New PPIC Survey Shows Over Half of Californians Oppose Sports Betting Prop 27

• CA Public Policy Institute’s Recent Sports Betting Survey Gave Residents a Voice
• Native Tribes and Outside Operators Are at Odds Over Props 26 and 27
• California Voters will Decide on Sports Betting in November’s Election

With less than two months to go before California’s November elections, residents are still weighing their potential sports betting options, but according to a recent survey done by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), over half of them now oppose Proposition 27.

According to that survey, 54% of Californians are against that ballot measure, Prop 27, which is one of two up for vote in November, and if it became law it would give major sports betting companies the right to partner with CA native tribes and offer mobile sports betting to residents.

Prop 27 would also allow them to accept bets on all types of non-athletic competitions, and having these outside operators now involved in a California gambling market that has been historically native is seen as unacceptable to the majority of those who were surveyed.

The other option on the ballot is Proposition 26, which would make retail, or in-person, betting available at the existing tribal casinos as well as at the four private-owned horse racing tracks already in the Golden State, a route that essentially excludes those outside sportsbooks.

Thus the rub.

Native Tribes and Outside Operators Are at Odds Over Props 26 and 27

The battle between California’s native tribes and outside sportsbook operators over state sports betting hearts and minds has been ongoing ever since the two ballot measures were initially introduced earlier this year, the use of attack ads and native voices all in play so far.

As we have recently reported in California Has Spent Record $364M on Sports Betting Ballot Measure Advertising, this battle has not come cheap, and no doubt in the final weeks leading up to the November election those efforts will be exponentially intensified.

It’s a tricky thing since California’s existing gambling market isn’t exactly broken, its 62 casinos in 27 counties doing just fine taking in millions of annual dollars, so ‘fixing’ it with legal sports betting could upset the already delicate balance of not enough or too much of a good thing.

That call will be up to the voters.

California Voters Will Decide on Sports Betting in November’s Election

Already in the US over thirty states and Washington DC have legalized sports betting for residents, their legal right to do so given to them once the Supreme Court overturned PASPA in 2018 thereby handing that choice over to the individual states instead of just Vegas and Jersey.

That market has generated multi-billions of dollars in handle and revenue, all taxable income that has given those states a new (and welcome) cash flow in a time of recovery after the worldwide pandemic did its viral and financial damage.

Now California voters will decide if they want their state – the most populous of them all with over 39 million residents – to join into this new US legal sports betting craze, an attempt to regulate and tax an existing black market that has all that money flowing out of the states.

There will most likely be plenty more attempts to sway both sides of this CA sports betting battle, so keep checking back for all the latest news and updates on this unfolding story.