Comments recently made by California’s tribal leaders at the International Casinos Exhibition in Barcelona suggested that the gaming tribes in the Golden State will not be prepared to support mobile sports betting in 2026.
Tribes Put Sports Betting on Ice
California is the holy grail of sports betting markets, but based on recent comments by tribal leaders, it will remain as elusive as ever for at least the next few years. Last week, the subject was broached at the International Casinos Exhibition (ICE) in Barcelona, Spain, during the “State of Gambling in California: Current Trends and Future Prospects” roundtable discussion. The reply was certainly not what mobile sports betting platforms were hoping to hear.
California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) chairman James Siva said that tribes have “come too far and have too far to go to rush into this complex sports betting (issue), which is tied to iGaming.”
Catalina Chacon, council member of the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians, echoed Siva’s sentiments, saying, “The data is telling us that the time is not right. Definitely not 2026; we’re looking more like 2028, but it has to include all tribal communities in California.”
Treading Cautiously
According to San Manuel Band of Mission Indians vice chairman Johnny Hernandez, a united tribal strategy is essential to moving forward with sports betting. Hernandez stated, “It has to include all tribes, including non-gaming tribes. I agree with Catalina that all tribes have to be in agreement. Gaming must go through the tribes.”
Thus, the tribal strategy hinges on getting uniformity with all 100 tribes, many of which are non-gaming tribes but share in the gaming revenues that flow from casinos throughout the state. Although there are commercial cardrooms, there are no commercial casinos in California, only tribal.
Expanding the tribes’ gaming footprint has been a slow and deliberate process after an expensive battle in 2022 with mobile sports betting operators who tried to win over the public at the ballot boxes without the support of the tribes.
Tribes Play Defense
Seven mobile operators financed Proposition 27, a referendum question to legalize mobile sports betting. Meanwhile, the tribes sponsored Proposition 26, a push to legalize retail or in-person sports betting exclusively at tribal casinos. Each side spent north of $400 million on advertising to convince the voting public to approve their respective bills but neither succeeded.
Proposition 26 received less than 30% approval, while the sportsbooks’ Proposition 27 fared even worse, receiving only 16% of the vote. Although the tribes did not get the retail sports betting they wanted, what was even more important to Indian Country was that the sportsbooks were soundly defeated and mobile sports betting would not be launched without their active involvement.
Since their acrimonious beginning, the major sportsbooks have bent the knee at the foot of the tribes, now understanding that the nation’s most populated state cannot be seized by their substantial bank accounts. The C-suite executives at FanDuel and DraftKings, et al., now realize only seamless cooperation with the gaming tribes will win the day, and if they have to wait until 2028, or longer, then they will wait.
