After denial from the Supreme Court, there will be no shortcuts in California sports betting

In California, tribes received a favorable ruling. Despite that, there will be no shortcuts while legalizing sports betting. Carlo Santarelli is a financial analyst who believes California could avoid ballot initiatives and get CA sports betting to amend its current gaming compact. However, there is pushback from a veteran tribal gaming attorney and an industry source with knowledge of the US gaming landscape.

Tribal rulings in Florida led to shortcut speculation in California

On June 17, the US Supreme Court ruled that they would not be hearing the West Flagler case against the Seminole Tribe. They wanted no involvement in arguably the most direct challenge to sports betting in Florida. The Seminole Tribe maintains exclusivity over sports betting in the entire state. Additionally, their gaming compact runs through 2051. This ruling in Florida prompted Carlo Santarelli to speculate about California. He had this to say in a financial note.

“The ruling essentially provides a blueprint for California and other states with tribal gaming, as the notion that as long as the servers accepting gate bets are on tribal facilities, online wagering falls within the compact,” said Santarelli. “For the California Tribes, the case essentially allows them to potentially amend their current compacts to permit sports betting, and avoid a ballot initiative, which, despite being successful for the tribes in 2022, was costly.” 

Several industry sources have detailed how slim the chances are for California to have any shortcut to get sports betting legalized. At the moment, residents of California do not want mobile sports wagering in the state. Veteran tribal gaming attorney Scott Crowell said the Golden State has a “slim to zero” chance of getting sports betting legalized with any type of shortcut.

Are Californians still not in favor of sports betting being legalized?

During voting in 2022, Proposition 27 received just 18% of the vote. If it passed, it would have legalized online sports betting in California. However, there was an overwhelming majority that voted for that not to happen. The next vote in the state to potentially pass sports betting is not happening until 2026. Until then, state lawmakers will continue to talk with Tribal leaders to discuss how they can make a compromise.