The prospect of California sports betting becoming a reality in 2024 has emerged with the announcement from the Pala Band of Mission Indians that they intend to initiate a petition for next year. Nevertheless, the details are still unknown.
It wouldn’t be the first time the Pala Band has marched to its own drum but there appears to be little support from fellow tribes for this most recent initiative.
Exploratory Text
If reports are accurate, the Pala Band of Mission Indians remained undeterred that they would need over 874,000 valid signatures on their sports betting petition to advance. There is also the issue of filing a bill this late in the calendar year with most submitted by August 22nd. This means the Pala would have less than five months to collect exactly 874,641 signatures.
Pala Chairman Robert Smith had reportedly texted several tribal leaders on Sunday, October 8th, “Heads up Pala Band of Mission Indians is issuing a press release tomorrow sports wagering initiative for 2024, look forward to working with tribes!”
However, Monday came and went with little fanfare and speculation is that Smith’s intentions were not met favorably with other tribes, indicating a lack of support for the Pala going it alone. Smith may have used the text as a trial balloon and found out that the responses were not as encouraging as he may have initially believed.
Reports are that the tribe met with fellow members of the California Tribal Business Alliance (CTBA) two days after the text to discuss the initiative. The other four tribes in the group include the Ione Band of Miwok Indians, Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, and Wilton Rancheria.
Nothing in terms of a bill filing materialized after those discussions which could indicate this most recent online sports betting initiative is already dead on arrival, but assuming Smith remains resolute in getting another sports betting bill on the ballot, he would have to have cleared all the legal hurdles and red tape by June of next year for the secretary of state to qualify this initiative as eligible for the November 5th, 2024 ballot.
Lack of Tribal Support
California sports betting initiatives have not gone well in the recent past as evidenced by the four bills that were crafted to get on the 2022 electoral ballot, of which only two made it, and both were soundly defeated by the voters.
Only 17.7% of the electorate voted in favor of Prop 27 while the other, Prop 26, garnered only 33% of voter support. The tribes are not united behind sports betting because they believe it will negatively impact their casino businesses which is their primary source of income.
Challenges and Skepticism
Once the outcome of the vote was revealed, Jacob Mejia, Pechanga vice president of public and external affairs, said, “For tribal leaders, the starting point was what is it that the voters are willing to support. And the answer for us was modest in-person sports wagering at tribal casinos. We recognized very early on that online sports betting would be an overreach.”
A cogent plan to get all the tribes on board in the state has yet to be formed with many skeptical of the platform providers and the large cut they would take, as well as the taxes collected by the state, leaving little for the tribes.
Mejia also referenced Prop 27 specifically, “Several tribes were exploring the market and having conversations with potential vendors before the pile of turd that became Prop 27 was dropped, and that includes us. Certainly, recalling at the time, there were a lot of rumors that were swirling about so-and-so meeting with so-and-so.
“We recognized pretty early on that operators were employing the age-old trick of divide and conquer. As far as Pechanga was concerned, the notion that we would support 27 is ludicrous.”
Independence in Action
Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro commented on the Pala’s latest gambit, “This is a tribe (Pala) that has a proclivity to go out on its own, and maybe that’s what’s happening again here.
“Maybe this is just a case of one tribe wanting it so much when no one else really seems to want it. Certainly, voters didn’t want it last election. But I’m looking forward to seeing the language. Maybe they came up with something brilliant that no one else thought up.”
Apparently, not.
*Bookmakers Review will continue to monitor this story and update our readers as events unfold.
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