(Molly Magnell / For The Times)
Proposition 26 would legalize in-person sports betting on tribal lands and at four horse-racing tracks. The racetracks would pay a 10% tax on sports-wagering profits, a portion of which would be used for legal enforcement and problem-gambling programs. Along with gambling on sports, the tribes also would be allowed to offer roulette, as well as craps and other dice games, if permitted by individual tribal gambling agreements with the state. Betting on high school sports and California college teams would be banned.
Proposition 27 would allow licensed tribes and gambling companies, including FanDuel and DraftKings, to offer online sports betting — including on cellphones and other mobile devices. The gambling companies must be affiliated with a tribe. Both the tribes and gambling companies must pay 10% of the sports bets made every month to the state, minus expenses.
Along with covering state regulatory costs, most of the money raised would be used to address homelessness and to help people with gambling addiction problems. A smaller portion, 15%, would be given to tribes not involved in online sports betting.
California’s major gaming tribes support Proposition 26, and fear that competition created under Proposition 27 would cut into a major part of California’s gambling market at tribal casinos. Supporters and opponents of the two measures already have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the campaigns.
