California card rooms trying to prevent sports betting initiatives

Peter LewisPeter Lewis | December 23, 2021
California card rooms trying to prevent sports betting initiatives

While there’s massive support for California sports betting to arrive in the near future, not everyone is on board with this idea. This is expected, as multiple different ideas are being presented for the state to move forward with things. With that said, there’s now plenty of nerves with some California card rooms trying to prevent sports betting initiatives from being able to move forward. This is not good.

Per local report, various different California card rooms are arguing that some of the initiatives that have been presented are not legal. They’re taking things one step further here, as a lawsuit was filed in the California Supreme Court against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber earlier this week. Whoa. More specifically, this lawsuit is trying to prevent sports betting on tribal lands from going down.

It should be no surprise that California card rooms would be against this kind of a move, as it would take away from their businesses in the grand scheme of things. Once California sports betting does go through, the Indians tribes, similarly to in Florida, would look to take charge of things and hit the ground running in letting folks check out all the different odds for sports, of course including the NFL, for their bets.

This is going to be a business that’s going to be in the billions when it comes to total handle and revenue. For the state of California as a whole, the online sports betting is going to provide an economic boom and get rid of the illegal activity that continues to be recorded. Illegal betting on sports has been going on for years, but it needs to be regulated. Now, California card rooms may try and stop things from moving up.

The outcome on Florida’s sports betting no doubt will impact California

It goes without saying, but the outcome on Florida’s sports betting no doubt will impact California and how their battles go down in the courtrooms. For Florida citizens, they were all excited for Florida sports betting to be made legal this fall. Matter of fact, things had actually gone through for the Florida Seminole Tribe and people were able to place bets following a silent launch of online betting.

That was short-lived, though, as multiple lawsuits were presented for a U.S. Federal Judge to take a look at to prevent the sports betting in Florida to be allowed. The first lawsuit was thrown out by the judge and this was considered a major victory for everyone in Florida. People had been dreaming of being able to make sports wagers in peace and not have to travel out of the state to be able to do so.

However, the U.S. Federal Judge who was looking at the second case ended up siding with the opposition. In the blink of an eye, all the hard work done by governor Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe had gone to waste, as the launch once again had to be postponed. Not only that, but the online sports betting app that was launched had to be taken down and bets are no longer being accepted. This is just brutal.

Now that everyone in the country has seen that things have been shut down in Florida, all it’s going to do is motivate people against sports betting in California to try and do the same. We’re already seeing that with California card rooms trying to take down a sports betting initiative. What’s going to stop them from going after other groups who are trying to get on the November 2022 ballot. Things are clearly a mess.

California sports betting would change the landscape in the USA

Few people can argue that California sports betting would change the landscape in the USA in terms of gambling as a whole. California is one of the biggest states, but the fact that they’re behind the ball in terms of sports gambling is a major problem. Keep in mind that they have one of the best and biggest pro teams out there. Take a look at the Tuesday Night Football showdown between the Rams and Seahawks.

Los Angeles hosted Seattle in a monster NFC West game. Can you imagine how many bets would have been made in person if there were sportsbooks for fans to checkout the NFL odds through NFL betting sites? Things surely would have been through the roof. Not only that, during the NFL season, folks would also race to try and bet on the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers and more.

Oh, and don’t forget about the NBA season right now too. LeBron James is one of the best players of all time. Folks love him and the Los Angeles Lakers. You already know that so many bets would be made prior to games at the Staples Center. Heck, people would love to lay down some action for road games as well. That’s how excited fans are to root on the team. Betting makes things more fun.

Right now, people are waiting to see which initiatives will be ready to rock for the next ballot. People are ready to vote and they hope sports betting will arrive down the road. Now, there’s nerves things might be delayed again. Stay tuned to see how things shape out. 

Peter Lewis

Peter Lewis Jr. comes from Mississippi where he and his family spend their days discussing college football and basketball. He's written sports journalism for years after studying journalism at a local university.