California has lagged behind other States in legalizing sports betting industry, however, that is about to change as plans are in place to legitimize the practice in the Golden State.
Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) and Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) proposed a bill that will amend the state constitution to pave way for sports betting in the state. The bill has until June 2020 to move from State senate into the assembly floor.
The bill has to receive an endorsement by at least two third of the member in order to be put in ballot on November 2020. In California, Democrats are the majority in both houses, thus the bill will have no difficulty going through. Additionally, Governor Gavin Newsom is unlikely to veto the bill as he is a Democrat.
Senator Bill Dodd had this to say about the bill, “We want to get an initiative on the ballot that the voters can understand, that’s easy to understand, and perhaps in the process maybe bring all the gambling institutions-card rooms, horse racing, tribal casinos-all together.”
Lots of Moving Parts
Casino.org has reported that California is dominated by tribal operators who run alost 70 casinos in the State. Therefore, any proposal of non-tribal gaming in the State is highly opposed. That has been the reason why sports’ betting has taken time to materialize.
Now that the sports betting proposal is gaining momentum, cardrooms are expected to demand a slice of sports betting in California, this will put them at odds with tribal gaming entities. However, politicians consider cardroom operators, tribal entities, racetracks, professional sports team as stakeholders in any State sports betting debate.
Logistical Issues
In their proposal for sports betting, Dodd and Gray haven’t mentioned about online and mobile betting. However, that ought to be included because it’s expected in the next ten years in US, online and mobile application will account to 90 percent of all sports betting in US.
