California sports betting: Cardrooms hit back against tribal initiative

Two cardrooms have announced the filing of a lawsuit challenging the tribal-backed ballot initiative that aims to bring sports betting to the Golden State.

As discussions surrounding the launch of sports betting in California heat up, debates regarding how exactly this massively popular activity should look in the Golden State have begun to arise.  

This debate, which is taking place between the state’s tribes, commercial operators and cardrooms, will decide how exactly Californians will experience sports betting for years to come. 

This week, two cardrooms have filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court questioning the legality of the tribal sports betting proposal that is set to feature on the November 2022 ballot. 

The tribal proposal, which is supported by nine of the state’s tribes, would legalize sports wagering on tribal land, would allow them to operate roulette and craps games and grant one-way permission for tribal casinos to take legal action against cardrooms. 

This court filing, presented by the Hollywood Park Casino and the Cal-Pac Rancho Casino, argues that the tribal initiative should be removed from the November ballot due to a violation of California’s constitutional code. 

Specifically, these cardrooms claim the nine tribes have broken the law stating that ballot initiatives can only involve one subject. 

“What this sports wagering ballot initiative really does is to surreptitiously destroy competition with California’s cardrooms by granting more rights to tribal casinos, including the right to file a stream of lawsuits against cardrooms,” said Deven Kumar, General Manager of Hollywood Park. 

“This is not what the initiative process was designed to do, and certainly not what this initiative is advertised to do.”

While the tribes claim that removing the tribal proposal from the ballot initiative would deeply harm the interests of  the indigenous population in California, the two cardrooms claim that allowing it would do the same to them. They cite the high tax revenue their venues produce that is then paid to diverse and working class communities across the state. 

The cardrooms’ previous attempt to counter the tribal plan initially failed, being rejected by the California Supreme Court.

Henry Moore

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