California tribal leaders Tuesday afternoon wouldn’t directly commit to the idea of a sports betting initiative for the 2024 ballot, but they didn’t shut down the idea, either.
“There isn’t a specific plan yet, but the polls are showing that with brick-and-mortar, that voters trust us,” Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Tribal Chairman Greg Sarris said at the annual Indian Gaming Association Convention in San Diego. “My feeling is that we should consider that.”
Pechanga Band of Luisieno Indians Chairman Mark Macarro had a little more cynical view: “There are no solid plans for an initiative, but if [tribes] can’t agree on a plan, we should have a defensive initiative ready in case we need it. It’s an expensive defense, but it works.”
“Expensive defense” might be the understatement of the year, as California’s tribes collectively spent about $150 million in 2022 to kill Proposition 27, a mobile wagering initiative put forth by a group of seven commercial operators led by BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel. The tribes were successful in killing the initiative in the most expensive such referendum campaign in U.S. history. Those for and against the measure collected upward of $450 million for a result that ultimately kept the status quo in the nation’s biggest state.