Patrons place in person bets during the launch of legalized sports betting in Michigan at the MGM Grand Detroit casino in Detroit on March 11, 2020. | Paul Sancya/AP PhotoOAKLAND, Calif. — California beckons as the biggest prize yet for America’s exploding sports betting market.
Thirty-three states and Washington, D.C. have authorized sports betting, birthing a sector expected to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue once those markets are fully operative. The explosive growth follows two-and-a-half decades in which Congress gave Nevada an effective monopoly on athletic wagering in America.
Native American casinos, horse tracks, card rooms and platforms such as FanDuel and DraftKings are vying for control of a market that could generate tens of billions of dollars annually, reprising a power struggle that has already played out in states like Florida. A customer places a bet at one of the new sports wagering kiosks at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn on Sept. 30, 2021. | Susan Haigh/AP Photo
Tribal leaders aren’t buying it. Eight months before the general election, they have matched gambling companies with a $100 million counteroffensive to block the competing initiative, calling it a power grab that violates the spirit of a 1998 California law that authorized tribal gambling and transformed tribes into formidable political players. An ad campaign warns the proposal from “out-of-state corporations” would “break the promise” between voters and tribes.
The ruling seemed to legitimize sports betting overnight — turning a vice long the purview of barroom bookies and offshore gaming sites into a new government revenue stream and a pillar of sports in the U.S.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu shows his receipt after placing the first legal sports wagering bet on his mobile phone in Manchester, N.H., Dec. 30, 2019. | Charles Krupa/AP Photo
Nobody needs this.
BY REPUBLICANS WHO PASS LAWS OF CONTROLING WOMEN