Is Sports Gambling Illegal In California

A proposal to legalize sports betting in California that could generate billions of dollars in tax revenue—but threatens the tribal monopoly on gambling in the state—has erupted into a political wrestling match as the bill awaits a key vote in the state Senate.

SCA-6 (Senate Constitutional Amendment 6) would legalize online and mobile sports betting, as well as legitimizing the state’s operating cardrooms—two elements vehemently opposed by the Native American tribes.

“Solving the battle between the tribes and the cardrooms is, one could say, almost as tough as solving Middle East peace,” Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), who proposed the bill, told The Epoch Times.

It is not legal to gamble on sports in California. The legal authority that controls betting on sports is a tangled web of federal and state laws. Though many states allow casino gaming and have state lotteries, gambling on sports exists in its own tightly controlled legal world. Sports gambling could be coming to California in the near future. While 22 states have legalized sports gambling since the Supreme Court's ruling in 2018, California has lagged behind due to a.

Dodd first proposed SCA-6 in June 2019 to bring illegal sports betting out of the shadows and generate needed money for the state. The bill currently awaits a June 23 hearing and a vote before the state Senate Appropriations Committee before moving on if it passes.

Also known as the California Sports Wagering and Consumer Protection Act, the bill would require a two-thirds majority vote in the state legislature to become a ballot measure for voters to resolve in the Nov. 3 general election.

Native American tribes, which own and operate casinos on their lands throughout the state, are attempting to get their own initiative on the ballot which would legalize sports betting only at their casinos and the racetracks, without mobile wagering.

“It’s become clear that they don’t want the [SCA-6] bill, and they don’t even want to talk about the bill,” Dodd said in a June 16 interview.

Earlier this month, a coalition representing 25 California tribes sued the state, seeking a 90-day extension to qualify their own ballot initiative. The suit argues that the tribes were unable to garner the necessary signatures to get their initiative on the ballot due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Coalition to Authorize Regulated Sports Wagering filed the lawsuit against California Secretary of State Alex Padilla on June 9 in Sacramento County Superior Court.

More than 20 states have legalized sports betting since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal ban on the activity. California voters would have to support a ballot measure to change the state’s constitution to allow sports wagering in the state.

A Revenue Windfall

The legalization of sports betting in California could bring in $200 million to $300 million in tax revenue in the first year alone, $500 million in the second year, and between $800 million and $1 billion annually when the market is mature, Dodd said.

Dodd’s proposal would allow tribal casinos and the state’s major horse racetracks to operate sports wagering at their establishments and via mobile phone apps. It would require strict third-party age and identity verification.

So far, the tribes have refused to come to the table, Dodd said—and a major sticking point concerns online and mobile betting.

“They don’t want online [sports betting], and unfortunately, online is about 80 to 85 percent of the market,” Dodd said. “The state really doesn’t realize anything if we only have bricks-and-mortar.”

In his May budget revisions, Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing a $54 billion budget shortfall for 2020–21 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, urged legislators to find new sources of revenue, and warned massive spending cuts are on the horizon.

The bill would also allow the governor to negotiate a cut of banking and percentage games, such as craps or roulette, which are currently not legal in the state, but would be allowed at the casinos if the proposal passes.

Tribal Casinos Argue Against the Bill

James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, and Edwin Romero, chairman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians, representing dozens of tribes, strongly opposed SCA-6 at an earlier Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on June 9.

Siva called SCA-6 “a bill that seeks to reward elicit practices at the state’s commercial, for-profit cardrooms and hide behind the tribes and the COVID-19 crisis to reach that end.”

“Allowing commercial cardrooms to continue what are currently illegal practices is essentially rewarding these businesses for bad behavior, which is a non-starter in any discussion regarding gaming expansion in California,” Siva wrote in a May 31 letter addressed to Dodd.

The tribes have faced competition for business from the cardrooms, which offer player-backed games instead of house-backed games. The tribes believe the cardrooms should not be allowed, and allegedly hide profits to avoid taxes.

The letter called online gambling “extremely problematic for the Tribes” and stated it is “a practice that our organization opposes.”

Under existing law, it’s questionable whether tribes could accept online wagers placed from outside tribal lands or could implement an effective system in time, which could mean tribes “could be shut out of the state’s online sports wagering market altogether,” Siva said in the letter.

“A robust Indian gaming industry also provides benefits beyond our reservations,” Romero said. In 2016, he said, Indian gaming in the state generated 124,000 jobs and $3.4 billion in “taxes and revenue-sharing payments to the federal, state, and local governments,” statistics confirmed by the bill.

