When California sports betting was soundly defeated at voting booth in 2022, tribes were confident they controlled when online sports betting would launch.
That is certainly true in the form of regulated, traditional online sports betting operators. New forms of competition are helping fill the void, though, leaving some to wonder if the California sports betting push needs to happen sooner than planned.
“There was a conversation that we weren’t going to talk about sports wagering until ’28 or ’30,” Blue Lake Rancheria Tribal Chairman Jason Ramos said at an SBC Americas panel. “Now, with some of the other players that are already illegally operating in the state, I think we need to get together and really have that conversation.”
Earlier this year, tribal leaders speaking at ICE in Barcelona suggested 2026 was out of the question for California voters to consider sports betting.
California sports betting options
California sports bettors have access to place most bet types, and that is without considering the widely known offshore options.
There are sweepstakes sportsbooks that operate under the same dual-currency model as sweepstakes casinos. Those allow traditional pre-game bets as well as props and parlays that can lead to real-money prizes.
Slightly newer than those sweepstakes operators are sports predictions through exchanges federally regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. For example, Kalshi saw more than $500 million in handle from the men’s and women’s March Madness basketball tournaments this spring.
The longest-running product of the three is parlay-style daily fantasy sports contests. There are multiple products available where players can create a DFS entry similar to how a prop parlay would be built on a sportsbook.
CFTC to chat with tribal leaders
One of those competitors, sports predictions, will be a topic for tribes this week.
The CFTC will hold a conference call with tribal leaders to discuss prediction markets this Thursday.
California sports betting competition a blessing?
The fact that these external pressures are popping up is not totally a negative, Wilton Rancheria Chairman and CEO Jesus Tarango said at SBC.
“I look at it as a curse and a blessing,” Tarango said. “Because it is happening, you have tribes talking.
“Again, in California, we can become a sleeping giant if we can start agreeing on things and this could be that thing that unites us to come together. So I look at it as a hindrance, but it’s leading us to where we need to go, and that’s with one another first.”
Tribes could get $10M annually
It seemed clear early in the 2022 effort that legalization in California had little to no chance without support from tribal partners. The fact that the tribes led such a strong opposition to the plan pushed by sportsbooks made it clear the industry had to work with the tribes to get a legal market launched.
The former foes are now likely to work together in some form. One way that partnership could happen is through the Sports Betting Alliance, founded by BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel.
“I’ve been happy to work with the SBA and DraftKings,” Ramos said. “I had to have a tough conversation going over there because we were on the other side before. But I think they’re doing it the right way.
“I think for tribes that are either limited or non-gaming, they’re talking about providing minimum guarantees. There’s been some conversation about them paying for a ballot initiative whenever that is ready, and it’s certainly not ready right now. But we’re also talking about 109 tribes that would share up to $10 million a year on their model.”
The SBA model includes a minimum $10 million annual payment per tribe with potential revenue sharing as well.
California sports betting ‘success’ includes other tribes
Inclusivity of all California tribes is what would make online sports betting a success, Tarango said. He noted at SBC that the amount paid to them through the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund has not changed in 20 years.
“So for me to see this as a success, we take care of those three things there, we have all tribes participate, we all have an equal share, we all have an equal say,” Tarango said. “To me, it does have tribes leading it, but I do see a need for operators to be there as they have the proven track record of this world and what they’ve been doing.”
Sean Vasquez, president of Pechanga Resort Casino, echoed Tarango’s thoughts on tribal leadership.
“Because you don’t have commercial gaming in this space, there needs to be tribal leadership on this initiative,” Vasquez said. “Not tribal participation, tribal leadership. You have to have some sort of focus on helping all 109 tribes to uplift them, and I think most importantly, we have to have protection for our hard-fought sovereignty that we won.”
