houses of the state legislature before the June 28 deadline — and proves voters need to take this matter into our own hands.”
The state needs revenue, but most political eyes are focused on the election of a new governor in November.
The state has more than 108 gaming tribes, of which 65 have tribal state gaming compacts. It’s hard to get most of them to agree on most things.
