Sports betting in California: Update!

Sports betting in California: Update!

The gaming industry continues to garner mainstream recognition in America and several other places across the globe. In California, punters have the opportunity to cherry-pick between a few options that include the infamous national lottery, off-track gambling parlors, horse race gambling, Indian casinos and benevolent gaming. While this might seem like a few for residents in countries where all sorts of sports gambling are legal, California’s list of available sports betting options is a lot compared to other states in America. What’s more, an ongoing petition to legalize sports betting in local tribal casinos is underway and halfway through.

A coalition of 18 tribes has gathered more than 600,000 signatures for the petition that requires 997,139 valid signatures to qualify. According to their spokesman Jacob Mejia, although it would take around 1.5 million signatures to be safe, they are offering a strong start and have been collecting signatures since January 2020. The petition, however, doesn’t feature mobile wagering, which lacks CA voter support, according to the spokesman. If the tribal petition passes, it will be a new dawn for California as well as other regions that model their gambling regulations after the golden bear state.

According to pundits, even if the petition fails, the communities will have achieved a lot just by getting sports betting to the ballot. It will undoubtedly increase awareness and recognition for sports betting, which is a double-edged opportunity capable of tremendous profits and severe addiction on the youth. For the governing authorities, strict regulations are required before sports betting can become legal and sustainable in modern fragile communities. Since mobile wagering poses the most significant risk in the society, marginalizing it in the petition does well for the coalition’s case. But what does this mean for mobile sports betting?

According to analysts and those in support of sports betting legalization, every phase has to be in its own time, just like other forms of gambling have become legal, mobile wagering is foreseeable in the future. However, it is time to allow tribal casinos to offer sports betting and its varied list of wagering opportunities. Mobile betting posses the most significant threat, considering the extensive measures required to govern online gambling. It opens doors to money laundering and scamming schemes, among other security issues. As such, some states have begun to regulate online gambling, including New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada.

Over the past year, gambling companies, sports bookmarkers, payment processing companies and other major stakeholders in the food chain have been on high alert not to break any laws. Manu countries went on a mission to root out illegal operators of non-licensed businesses and several multi-million dollar businesses were closed down. While was taking place, other states, such as Oregon followed the steps of Nevada by regulating sports betting. In recent news, Idaho and Washington have been touted to be on the edge of major regulatory changes concerning sports betting.

The legalization of sports betting in California has been edging closer since the beginning of 2020. Windmills began turning when DraftKings, a US-based sports gambling and DFS (daily fantasy sports) operator, announced their first shop in San Francisco. Although there aren’t any laws at the federal level to prohibit sports gambling, the Golden State will be keen to regulate this area from the start. Many now believe the regulation of sports betting in California might happen sooner rather than later. But what does this mean for the rest of the world?

California is the lead state and most other regions look after when it comes to passing various laws and regulations. After the Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports betting in 2018, several states went ahead and legalized it. California, which is already witnessing drastic changes in sports betting regulations, might just become the sports betting capital of the world. Comment below to tell us when if you think the Golden State will become sports betting capital of America.

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