US online betting update – California & Florida developments

This week fresh news came out regarding the online betting markets in California and Florida.

Read below to learn more about developments in the online betting industry in these states.

Online sports betting update California – Democratic Party against online betting

This week the California Democratic Party has recommended those in the state to vote against legalizing online betting.

The California Democratic Party dominated the most recent election and owns both houses of the state since 1996. This makes their vote for online gambling very important.

In the official list of endorsements for the ballot measures of the party they their recommendation regarding gambling for the 2022 November election. And this wasn’t good news for the gambling industry.

Proposition 26 & Proposition 27 – Tribes vs. the Major gambling operators

The November election will include two important measures relating sports betting. One of them is the Tribe-backed Proposition 26, which will allow retail sports betting only on tribal lands. This measurement is also known as the California Legalize Sports Betting on American Lands Initiative.

The second proposition (27) is a different one which is not backed by the Tribes, but by some major online sportsbook operators. This proposition could legalize online sports betting, but only including very high requirements for parties that want to get hold of a license. These requirements include a $100 million license fee which would be an impossible requirement for many gambling businesses.

Proposition 27 is backed by for example Fanduel, DraftKings and BetMGM. These operators are probably the only ones that could pay the $100 million license fee which allows them to operate without having to worry about a lot of competitors.

Financial gains to fight homelessness in California

The operator-backed proposition is officially titled as the California Solutions to Homelessness and Mental Health Support Act. The name of the act comes from the fact that money raised by the act will be used to fight homelessness in the state. Legalizing sports betting in California will bring in a lot of money, up to $100 million per licensee and many more millions due to the 10% gambling tax rate.

On the other side the Democratic party declined to make any endorsements regarding Proposition 26, the Tribe-backed one. They did release a ‘’no’’ endorsement for the operator-backed plan.

Florida Update – lawsuite starting August 17

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has published a timeline for an important lawsuit that will decide the future of online sport betting in the Sunshine State. Looking at the new timeframe it will be unlikely that there will come a decision until 2023.

The lawsuit, started by pari-mutuel operators West Flagler Associates, will decide whether the Seminole Tribe can start accepting online sport bets after the new tribal compact that came into play last year.

According to the Florida constitution there should be a referendum to decide whether the state should accept online sports betting to take place. The tribe does question this and appeals this decision because placing bets on non-tribal lands would not violate this clause according to them, especially when the servers would be operational in Seminole territory.

The lawsuit is not setup against the Tribe, but is filed against Debra Haaland, Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, which is responsible for reviewing and approving all tribe-state compacts in the US.

The lawsuit will start on 17 August and will run through to October following by writing an answering brief in November.