The tribes also say the state has overestimated how much tax revenue online sports betting will generate, and that it would come too little, too late to ease the costs of the COVID crisis.

“By the time really significant funding comes in, the crisis will have passed—but the damage to local governments will remain and be codified into law,” Siva said at the hearing.

Dodd said he has suggested amendments to tribal leaders, but “they don’t want to discuss it” because they don’t like the online components.

“They’ve got a lot of power in the legislature, and a lot of goodwill that they’ve created over the years with their wonderful benevolence for many communities throughout the state of California. But, at the same time, I think that perhaps they’re thinking that they can win straight-up on a power play,” Dodd said.

Siva did not respond to recent requests by The Epoch Times for comment. His office referred to the May 31 letter as representing his viewpoint.

‘Too High a Societal Cost’

The letter cited problem gambling proliferation, underage gambling, and threats to established tribal brick-and-mortar facilities as serious concerns.

Even without legal barriers to tribal participation in the online sports wagering market, “we believe that online sports wagering imposes too high a societal cost,” Siva wrote.

But Dodd doesn’t think that underage gambling would be any worse than it is now with illegal sports betting, which he says is a $150-billion-a-year industry nationwide.

“With our ability and technology to be able to track people and understand their age and everything else, there are big time protections,” Dodd said. He cited Oregon, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois as states with legalized gambling that “don’t have any problems.”

“We’re trying to come up with a creative solution to bring significant dollars into the state of California,” Dodd said.

Dodd sent a list of proposed amendments to tribal leaders on June 16 that involve a staggered introduction of mobile gambling and additional restrictions for cardrooms. But the bill, as it now stands, is set to go before the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 23.

Although the state is home to some of the world’s biggest major sports league teams, there is currently no legal California sports betting. However, there are many gambling industry stakeholders and lawmakers pushing to bring in-person and mobile sports betting to the state, so legal online sports betting in California may come soon.

As we only recommend players sign up for trustworthy and licensed bookies, we don’t have any sports betting sites to recommend Californians at the moment. Instead, we’ve used this guide to discuss the gambling options that are available in the state, the current laws around sports betting, and the future outlook for the industry.

What Betting Options are Legal for California Residents

Contents

• What Betting Options are Legal for California Residents
• Frequently Asked Questions

While there is no California legal online sportsbook or in-person betting options, residents still have plenty of other gambling options to enjoy. This includes full-scale casino-style gambling at tribal casinos, including table games and slots, a state lottery, horse race betting, and daily fantasy sports.

Is Daily Fantasy Legal in California?

For those wanting to try a good alternative to sports betting, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is almost the only form of legal California online gambling. We say almost because the state neither defines it as legal or illegal, and fantasy sports operators are free to offer the games to Californians without fear of breaking the law.

DFS in CA is offered by a number of operators, including the reputable sports betting sites FanDuel and DraftKings. We recommend trying either of these trusted sportsbooks for DFS as they are the most popular, and allow players to form and wager on fantasy lineups of players from all major sports leagues.

Are there Legal Offshore Sites for California Players

Without an opportunity to sign up for a California legal online sportsbook, many players are turning to offshore betting sites to place bets on sports. As the state doesn’t block residents from using these sites or explicitly ban them, players accessing websites like MyBookie and BetOnline will not be punished for offshore betting.

But just because they are accessible, this doesn’t mean it’s recommended. The problem with these websites is that they are not licensed, and so are therefore not guaranteed to be acting in the best interests of players. Without these regulations that demand bookmakers are safe and fair, players may be at risk when using unlicensed products.

Casinos

CA has a number of world-class tribal casinos that offer the very best in casino gaming. These include classic and video slot machines, table games such as poker, blackjack, and roulette, and more. Many of these casino resorts don’t just offer gambling, but are holiday precincts that provide great entertainment and dining options.

In fact, California is the birthplace of legal Native American casinos. The Supreme Court decision to allow gambling on tribal reservations concerned a dispute between the California government and the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. The Cabazon Indians were victorious and now, more than 30 years later, there are 69 tribal casinos in the state.

Racetrack Betting

Until there is legal online sports betting in CA, residents may be interested in gambling on legal horse racing. The state is home to a number of horse racing tracks, though players are not limited to wagering onsite. There are plenty of off-track betting parlors that take wagers on live races around the country.

