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This is your sports betting industry news for Friday May 28, 2021.
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California
An initiative that would legalize sports betting at privately operated horse-racing tracks in California, including Golden Gate Fields, could go on the ballot as early as November 2022 after more than a million signatures of support were confirmed by the state Thursday.
Native American casino owners helped kill a bill in 2020 that would have allowed online and mobile sports betting.
Ken Adams, a casino industry consultant in Reno, is convinced Californians will vote for the initiative.
"It hasn't failed in any state so far," Adams said. "It's the most openly embraced expansion of gambling in my lifetime .... It's as popular as anything in the country."
But Kyle Kirkland, head of the California Gaming Association, which represents the state's cardroom industry, said his group will fight it, saying it represents an unfair expansion of the tribes' control over gambling.
"It's not really the sports betting initiative; it's the tribal gaming monopoly initiative," he said.
Mobile sports betting is not part of the plan.
Connecticut
Connecticut Gov. Lamont has signed a bill legalizing sports betting and online gambling. This represented the last step before the U.S. Department of Interior is asked to sign off on an amended gambling compact between the state and the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes.
"I am confident that the federal government will see fit to approve these amendments to our compact, and in the coming months we can launch a modernized, 21st century gaming experience in Connecticut," said Lamont in a statement.
Proponents are hopeful that bets can be placed as soon as this fall.
Maine
The Maine Legislature Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs voted down the bills and will continue to work on the one introduced by Sen. Louis Luchini.
From News Center Maine:
The big roadblock facing these legislators is if they want to support a tethered or untethered model. Related to sports betting, a tethered model means brick and motor businesses, like casinos, and race tracks are the only entities that can receive a sports betting license.
Also under that model, casinos and those businesses can still offer mobile gaming options. An untethered approach eliminates the need for mobile sites to have a physical location in the state.
For example, Hollywood Casino Hotel & Raceway in Bangor is owned by Penn National Gaming. The parent company also owns Barstool Sports and its mobile betting platform. In a tethered approach, the mobile app can launch in Maine because it has a physical casino location.
Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Senate did not include sports betting revenue in its budget proposal despite multiple amendments trying to add it. The House also excluded sports betting in MA from its proposal. Time is not a major issue as the state’s legislative session runs through Jan. 4, 2022.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
