Sports betting in California is making progress, analysts say
There may be hope for sports betting regulation in California, as some commercial bookmakers are now aligning themselves with the state's largest tribes and opposing two recently filed sports betting proposals.
Eagle1 Acquisitions Corp. recently filed applications that include the Sports Betting Regulations and the Tribal Gaming Protection Act. submitted. Last week, Attorney General Rob Bonta (D-CA) gave the group the green light to collect signatures to potentially get the proposal on the 2024 ballot. The state's largest tribal casino operator opposes the efforts and may get help from commercial sports betting providers.
In what could be described as an interesting twist, California tribes and private gaming companies went head-to-head in 2022 over Propositions 26 and 27, both of which were soundly rejected by voters. Now, some unidentified commercial gaming companies may be working with a handful of the state’s highest-grossing tribes to thwart sports betting regulation and the Tribal Gaming Protection Act and related efforts.
A few unruly tribes
There are more than 70 tribal casinos in California, but the venues are not equal in sales and profits.
Among the top sellers are the Agua Caliente, Barona, Graton Rancheria, Rincon and San Manuel tribes. Not only are the tribes the operators of some of the largest and highest-grossing tribal casinos in California, they also spent a combined $220 million in 2022 to defeat Proposition 27, a sportsbook backed by commercial bookmakers proposal. These may be pressures that commercial operators are currently able to adapt to.
Given the varying views among the various tribes, we believe a small minority within the largest tribe will drive this forward," Jefferies analyst David Katz wrote in a new note to clients.
Katz added that it's important for business and tribal operators to find common ground in California.
"Operators are also engaging with ... the larger tribes to try to coordinate efforts, which we believe is critical to making meaningful progress," Katz said.
California still has a long way to go by 2024
The alliance between California business operators and tribes is certainly compelling. However, that doesn’t mean sports betting will make headway in the state this year. Eagle1 needs to collect 874,641 signatures by April to have a chance of addressing sports betting on the California ballot this year.
It's a huge undertaking, and even if it succeeds, it may mean little without tribal support. Tribal operators in the largest states are hesitant to move forward on the matter in the short term because they see it as a 2026 issue, with mobile gaming further away.
Even if Eagle1 succeeds in getting this issue on the ballot this year, the combined resources of the tribes and private sector operators mentioned above can ensure that the sports betting regulations and the Tribal Gambling Protection Act are defeated.
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Source: www.casino.org
