The chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association laid down the gauntlet at G2E, insisting that tribes will control sports betting in the state.
James Siva, appearing on a panel discussion on tribal sovereignty and sports betting, said the tribes have “learned our lessons” and are already developing a plan to put a measure on the ballot as early as 2026, but more likely 2028. An announcement will be forthcoming after the November election.
Siva recapped the 2022 referendum battle, in which nearly $500 million was spent by the tribes and commercial interests fighting over the approval of sports betting. Both measures were defeated overwhelmingly.
“There was a lot of exhaustion,” Siva said. “I was exhausted and a lot of California leaders in this room were exhausted, but we never stopped talking about sports betting. At every CNIGA meeting, we were laying out a game plan. Everyone said maybe we should take a pause. We will take (off) an election cycle (in 2024) and keep working on this.”
From a total of 109 federally recognized tribes in the state, 73 operate gaming facilities. They’re coming together for the next referendum, instead of the divisions in the last election where some tribes were on opposite sides.
“CNIGA has put together a work group for tribal leaders and we’ll lay out a narrative and framework for what sports betting will be in California,” Siva said. “Any entry of new gaming into California will be controlled by tribes. Period. Tribes are the operators in California. Period. The future of sports betting belongs to tribes in California. Period.”
Siva said the work will come from the top down from tribal leadership laying that framework.
“We’ve learned our lessons and know exactly what to do,” Siva said. “We have to communicate. We have to make sure that every single tribe in California benefits. We protect what we built and continue to set the future to growth. We have that strong core of leadership who understand where we’ve come from (when tribal gaming was legalized in California in 1998), and the only way going forward is together.
“The timing may be 2026 and likely 2028, but there will be a lot of action coming out of California in the next few months.”
Despite the defeat of their measure to allow tribes and racetracks to offer retail sports betting in the state, Siva said he’s optimistic there’s a path forward for tribes, as California voters hold tribes in “high regard” and know what they do benefits the communities.
Siva said it’s always good to look at what tribes are doing in other states. “There’s no reason to recreate the wheel. That wheel is already functioning and working for those groups.”
California is so big and diverse, with some tribes running massive facilities and others operating none, that they “have to think outside the box,” Siva said. They will come up with a plan “that’s going to be a brand-new framework. We’ll take bits and pieces from other states, but what comes out of California will be new and unique, which is not surprising. California tribes have always been at the forefront of innovation and this will be the next example of that.”
Siva lamented that tribes were ready to move forward on sports betting in 2018 and 2019, but the pandemic changed the landscape.
“Coming out of COVID, the timing didn’t work out. During the interim, it gave the other side time to come up with their own initiative. Immediately, tribes recognized the danger that would have done to our industry – losing our exclusivity and diminishing our sovereignty.”
Siva said that experience taught tribes that the discussion about sports betting was, in effect, an introduction to igaming. “This whole conversation is about how sports betting will affect the entry of igaming into the California market down the road.”
Victor Rocha, conference chairman of the Indian Gaming Association, told the audience that hopefully no other tribes will have to go through what California did. “The battle will resonate with the rest of the industry and how that’s unnecessary and we don’t have to spend that type of revenue.”
