While sports betting legalization spreads quickly throughout America, California has not made a lot of progress which is frustrating for sports betting operators as California has the biggest sports betting market in the country.
The David Binder Research poll asked Californians if they would be open to sports betting legalization as that state could generate millions of dollars each month which could be used to fund important projects like reducing homelessness and boosting mental health programs in the state.
The poll was backed by a number of top sports betting operators which included WynnBET, FanDuel, BetMGM, Bally’s, Penn National/Barstool Sportsbook, and DraftKings. A total of 2,400 individuals voted on this poll and the results showed that 76 percent of democrats and 59 percent of independents were in favour of sports betting legalization.
The republicans were the only group that had 44 percent against sports betting legalization with 41 percent in favour of legalization. The poll which was conducted during July 14 to 22, had overall results where 62 percent were in favour of sports betting legalization, 25 percent against it and the rest undecided.
Nat’l Indian Gaming Association
There are currently three proposals that could end up going to a Nov 2022 ballot in California. One of them has received approval already and this proposal looks to legalize betting at the four horse tracks and tribal casinos. The other proposal calls for in-person betting and online betting at card rooms, horse tracks, sports stadiums and tribal casinos.
The third proposal is the one that the David Binder Research poll was conducted on and the public can send in their feedback on the proposal till Sep 30. The Attorney’s General Office wants to give the proposal a summary and a title by Nov 4.
Once this is done, supporters of this bill will need to get 1 million signatures before June 2022 and the same needs to be verified for the proposal to be placed on the Nov 2022 ballot.
This proposal looks to impose a hefty $100 million license application fee on interested US sports betting operators. There are already 7 operators interested in launching sports betting in California. If we assume that we get a total of 10 betting licenses, California will pick up $1 billion even before sports betting is launched.
The betting tax rate is set at 10 percent and 85 percent of all revenue will go towards mental health and reducing homelessness while 15 percent will go towards the different tribes in the state.
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