Who knew?
Seems like California tribes—and others around the country—may have found a way to taste a piece of sports betting glory without going through the stressful push to legalize the effort through the ballot, as in 2022.
And it’s been out there for all to behold thanks to Class II gaming and ingenuity. Class II does not require a compact or state permission the way sports betting and other Class III gaming does. Nor does it require payments to the state of California.
Who knew?
The game in question is a variation of prop bets of all wagers, mashed with bingo and tic-tac-toe into something called PlaySqor. Credit to the Chicken Ranch Tribe of Me-Wuk Indians, which launched its own brand of PlaySqor called Playbawk, a sports-themed betting app that allows people to wager on the performances of professional athletes.
The app is mobile yet can only work on the tribe’s reservation near Yosemite National Park.
“This allows people of California to get their sports itch out of their system, while at the same time allowing it to be with each tribe itself,” Chicken Ranch Tribal Chair Lloyd Mathiesen said. “It’s a way for us to be able to have sports betting.”
Playbawk is a parlay pick’em game matching up two athletes.
Players choose which athlete expects to have the highest performance score in nine matchups between athletes in the same sport. Then the bettor places those matchups in the nine spots around a tic-tac-toe type board. They will want the best pick in the center square.
“A lot of people now aren’t really concerned with teams,” Mathiesen told PlayUSA. “They’re about players. … That’s a lot of what our app does, you get to pick your player. It’s going into that new era of just being able to follow players and pick who is going to have a better night.”
A tic-tac-toe board gives players the opportunity to get three in a row in eight distinct locations. To win, bettors not only need correct matchups but on the right spots.
People can bet from $1 to $20. Say you wager $10. If you get all nine matchups right to complete the board, the game pays $320.
The concept took root when Chicken Ranch invested in a company called Vetnos to develop PlaySqor. But this unexpected concept goes beyond the Class II prop-style bet on the Chicken Ranch. The tribe and its partner in Vetnos hope to expand with other California tribes to offer differing branded versions of PlaySqor.
Mathiesen and Vetnos President Dan Orlow spoke to a tribal audience during the Western Indian Gaming Conference at Pechanga Resort Casino to pitch their product.
“We’re the ones who will control Vetnos in the state of California,” Mathiesen said, per PlayUSA. “Whoever wants this has to come and talk to us, and of course, we want everyone to do it. We want other tribes to do it because we make our money from passing this on to other tribes.”
Who knew?
Mathiesen has modest goals for 2024.
“This year, I would love to be able get four or five other tribes signed up and have the snowball effect of it just continuing to go,” he said.
California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) Chairman James Siva moderated the panel at which they pitched the product.
Siva told PlayUSA he was still trying to figure out how Class II and Playbawk work.
“I know there was a lot of interest coming from that room because it’s a new model. I do think there will be more tribes that look to partner with that group. Chairman Mathiesen is well known in Indian Country and well-trusted, so knowing that he and his tribe stand behind this I think will be a good first step.”
Orlow said Vetnos puts California tribes in control.
“It will give Chairman Mathiesen and hopefully other members of CNIGA an opportunity to craft their own narrative and their own sports gaming journey,” he said. “We’re B2B. We do not want your data. We don’t want your customers. We really only want to participate in the volume on the side. We’re in service of Indian Country, that’s it.”
The game and the operation come at a time when tribes don’t see any hope of legalization before 2026 and could be 2030, according to FanDuel President Christian Genetski, a surprising panelist at the conference.
“We’ve got four solid years to try to grab a hold of the market and see where it goes from there,” Mathiesen said, per PlayUSA.
Mathiesen supported the initiative earlier this year to get a referendum on the November ballot. While well intentioned, it drew resentment from the bulk of California tribal communities. Chicken Ranch, which has withdrawn support, saw solidarity with the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund (RSTF). The RSTF helped Chicken Ranch debut a new casino resort.
“When 2028 comes and sports betting is legalized, we might be out of California, but there are plenty of tribes in other states that might like to have it.”
Who knew?
Genetski’s presence was more than just seeing what all the fuss was about. He attended for a chance to apologize for his company and others over their actions and reactions during the 2022 referendums that resulted in fractured relationships with tribal nations.
His presence proved informative and optimistic; no mean feat given that FanDuel was looked upon as the “elephant in the room.”
“If I reflect on 2022, it was a well-intentioned but uninformed and misguided attempt,” he told SportsHandle. “It was definitely a spectacular failure on our part. It wasn’t the right plan or the right time. So, we looked in the mirror and said, ‘It was a failure, what will we do?’
FanDuel contacted several tribes in hopes for an audience.
“We have been humbled by the grace we’ve been shown. … I’m happy to sit here and be the butt of hopefully some friendly jokes.”
FanDuel accepts that any legalization of Class III sports betting requires the tribes to take the lead.
While Genetski wouldn’t explicitly say that he and FanDuel are committed to being something other than branded platforms, he did repeatedly state that it is his company’s intention going forward to honor tribal sovereignty—to not just listen to, but also hear Indian Country.
“We just didn’t put in the time to get the wires uncrossed and really understand and appreciate the time that needed to be put in,” he said, per SportsHandle. “We [came back and] started by saying, ‘That was a mistake; when you are ready to talk, we will show up.’
