California’s tribal casino operators have been approved to start collecting signatures for their petition to put a sports betting question to voters.
Late last year, a coalition of 18 California tribal gaming operators announced a plan to authorize legal sports betting at their casinos and the state’s four racetracks. The plan involves purely land-
based wagering, meaning bettors would have to be physically present at a casino or racetrack to place a bet.
On Tuesday, California’s attorney general’s office authorized the tribal coalition to begin circulating petitions seeking the approval of state voters for a statewide ballot initiative in this November’s election.
Assuming the tribes can gather the nearly 1m required signatures and have them all verified by the state by June 25, voters who trot down to the polls this November would be asked to amend the state constitution to permit this expansion of gambling options.
The AG’s summary of the tribes’ proposed measure notes that, in addition to authorizing betting at tribal casinos, a ‘yes’ vote would also allow federally recognized tribes to expand their current gaming menu of slots and card-based table games to include roulette and dice games.
The tribes’ proposal purposely excludes the state’s numerous cardroom operators from adding sports betting, based largely on the tribes’ longstanding antipathy toward the cardrooms horning in on what the tribes maintain is their exclusive right to offer so-called ‘house-banked’ card games (blackjack, baccarat).
The cardrooms have already come out in opposition to the tribes’ initiative, while offering support for a rival proposal by state legislators that envisions not only a potential role for the cardrooms but could eventually permit digital betting.
The cardrooms’ case for participating in betting has been undermined by repeated regulatory spankings inflicted by state and federal regulators due to the cardrooms being unable or unwilling to adhere to anti-money laundering policies and other financial obligations.
Industry observers doubt that any purely land-based betting market would provide any significant benefit to anyone. One only has to look at New York, which has restricted wagering to in-person only at a handful of upstate casinos, to see the impact of no digital betting options.
