Changes Arrived for the New California Sports Betting Bill

Peter Lewisby Peter Lewis
Updated: December 6, 2023
Changes Arrived for the New California Sports Betting Bill

Will this finally be the year where good California sports betting news comes in for local fans? While it looked like nothing was going to be on the table for 2024, new hope arrived this fall, with a new bill coming in from out of nowhere. However, the Indian Tribes were not happy about it, causing a lot of division among officials. Now, though, changes arrived for the new California sports betting bill this week and people can’t stop talking about it.

Will this eventually lead to everyone getting on the same page? According to a report, the major change for the proposed California sports betting bill is that funds from sports betting headed to the local tribes would be 25 percent instead of the initial proposal of 15 percent. However, the issue here is that originally 10 percent of the funds would go towards helping out mental health and homelessness resources.

While this amendment to the bill has made the tribes happy, this new update is a major problem for a lot of citizens in the state. Not long ago, there was a sports betting bill in place that prioritized helping out people who are homeless and who are dealing with mental health issues. The appeal to this new bill was that money being used for sports betting would still be used to help them out. That’s no longer going to be the case.

Regardless of that, after the outcry from many high-ranking officials in the tribes, the big-time changes that have been brought forward seem like they’re getting more support, which is fantastic. However, there’s still a long road to go for this bill to potentially make its way onto the November ballot in 2024. Only time will tell if things continue to move forward, but this update has a lot of people talking.

There’s growing optimism for legal sports betting by next fall

With the way things have been outlined, there’s growing optimism for legal sports betting by next fall. It’s not going to be easy, but as of right now, there’s only one sports betting bill that’s being presented to people around the state to catch their attention. During the previous attempt to get sports betting legalized, we saw one proposition from the major sportsbooks and another one from the local tribes.

However, with both bills on the ballot, people in California were torn on who to vote for. It didn’t help that countless negative ads were placed all over the place. This turned folks off quite a bit and to a major surprise, both of the bills failed. With that, it was back to the drawing board for lawmakers and officials. This opened a lot of eyes to the fact that it would be best for everyone to meet in the middle and for only one sports betting bill to be present for people to think about.

The longer California goes without legalizing sports wagers, though, the more money the state will continue to lose in potential revenue. With so many pro teams with superstar players, it feels like the state is wasting a ton of time in not getting things over the line. However, if this new bill is on the ballot for 2024, then we have a feeling that things will finally get approved by the voting public.

With this new bill, though, it’s important to keep in mind that legal online sports betting will not be finalized until July 1, 2025. While that’s a bit of a long wait, it would bring an end to the anticipation of when betting will get done, as a launch date would already be set in stone. That would also ensure that people would be able to check the MLB betting odds that summer and NFL betting would be an option for the 2025 season too. Let’s hope that all happens.

Football betting continues to be a problem for California

With things still being illegal in the state, football betting continues to be a problem for California. This isn’t much of a surprise, as the San Francisco 49ers continue to boost their Super Bowl betting odds with some fantastic wins. Such was the case last Sunday in Philly, with the 49ers taking down the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

Brock Purdy is also the favorite to win NFL MVP, which no one was expecting at this point of the year. Deebo Samuel was a stud in that win over the Eagles, while Christian McCaffrey could not be stopped running the ball. San Francisco is a serious threat to win it all and we have a feeling their fans will have a lot to celebrate in early February.

As a whole, SF fans are hyped up for the rest of the regular season. Only time will tell if Purdy will keep increasing his MVP odds or if a different playmaker will leap him. However, San Francisco is going to have a lot of eyes on the entire roster the rest of the way. Unfortunately for California officials, this will also lead to plenty of illegal activity.

Peter Lewis

Peter Lewis Jr. comes from Mississippi where he and his family spend their days discussing college football, baseball and basketball. He's written sports journalism for years after studying journalism at a local university. Over time, Peter has cultivated extensive knowledge covering sports betting legislation across the country. He closely tracks the latest regulatory developments and provides key insights into their impacts. Peter also offers sharp MLB betting analysis, leveraging stats and trends to identify value on matchups.

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