A California court has given state tribes a 90-day extension to collect the required amount of signatures to qualify their sports betting initiative for the 2022 ballot.
Last November, a coalition of 18 California-based tribes put forward the California Sports Regulation and Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act, to legalize sports betting at tribal casinos and licensed horse racetracks.
It needed 997,139 signatures by 20 July, within 180 days of the official summary date, to qualify for the November 2020 ballot.
The initiative obtained 971,000 by mid-March, until state governor Gavin Newsom’s stay at home order to limit the spread of COVID-19 was implemented.
The tribes then filed a lawsuit to allow for an extension, initially hoping for 180 days, which has been halved by judge James Arguelles of the Superior Court of California.
That gives the tribes a new deadline of 12 October to reach the required signatures to get their sports betting initiative onto the November ballot.
Last week, rival California sports betting bill, SCA-6, which would legalize mobile and online sports betting for tribal casinos, racetracks and would allow card rooms to offer banked games was pulled by senator Bill Dodd.