Horse race betting is a profitable industry that has earned the state millions since it was first introduced. California is a major hub for these races and is home to the Santa Anita Racecourse and Del Mar Race Track. In some respects, it’s quite similar to sports betting, as it involves wagering on the outcome of a live sporting event.

Card Rooms

Fortunately for poker fans, card rooms are permitted in California, with most being on tribal reservations. There are 69 card rooms in the state, many of which host poker tournaments. This has rendered California as being one of the premier states for hosting professional poker.

Nearby States with Legal Sports Betting

Just because in-person sports betting and legal online sports betting in California is not available, there is no law that forbids players from traveling to other states to wager on sports legally. Fortunately, California sports betting is near to be legalized. This includes the state of Nevada, which is the undisputed mecca of sports betting in the US, if not the world.

Below, we’ve listed three of the closest states that offer legal sports betting that would be well worth a visit.

• Nevada
• Oregon
• Washington

What would Legal Sports Betting in California Look Like

If sports betting was legalized in California, it is expected that the state would become one of the largest sports betting markets in the country. This may not come as a surprise, as some of the most popular teams from every major sports league call the state home, including the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Francisco 49ers.

Currently, there are a number of political initiatives to bring sports betting to California. A popular initiative is headed by a union of the state’s tribal groups, who wish to be granted exclusive rights to offer sports betting at their casinos. This would mean that no mobile betting would be allowed.

The issue of gaming exclusivity and limiting sports betting to in-person betting has been contested by some non-tribal interests, so the matter is still up in the air. Once it has been resolved, a state gambling authority will be established to oversee the rules and regulations of the industry.

This kind of regulation is important to both players and the state. Licensing bodies ensure that the safest betting sites provide a fair betting experience while protecting at-risk players. Licensing also sets tax rates to profits on gambling, so state coffers will benefit from revenues currently leaking to illegal offshore sites.

What are the California Gambling Laws

California is different from many states in that it does not make gambling in general illegal or legal, but rather makes individual kinds of gambling illegal. As it stands, the gambling industry is hugely profitable for the state. For example, in 2018, card rooms alone generated more than $850 million payouts after deductions.

Native American gambling also turns over around $8 billion a year. For this reason, California gambling laws aren’t too rigid but constantly evolve with the times. Whenever a bill to change the gambling laws is passed by the government, residents must approve of the measures in a statewide ballot.

This process ensures that Californians always have a say in what gambling options they believe are worthy of legalizing. The fact that most gambling options are legal in the state reveals that residents are open to more betting options as long as they are safe.

As the table shows, all forms of legal online sports betting in CA aside from DFS are not legal. However, poker is completely legal in California and has been for more than a century. Racetrack betting too is a popular pastime, though declining attendance has signaled that bettor’s attitudes are shifting.

California’s laws require that players must be over 18 to gamble. However, tribal casinos only allow players above 21 years of age to gamble, as alcohol is served there.

What is the Future of Sports Betting in California?

When it comes to California sports betting, we think it’s pretty safe to assume that legalization is a near certainty. This all comes down to money; with the state being the largest market for DFS in the country, it’s highly likely that it would become one of the most successful legal sport betting states.

When this will happen will just come down to a matter of how the tribes and government agree to regulate the market. For the time being, Californians will need to travel to a nearby neighboring state to place legal bets, or just stick to the huge range of legal gaming options at their disposal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you still have more questions about California’s gambling market and whether or not there are legal sports betting options available? Keep reading to discover our answers to commonly asked questions so that you know all you need to before you consider trying to bet on sports.

Is online gambling and sports betting legal in California?

Is Sports Gambling Illegal In California 2020

Sports betting is illegal in California, while online gambling is limited to DFS betting. Even when sports betting is made legal in the state, it’s quite likely that Californians will need to travel to tribal casinos or racetracks to make bets in person.

What is the California legal gambling age?

The minimum gambling age for gambling in California is technically 18, though almost all tribal casinos require that players are above the age of 21 years old.

Are offshore bookmaker sites legal and safe?

The only way players can be sure that they are betting at a safe website is if it is licensed in the jurisdiction they are playing in. As offshore bookmakers aren’t licensed, they may not meet strict requirements that ensure that they aren’t scamming players or targeting younger or problem players.

Can I use the FanDuel or DraftKings app in California?

Is Sports Gambling Illegal In California 2019

While there is no legal California sports betting app, both DraftKings and FanDuel can be downloaded to make daily fantasy sports bets. California has the largest market of DFS bettors in the country, and these apps are the most popular due to their sleek design, reputation, and betting options.

Is Sports Betting Allowed In California