The combatants have licked their wounds, but whether they are ready to make nice for the good of all, remains to be seen in California. Back in November, two competing and expensive propositions—Props 26 and 27—duked it out for control of the sports betting market in a state with a lucrative population.
One proposition, that being 26, favored tribal casinos, while 27 was geared more towards commercial sportsbooks, according to Pechanga.net.
Both went down to defeat by large margins, perhaps a victim of the ubiquitous number of ads saying ‘hooray for our side,’ all at a total expenditure of $460 million.
At a seminar at the ICE exhibition just concluded in London, tribal leaders indicated that they have not given up hope that something can be salvaged, but only if operators and tribes work together, and with an understanding that in the California market, tribes rule.
James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), told conference attendees that operators like FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM need to rethink their approach.
“Either they massively underestimated the size and reach of those tribes, both politically and financially, or they maybe had bad campaign consultants,” said Siva, as reported by Pechanga. “I think there’s still a path for tribes and the commercial operators to work together, but it’s going to be a path and relationship that’s decided by the tribes.”
Pechanga Band of Indians Chairman Mark Macarro said younger Californians favor online sports betting.
“I think there’s a demographic proclivity to want to play online,” said Macarro. “It doesn’t exist right now with the Baby Boomers and Gen X, but Millennials are different players and we’re not sure that slot machines will be what they want to play.”
But it may take years, beyond 2024 at the earliest. It’s up to the sportsbooks to make the initial move.
It’s also a numbers game.
“There are 270 tribes across the nation involved in gaming in some way [and] 70 of those tribes are in California,” said Siva, whose CNIGA group represents 45.
“Tribal gaming now represents 44 percent of the total gaming market in the U.S., 24 of that 44 percent is solely California tribes,” he added. “So you break that down and that means that California tribes represent nearly a tenth of the entire gaming market of the U.S., commercial, tribal, everything.”
In 2021, U.S. Rep. Lou Correa of California filed a bill that would have expanded the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to allow for digital wagering off reservation, and Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada has repeatedly offered proposals to do away with the federal excise tax on sports betting.
