At a recent panel discussion during the National Indian Gaming Association conference and trade show in San Diego several speakers urged gaming tribes to toss aside their differences and work together to get the legislature to approve a sports betting bill.
Jacob Mejia, vice president of public and external affairs for the Pechanga Tribe’s development corporation, called on gaming tribes to “start doing the substantive work now” rather than work to put a sports betting initiative on the 2020 ballot. “I think it’s important that tribes get in front of this issue to ensure we coalesce around specific policy goals,” he said.
Attorney Stephen Hart, who works on Indian gaming issues, added that tribes need to “develop consensus” to get a bill approved. “The bottom line is that if we can develop consensus, we can control the future of this gaming issue,” he said.
Two roads exist to reach that destination, 1) by initiative or 2) by the legislature. The first method would be the most costly for the tribes.
Mejia noted that California tribes are leery of sports betting because in almost every state that has legalized it, tribes don’t have an exclusive right to offer it. This concerns California tribes because they have a constitutional monopoly on Las Vegas style gaming.
Meanwhile, the polls show that California residents are tilting in favor of legalizing sports betting. The last survey showed 49 percent in favor and 40 percent opposed, a ten percent switch since 2017.
Increased media attention can only move those figures further in the approval column, said Mejia. He anticipates some kind of bill will be introduced this year but doesn’t consider that the new governor, Gavin Newsom, considers it a high priority.
The issue that prevents tribal unity is whether mobile sports wagering is allowed. Smaller tribes don’t favor anything that keeps people from visiting their casinos. Other tribes are mixed, depending on whether they want to invest in the technology to take advantage of mobile wagers.
Yet sports wagering with mobile betting only taps the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the industry, said Hart. In Las Vegas half of the bets are made with mobile platforms. In New Jersey that number is 80 percent.
“I share Jacob’s concern that mobile gaming is different,” said Hart. “We don’t know which way the market is going. It’s going to be awhile before awhile before we know if mobile will be a component.”
