California tribal gaming leaders continue to view 2028 as the target for placing a new online sports betting initiative before voters.
Tribal leaders are conducting voter research and developing a proposal following the failure of competing ballot measures in 2022.
James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, said: “We’re trying to do something that’s data-driven.
“We’ve built up a huge amount of positive feelings for tribal gaming. We keep our promises, do the right thing and offer safe and regulated gaming.”
California remains the largest US state by population without legal sports betting. Any new proposal would require voter approval and broad agreement among tribal governments over the structure and control of the market.
Voters rejected two competing initiatives in November 2022. Proposition 26 would have permitted retail sports betting at tribal casinos and four horse racing tracks, while Proposition 27 proposed statewide online betting through licensed tribes and commercial operators.
Sports event contracts are now available in California through prediction-market platforms, although licensed sportsbooks remain prohibited.
Tribal organisations argue that the contracts amount to gambling and undermine state authority and tribal gaming rights. Prediction-market operators maintain that they are financial derivatives regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Siva said: “If we go to online sports betting in California, we can start cutting their legs out from under them because everyone would rather play in a regulated online sports betting market than on a prediction market.”
No initiative has qualified for the 2028 ballot and the structure of any tribal-led market has not been finalised.
