After years and years and years of opposition from Tribal gaming interests, there has finally been a proposal tat could work for California sports betting. And this time it has the support of Native American gaming, because this time it’s their proposal. A spokesman for the coalition of tribes backing the initiative, Jacob Mejia, admits that there is no chance for the initiative to find its way to the ballot in 2020 or 2021. The legislature can next place a measure on the June 2022 primary ballot. The tribal initiative was on pace to qualify for this year’s ballot before…

California stands as the “crown jewel” of American gambling. Online poker has failed there for years, and the battle for California sports betting is now heating up between state legislators and Tribal Gaming. We also look at new casino closures in Nevada, update the Justice Department online gambling case, and have sad news to report from Las Vegas.   A Superior Court judge made official his tentative ruling to allow a coalition of federally-recognized tribes 90 more days to collect signatures for a legal California sports betting initiative that would go on the November 2022 ballot. The tribes sought an…

You can stop holding your breath now, as California sports betting will once again fail. There has been a small glimmer of hope for the legislation as it was scheduled for a vote with the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee this week, but it was removed at the last moment. Even if it had been included in the vote, it would have needed to advance through both legislative branches by this week’s deadline to earn its place on the November ballot. Its sudden removal now means that advocates could be looking at years instead of months before sports books can legally…

As is usually the case with California sports betting, at least one Tribal casino opposes legislation that would regulate the activity. The Tribe who operate the Cache Creek Casino has told legislators that they do not support the proposed amendment to the state constitution to legalize sports gambling. The central reason for the opposition is that the bill would also allow state card rooms to offer some of the same games as Tribal casinos… a move that Tribal gaming view as illegal. In addition to sports betting, the amendment would also allow tribal casinos new permission to offer roulette and…

It will take a constitutional amendment to get California sports betting, and a Senate Committee in the state has now taken a step in that direction. A bill passed the committee by a partisan vote of 9-3 vote, with all Democrats voting for the bill and all Republicans voting against. Now the bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, with a hearing scheduled for next week on 9 June. The bill sets out plans to allow for a statewide referendum on the sports betting, which would have to be backed by two-thirds of voters before it could…

State lawmakers held a preliminary hearing on California sports betting last week. They are just the latest state to consider regulating the activity in 2020, meaning that more than half of the states could have regulated sports betting soon. California is one of nine states exploring legalized sports betting in 2020, according to the American Gaming Association. A total of 20 states have legalized some form of sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban in May 2018. “We will likely approach a total of 30 states with some form of legal sports betting by the…