Legalizing Sports Betting in California: Hurdles & Prospects
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Nothing gets pushed back in the state of California,
00:06 despite the lobbying, despite the advertising.
00:09 You know, similar to Florida struggles
00:11 over the last couple of years,
00:12 California is having the same issue
00:15 as far as legalizing sports betting.
00:16 For those unfamiliar,
00:17 California does not have legalized sports betting.
00:20 I gotta tell you, Mike,
00:20 as we continue to hear stories about this,
00:23 it seems to me, I don't know if you feel the same way,
00:25 that California is going down the Florida road.
00:28 I feel like the only way
00:29 that California is gonna have sports betting legalized
00:31 is through the tribes,
00:32 because otherwise it is just madness
00:35 trying to get this thing pushed through.
00:37 - Yeah, Craig, I completely agree with you.
00:40 It's definitely gonna have to come through the tribes.
00:42 You know, Casey Thompson and his group,
00:43 they try to do a lot of good things,
00:45 but there's a lot of tribal pushback
00:46 from the major three, you know, gaming tribes,
00:49 Pechanga, Morongo, and San Manuel.
00:51 And as long as those three aren't on board,
00:53 I just can't see it happening.
00:54 I mean, he's gotten some smaller revenue sharing tribes
00:57 that don't have gaming,
00:58 but get to participate every year in this pool
01:00 where basically every non-gaming tribe
01:01 gets, I think, one million annually.
01:03 He's trying to get them 15 million annually,
01:04 which would be a huge change,
01:06 and that's why those tribes are interested.
01:07 But yeah, as long as those three big tribes
01:10 are not interested, and then, you know,
01:12 recently the news comes out that FanDuel DraftKings,
01:15 that MGM, and Fan, excuse me, Fanatics,
01:17 the four members of the sports betting alliance,
01:20 you know, aren't interested in this.
01:22 I don't see how the major gaming operators
01:24 and the major gaming tribes could be, you know, against you.
01:27 And this move anywhere,
01:28 but I think it does set the prospects up potentially
01:30 for, you know, 2026 or maybe 2028.
01:34 James Siva Morongo, who's the chairman of CNIGA,
01:36 that organization that came out against this initiative,
01:39 you know, he said 2028 probably.
01:42 Some of those big tribes would like to do
01:43 brick and mortar first and then go to online.
01:46 I don't know if that's gonna be possible
01:47 every time you lose a cycle, you know,
01:49 it makes that more difficult.
01:50 So yeah, a lot of, you know,
01:53 pockmarks in this road to legalization,
01:56 but at the same time to have the big tribes
01:59 and then the big sports betting operators
02:00 on the same side finally,
02:02 that's something that didn't happen last cycle
02:03 with Prop 27 when it got handily defeated.
02:05 So that's a good sign that everybody's moving
02:07 in the same direction and maybe it doesn't happen now.
02:09 They're trying to gather signatures.
02:11 I don't even know if they'll do that
02:12 and get it on the ballot.
02:13 And even so, you probably have opposition
02:15 from those major operators and the tribes
02:16 that say, don't vote for this, voter confusion comes up.
02:19 We saw it get 18%, you know, I mean,
02:21 I'd be shocked if it gets to 50 plus one,
02:22 something like that, that it needs to move.
02:24 But again, laying that groundwork
02:26 for potentially that next legislative cycle,
02:28 that's pretty significant and something that you hope,
02:31 if you're rooting for California sports betting legislation,
02:33 as many of us are, whether you're a player
02:35 or somebody in the industry that could make,
02:38 you know, money on this or be able to bet finally legally
02:40 and not have to use the illegal offshore operators,
02:42 you know, something to watch here,
02:43 but you know, good that the operators,
02:45 I think, and the tribes are on the same path,
02:47 those big operators and big tribes.
02:48 I think that could lead somewhere,
02:49 even if it is two to four years away.
02:52 (upbeat music)
02:54 (upbeat music)