The chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association simulated a mic drop Tuesday when he said that the state’s tribes will take the lead on the approval of sports betting, while commercial operators will have only a supporting role in its implementation.
James Siva, also vice chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, laid down the gauntlet for the out-of-state interests in their bid to carve out a future in California sports betting. He didn’t, however, offer a timeline on when tribes will return to voters to seek approval for its adoption.
Siva spoke to a well-attended session on the future of California sports betting at the Indian Gaming Association Tradeshow & Convention in Anaheim. The audience applauded his tough stance.
During the session, Conference Chairman Victor Rocha decried any notion that the tribes’ moving slowly on getting sports betting enacted in the state was responsible for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani becoming mired in a betting scandal involving his former interpreter.
Commercial operators led by FanDuel, DraftKings, and MGM Resorts International spent hundreds of millions of dollars in 2022 to pass Proposition 27; the bill would have allowed online sports betting. In the process, they strove to defeat Proposition 26, sponsored by the tribes, to allow in-person betting only at tribal casinos. Both were soundly defeated and observers have wondered when tribes will bring back the initiative to get sports betting at their casinos.
“When we have our timeline, we’ll let you know,” Siva said. “Tribes are the operators for gaming in California, period. When an expansion of gaming happens, the tribes will be in control and we’ll decide the timeline and the path forward. If we choose to partner with a group like DraftKings, FanDuel, or BetMGM, we’ll let them know what terms we’re willing to accept. That’s it.”
Rocha called it a bold statement and the type of honesty that people needed to hear. California tribal gaming will continue to grow 25 years from now if they make the right decision today, he added. “We have an industry that’s not very patient. You’re starting to see that with fantasy,” he said, referring to DraftKings and FanDuel offering daily fantasy sports in California, while the attorney general reviews whether DFS is legal in the state.
“We’re doing a deep dive on fantasy right now,” Siva said. “I was disappointed to see how quickly the legislation turned around and got an opinion from the AG, when we’ve been asking for decades for a similar thing on the illegal actions of card rooms. All of a sudden, this is a priority for the AG. I think it’s another (way for them) to figure out how to get sports betting and maybe move around the tribes. Certain games they’re offering are blatantly illegal and others are in a gray area. We’ll hammer them when we need to.”
Siva reiterated that commercial companies won’t be sports-betting operators in California. Tribes may want to partner with them for a service by using their technology and platform only.
“They’re starting to realize that,” Siva said. “In an earlier panel, FanDuel CEO Amy Howe said she’s very much aware that the tribes are in the lead position and that’s not going to change.”
Siva said he understands the urgency to enact sports betting in California, then pointed out that tribes developed the gaming industry in the state over the last three decades out of nothing.
“While we still have the urgency, we need to make sure we we do this right. Right now, the wrong step can bring everything we built tumbling down. No one would benefit from that. While we’re urgent, we’ll be careful and make strategic decisions based on real data. We’ll make sure we stay united in purpose, so we can do what we’ve done from the beginning, trying to make sure every tribe benefits.”
Rocha touched on the scandal involving Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, reported to have placed millions in wagers with an illegal California bookmaker. Rocha said because tribes haven’t gotten sports betting legalized, some people are blaming them for the scandal.
“It’s on the front page of every newspaper and in Japan,” Rocha said. “The gray market is starting to have some weight in this conversation. It seems to be the thing people shove in our face: ‘You need to move because of the gray market.’ Like it’s our job to deal with the gray market.”
