When Will Sports Betting Be Legal In California?

In November 2022, California voters head to the polls. The referendum features a contentious and highly anticipated vote that could bring sports betting to the Golden State. 솔카지노 먹튀검증

There are numerous forces at play in California, however, and the battle between the state’s competing proposals has been heavy. As it stands based on polling, neither had much of a chance to pass. 

As the most populous US state, California is grappling with a variety of stakeholders, all of whom wish to make sports betting work to their advantage. The resulting legal contest makes the general outlook pretty stark. Below, we’ll cover everything you need to know so you’re up to speed.

California Gambling: Lay of the Land

To quote the ever-poetic Tupac Shakur, “California knows how to party.” That’s certainly true with regard to the state’s land-based gambling industry. 솔카지노 회원가입

For the sake of simplicity, California’s existing gambling presence can be divided into three categories: tribal casinos, cardrooms and horse racing.

California Tribal Casinos

California laws prohibit land-based casinos. The catch? Indian reservations function as sovereign territories, so they aren’t subject to such prohibitions. This means any full-fledged land-based casino you visit in California is owned and operated by a Native American tribe. The state has 76 tribal casinos owned by 73 tribes.  파라오카지노 먹튀검증

Tribal casinos dominate much of California’s land-based gambling industry, earning more than $9 billion in annual revenue. As such, the tribes have a lot of power to influence new gambling laws in California.

Cardrooms in California

Cardrooms often call themselves “casinos,” but there are critical differences between these businesses and California’s tribal casinos. As the name implies, cardrooms feature table games. They’re legal in California because certain card games, such as blackjack and baccarat, involve an element of skill.

Whereas slot machines are pure games of chance, many table games are not classified as such because they’re more strategy-based. California cardrooms can offer certain games legally, but you won’t find slots or other pure chance games at these locations. There are approximately 72 state-licensed cardrooms currently operating in CA.

California Horse Race Betting

California legalized pari-mutuel betting in 1933, making horse races one of the longest-running options for Californians to bet on.

There are four racetracks accepting bets in California, and they stand to gain from Prop 26.

CA also has off-track locations and a handful of legal online horse race betting apps. As of this writing, horse race betting is the only fully legal online gambling option for Californians.

California Sports Betting Outlook

California would be a slam-dunk sports betting market in terms of revenue, even without retail sports betting. But we’re in the midst of a battle for CA sports betting, and neither of the two parties—Prop 26 or Prop 27 supporters—looks like it will come out on top.

Consensus says each campaign focused too much on tearing down the other and not enough on explaining the benefit to CA residents and bettors. According to Politico, ad spending for Prop 27 shattered CA records with $160 million on ads in support and $150 million on ads against the measure.

Prop 26 garnered big numbers, too, with $61 million for and $43 million against.

Polls indicated meager support for each proposition, however. Both were deeply underwater.

Backers of both proposals seemed to lose sight of the big picture, attacking one another instead of luring voters to their side.

What If Both Measures Pass?

This scenario is unlikely. However, there is a reasonably clear outline of what would happen in such a situation.

If just one of the proposals passes, it will become law. If neither passes, then obviously neither becomes law. Those are the two most straightforward outcomes.

If both pass, however, they might require some legal finagling. According to California’s state constitution, if two contradictory proposals pass, the proposal with the higher vote percentage wins the day on any specific conflicts between them.

As you might’ve gleaned, Props 26 and 27 don’t contradict each other very much. One aims to legalize retail sports betting, while the other aims for online sportsbooks. The finer details within might cause conflict, though, and a judge may have to make a legal call if both measures pass.

California Sports Betting: The Verdict

Now we have all the details. Based on what we know, when will California sports betting be legal?

Right now, it’s not looking likely any time soon. The state has a chance for legal sports betting, but the competing proposals cannibalized each other with ad spending rather than focusing on gaining widespread voter support.

Numerous parties and organizations lobbed their support toward one measure or another, but none of it has amounted to sufficient traction for either proposal.

Of course, there was a chance one or both could’ve passed. Polls aren’t the decider of such things. It could be another few years before the Golden State catches up to its legal brethren.