California’s sports betting hopes and dreams have once again been dashed in the state legislature. State Sen. Rod Wright’s SB190 bill failed to make it out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, killing off any chance of passage in the current legislative session. Wright’s 2012 sports betting legislation, SB1390, passed the full Senate last year by a commanding margin only to die in the Assembly’s Appropriation Committee. Next year, the job of killing the bill will be given to Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with a candlestick.
Even if SB190 had passed, California’s sports betting plans would have to wait until the resolution of New Jersey’s court fight with the US Department of Justice and the country’s pro and college sports leagues over the constitutionality of the federal PASPA sports betting prohibition. Thursday was supposed to be the deadline for the DOJ et al to file their response to the state’s recent filing with the Third Circuit US Court of Appeals. But on Wednesday, the court granted the DOJ et al an extension until Tuesday (28) to turn in their homework. NorthJersey.com’s John Brennan reported that the extension will not alter the other stated deadlines, including the commencement of oral arguments on June 26.
North of the border, the Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) has launched a new website intended to bring public pressure to bear on the senators holding up passage of the C-290 single-game sports betting bill. Despite passing the House of Commons with all-party support over a year ago and polls showing nearly two-thirds of Canadian support the bill, C-290 has been languishing in the Senate, an unelected body that traditionally acts as little more than a rubber stamp. The last time C-290 was mentioned in a Senate debate was May 1, when Tory Sen. Don Meredith rose to recite the same tired and discredited talking points about gambling suicides and to urge his fellow senators to “defeat this bill before it destroys more families and more lives in Canada.”
In a bid to push the Senate to get the lead out, the CGA has launched C290now.ca, which contains a ‘Myth vs. Fact’ section to help dispel a lot of the misinformation spread by the major sports leagues that led the charge to prevent C-290 from becoming law. The site also contains easy links to allow Canadian punters to contact the Senate to express their displeasure at a group of unelected political appointees holding up the will of Parliament. The Senate breaks for its summer recess on June 28.
