One of California’s most outspoken tribal leaders, Indian Gaming Association Conference Chairman Victor Rocha, said Wednesday that he feared a new ballot initiative seeking to legalize historic 2022 thumping at the polls. 75d6c
“The reality is you have to get the California voters to approve it, and if they’re not ready to any initiative, don’t move forward with a bad one,” added James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA). “It’s going to make it so much more complicated and expensive when tribes do come back and want to push something on sports betting.”
Rocha hosted a livestreamed conversation with Siva that focused on a a pair of initiatives put forth by Kasey Thompson, aiming to legalize a tribal-controlled mobile and retail sports betting apparatus. In order to qualify for November’s ballot, Thompson and his cohorts must without the of the vast majority of California’s tribes, who remain upset that Thompson didn’t consult them prior to going public with his effort.
“‘Follow me, we’ll take you to the promised land’ doesn’t really work on so many levels,” Rocha said.
The tribes have also voiced their distaste for a provision in Thompson’s initiative that would, as Rocha put it, “cleanse a lot of offshore guys” who could then legally participate in California’s sports betting marketplace.
“Tribal gaming is the most well-regulated in the country,” Siva stated. “Why would we put that at risk?”
Albert Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I say when greed is involved, it's just stupid. This will fail too. There is no time. There is no will. This clown car has no wheels. https://t.co/EMGhl7ZyNU
— Victor Rocha (@VictorRocha1) January 3, 2024
Commercial operators not on board j5c6m
Thompson’s effort suffered another blow Tuesday when the major commercial operators who backed last year’s failed ballot measure announced that they would not be ing this year’s initiative.
“We recently learned that the authors of two sports wagering initiatives in California are trying to find financial for signature gathering from sports betting operators,” read a statement by the Sports Betting Alliance, a group that includes Fanatics Sportsbook. “In the interest of clarity, and consistent with our previously stated opposition to these measures, we can commit that SBA won’t be funding or otherwise ing either of these sports wagering initiatives.”
Among the reasons for SBA’s decision to withhold is that, per the statement, “the original premise of building a business based off customers acquired illegally through offshore operations falls significantly short of the regulatory standards to which our hip adheres.”
During Wednesday’s discussion, Rocha called the SBA’s announcement “very positive and welcome” and belittled Thompson’s declaration that his organization would have pro athletes help with signature gathering.
“Are you gonna see Shaq collecting signatures at the Galleria in the Valley?” Rocha remarked. “Is that the plan?”
“They might need that to collect enough signatures,” replied Siva, who then said of the SBA, “They’ve learned their lessons. Now they’re seeing that if there is a path to sports betting in California, it begins and ends with tribes.”
‘Incremental approach’ in danger 5i3l3k
Beyond the initiative effort potentially damaging tribes’ future efforts to legalize California sports betting, Siva fears that it could sow seeds of division among the state’s many tribes, as a few smaller tribes have come out in of Thompson’s proposal.
“We shouldn’t be looking to outsiders who don’t share our common interest or share our history,” Siva said. “We’ve really got to figure out how to do this as a tribal community.”
When asked by Rocha when legal sports betting might finally see the light of day in the Golden State, Siva replied, “Maybe two years, possibly four,” before mentioning that there’s been considerable desire to get it up and running by the 2027 Super Bowl in Los Angeles.
To this end, while Siva was unyielding in his personal for an “incremental approach” that would see retail wagering precede the online version in California, he conceded, “If we lose an election cycle, we start to lose time and maybe we have to look at doing it all at one time.”
