The fight to legalize California online has been fairly brutal with stakeholders from Indian tribes to poker rooms to race tracks all slugging it out to insure their piece of what could be a very large pie. Though Golden State igaming is still a long way from becoming a reality, some winners and losers have already emerged.
On the winning side are California’s powerful tribal casino interests.
These groups, particularly the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, have driven the entire legislative process regarding this issue and whatever they say seems to be golden with California lawmakers. They’ve held fast in their assertion that only currently licensed parties (Indian tribes and card rooms) should have access to the market.
On the the losing side of the battle is California’s horse racing industry. Whatever clout they’ve got in the State House is nowhere near what the tribal casinos have. Time and time again, horse track operators have been shut out of the California online gambling conversation, or offered mere crumbs.
In the past, race tracks have struggled to be part of the gambling conversation at all, despite employing more than 50,000 Californians.
To this day, horse tracks haven’t been allowed to expand beyond traditional race wagering and aren’t even allowed to offer slot machines. Given the industry’s rapidly aging customer base, they are desperate to find new customers and igaming gives them that opportunity, if they actually get that far.
Whatever hope there is for a positive resolution to this fight seems to hedge on whether or not card room operators can convince Indian tribes to change their views. According to a recent report on CalvinAyre.com, the card room industry