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Having a legal sports betting market in California would be killer just about now, wouldn’t it? The state’s sports teams are abuzz right now.
First, you have a rekindled Lakers team that has real NBA title hopes with Luke Doncic now aboard. They’ve been surging since the Doncic trade, and LeBron might have one last great run in him. Then there’s the LA Dodgers, who are defending a championship on their own. The MLB season just started, and it’s business as usual for the “Boys in Blue”, who are as loaded as ever.
Alas, there is no sports betting in California for bettors and fans alike to capitalize off of. The state is one of 11 without legalization. Based on new comments, that’s not going to change anytime soon, either. Keep on reading and we’ll update you on the state of California sports betting.
Tribes Are In Control Of Legal Betting
First things first, sports betting inside the Golden State is for the Native American tribes and the tribes only. They have exclusive rights to offer casino betting through a compact with the state, and it’s believed those rights carry into sports betting.
Leaders from those tribes recently came together at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in San Diego. Not only that, but those leaders were flanked by members of the Sports Betting Alliance Tribal Advisory Council — a group that features representatives from top betting apps like FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and Fanatics. Between all of them, you have a lot of power brokers.
But here’s the thing: these influencers weren’t just there to talk about legalizing sports betting. No, they actually formulated a plan to make it happen statewide. The plan wasn’t revealed, but part of it was obtained by Legal Sports Report.
The news org detailed some preliminary plans in California. Here’s the gist: betting would flow through a tribal entity that would hold all licenses and retain ownership of the online sports betting market. This entity would then partner with selected sportsbook brands to offer mobile betting platforms in California. Operators and tribes would take part in a revenue share of some sort.
While the tribes will lead and own the entire initiative, funding will come via the operators. Makes sense, right? We mean, DraftKings and FanDuel are worth billions here, a number that far outweighs any local tribe.
This is a bombshell development. Remember, we’re only a few years away from the tribes and apps being at each other’s throats. Now, they actually have a plan in place to work together on sports betting. But with that said, nothing is official, and in their own words, there’s still a lot of time before anything is finalized. We’ll explain in the next section.
Legal Betting “Still A Long Way Off”
That quote comes directly from Jeff Grubbe, former chairman of the AguaCaliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. He called the proposal a “valuable opportunity” before warning that an agreement isn’t around the corner quite yet.
“To the best of my knowledge, no agreements have been reached between any tribes and commercial operators,” Grubbe also said. “This process will be tribally driven and grounded in the protection of existing brick-and-mortar operations.”
Still, a proposal is a massive step forward. It comes after months of back-and-forth dialogue from both sides.
“The Tribal Advisory Board was formed by the Sports Betting Alliance with a clear purpose: to bring tribes together to learn more about sportsbook operations and to explore how this industry can be shaped to serve tribal interests,” said Daniel Salgado, former tribal chairman of the Cahuilla Band of Mission Indians and a member of the SBA’s advisory group.
We mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: neither the tribes nor the operators were on the same side in 2022. That’s the year when California voters overwhelmingly rejected two sports betting initiatives at the ballot. Each side was leading one initiative. Proposition 26, backed by tribes, would have permitted in-person wagering at tribal casinos, while Proposition 27, supported by commercial sportsbooks, aimed to legalize mobile betting statewide. In the end, both measures failed in stunning fashion. We mean, Prop 27 barely mustered 16 percent support. This in spite of both sides spending a combined $400 million campaigning against each other.
Since then, tribal leaders have stayed cautious about leading another initiative. Not only did the 2022 efforts exhaust their funds, but it was also a PR nightmare. So again, getting a proposal is a big accomplishment — even if we’re likely years from anything becoming official. In the past, tribal leaders have said 2028 is a more likely target date, not 2026.
Legal Uncertainty Remains
So what now? Well, the next step is figuring out if this joint proposal is even legal. This question was raised by James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association. He believes there could be issues with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which governs tribal gaming in the United States at the federal level.
For what it’s worth, DraftKings’ COO Jeremy Elbaum admitted there could be issues. “There are nuances from IGRA that could break this,” he said.
Salgado, who also previously served as CNIGA secretary, added that IGRA “isn’t a godsend for everyone” and suggested that tribes and operators might consider a commercial framework instead of altering existing tribal-state gaming compacts to allow digital wagering.
Check back with us from time to time because we’ll be following this story closely. The ramifications of this actually going through are simply too big for us to ignore. We’d bet California bettors would agree!
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