At the beginning of 2022 there was the possibility of four competing sports betting measures on the November ballot in California. As of this week, that number is now two.
No one believes sports betting won’t come to California. What they are fighting about is who will be in control.
As Pechanga.net editor and tribal member Victor Rocha said last month, “We have exclusivity. We are not going to give that up.”
On May 9 a coalition of three tribes that had promoted their own mobile sports betting measure decided to continue gathering signatures for it, but to aim for the 2024 ballot instead of this November. That way they won’t muddy the waters of the main contest between tribes who want to legalize retail sports betting and expand the number of games they offer at their casinos to include craps and roulette—and out-of-state sports betting operators, who want to also legalize mobile sports betting.
The mobile sports betting measure would still require sportsbook to tether to existing tribal casinos, however it wouldn’t be under the control of Indian gaming. It would have been possible for both measures to be passed.
A measure backed by four cities that host card rooms that would have allowed card rooms, racetracks, professional sports venues, and tribal casinos to offer sportsbooks, has been abandoned. That now leaves two rival measures: the 18 tribes backing the Coalition to Authorize Regulated Sports Wagering against the out-of-state commercial sports betting operators.
A spokesman for the tribes that include the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Wilton Rancheria and the Rincon Band of Luisieño Indians, Rob Stutzman, said in a statement: “With the ongoing collapse of support for the FanDuel/DraftKings online sports betting measure and the effectiveness of our recent ads, our strategists have recommended that there is a better path for victory in 2024.”
He added, “We’ll continue to gather signatures until July and then submit them to ensure a tribal-operated mobile sports betting measure with a far better revenue-sharing deal for California is on the 2024 ballot.” They also plan to spend $100 million to defeat the commercial measure.
Both tribal coalitions have tacitly agreed to concentrate fire on ads targeting the commercial sports betting proposal with the canny title California Solutions to Homelessness and Mental Health Act, that threatens to break up their monopoly on casino gaming.
That initiative two weeks ago submitted 1.6 million signatures, 600,000 more than required to earn a place on the ballot. Because homelessness is the number one political issue in the Golden State, the initiative’s promise to earmark 85 percent of taxes raised toward that issue carries a potent message. It is backed by Bally’s, BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, Penn National/Barstool Sportsbook and WynnBET.
The tribes funded a poll that indicated that 53 percent of California voters oppose the “corporate online sports betting ballot initiative,” compared to 48 percent in November. They are funding numerous ads to drive that percentage down. So far they have spent $12 million on a statewide campaign.
According to Viamedia, there has been a 3,399 percentage increase in political advertising in the first quarter over the first quarter of 2018.
Californians for Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming spokesman Roger Salazar commented, “These ads will help alert Californians that the promise of money for the homeless is an illusory, and the real motive is increasing the corporate profits to send out of California. These out-of-state operators don’t care about California or the promises between Californians and the state’s native tribes.”
The ads have phrases such as: “Fan Duel and Draft Kings, two out-of-state corporations making big promises to Californians,” and “Out-of-state corporations wrote an online sports betting plan called ‘Solutions for the Homeless.’ Really? The corporations take 90 percent of the profits.”
At the recent Indian Gaming Association tradeshow in Anaheim, there was much discussion of the issue of multiple measures addressing the same issue. The consensus was that in such an event, all measures would be defeated. James Siva, vice chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), declared, “I think it’s a small, small possibility they all pass. I think it’s much more likely that all three ultimately fail because of voter confusion.”
Although the card rooms’ measure and the tribal mobile effort are no longer a factor, they haven’t given up efforts to fight both the tribal measures and the commercial sports betting measure. They have filed two lawsuits trying to disqualify the tribal retail only measure—but without success.
Also fighting the commercial measure are the NAACP, Asian Americans for Good Government, faith-based groups and several unions.
