Legalized Gambling In California
- Legalized Gambling In California Counties
- Legalized Gambling In California
- Morongo Casino
- Legalized Gambling In California State
- Legalized Gambling In California Laws
- Legalizing Gambling In California
Legislative Analyst's Office, January 1998
Introduction | Gambling in the United States is a multibillion dollar industry and is rapidly expanding. Consumer spending on gambling activities nationwide has outpaced the growth in personal income over the past 14 years. Additionally, consumers have made a dramatic shift in the types of gambling activities they are participating in, with wagering on charitable games and horse races declining significantly. In this report, we outline the nationwide gambling industry, and discuss in more detail what is occurring in the California gambling industry. The California gambling industry includes the state lottery, card rooms, horse race wagering, charitable gambling, and gambling on Indian lands. With regard to gambling on Indian lands, we recommend the Legislature clarify the state's role in this area. |
Table of Contents | GAMBLING IN THE UNITED STATES
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California took its first step toward legalizing sports betting in 1933, when voters passed a ballot measure to legalize betting on horse races. By 1984, satellite wagering on horse racing was. California Gambling Control Resource Book 2020, pdf The following regulations have recently been approved by the Office of Administrative Law. The regulations below are not included in the most recent version of the California Gambling Law and Regulations.
Gambling in the United States
Legalized Gambling In California Counties
What Kind of Gambling Is Allowed?
Size of the Gambling Industry
| Figure 2 | ||||
| Gross Gambling Revenues by Industry Segment United States 1982 and 1996 | ||||
| (In Billions) | ||||
| 1982 | 1996 | |||
| Amount | Percent of Total | Amount | Percent of Total | |
| Casinos | $4.2 | 40.0% | $17.5 | 36.7% |
| Lotteries | 2.2 | 21.0 | 16.2 | 34.0 |
| Horse Racing | 2.2 | 21.0 | 3.2 | 6.7 |
| Charitable | 1.2 | 13.0 | 2.4 | 5.0 |
| Card Rooms | 0.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| Other | 0.6 | 6.0 | 2.3 | 4.8 |
| Indian | -- | -- | 5.4 | 11.3 |
| Totals | $10.5 | 100.0% | $47.7 | 100.0% |
Indian Gambling
Gambling in California
Lottery
| Figure 6 |
| California State Lottery Games |
| As of December 1997 |
| Super Lotto |
| Scratchers |
| Fantasy 5 |
| Daily 3 |
| Hot Spot |
| Big SpinTelevision Show |
Card Rooms
| Figure 7 | |||
| Location and Size of California Card Rooms by County | |||
| (As of October 1997) | |||
| Number of | |||
| County | Card Rooms | Tables | Range of Number of Tables Per Card Room |
| Alameda | 5 | 59 | 2-40 |
| Butte | 4 | 12 | 3 |
| Colusa | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Contra Costa | 12 | 145 | 1-100 |
| Fresno | 4 | 33 | 1-25 |
| Humboldt | 3 | 9 | 2-4 |
| Imperial | 3 | 9 | 3 |
| Kern | 10 | 50 | 1-15 |
| Kings | 3 | 7 | 2-3 |
| Lake | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Lassen | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Los Angeles | 6 | 914 | 44-300 |
| Madera | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Marin | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Merced | 5 | 10 | 1-3 |
| Mono | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Monterey | 11 | 38 | 2-7 |
| Napa | 2 | 17 | 5-12 |
| Nevada | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Placer | 2 | 3 | 1-2 |
| Riverside | 3 | 44 | 2-39 |
| Sacramento | 16 | 86 | 3-10 |
| San Benito | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| San Bernardino | 1 | 25 | 25 |
| San Diego | 9 | 64 | 1-25 |
| San Joaquin | 7 | 30 | 3-8 |
| San Luis Obispo | 7 | 16 | 2-3 |
| San Mateo | 3 | 48 | 3-35 |
| Santa Clara | 6 | 98 | 1-40 |
| Santa Cruz | 8 | 16 | 1-3 |
| Santa Barbara | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Shasta | 2 | 20 | 4-16 |
| Sierra | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Solano | 2 | 5 | 2-3 |
| Sonoma | 4 | 21 | 1-12 |
| Stanislaus | 5 | 22 | 3-6 |
| Tulare | 13 | 24 | 1-3 |
| Tuolumne | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Ventura | 4 | 14 | 2-6 |
| Yolo | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Yuba | 3 | 9 | 1-4 |
| Totals | 176 | 1,883 | |
Horse Racing
| Figure 10 | |||
| 1996 California Horse Race Meetings and Total Parimutuel Handle | |||
| (Dollars in Millions) | |||
| Track | City (County) | Meet Dates | Handlea |
| Thoroughbred Race Meetings | |||
| Santa Anita Park | Arcadia (Los Angeles) | 12/26/95-04/22/96 | $820.6 |
| Hollywood Park | Inglewood (Los Angeles) | 04/26/96-07/22/96 | 589.3 |
| Del Mar | Del Mar (San Diego) | 07/24/96-09/11/96 | 425.7 |
| Golden Gate Fields | Albany (Contra Costa) | 03/27/96-12/22/96 | 323.3 |
| Bay Meadows | San Mateo (San Mateo) | 01/24/96-11/04/96 | 305.7 |
| Quarter Horse Race Meetings | |||
| Los Alamitos | Cypress (Los Angeles) | 04/19/96-12/22/96 | $169.1 |
| Harness Race Meetings | |||
| Los Alamitos | Cypress (Los Angeles) | 12/22/95-04/07/96 | $56.0 |
| Cal Expo | Sacramento (Sacramento) | 04/12/96-07/21/96 | 28.5 |
| Los Angeles County Fair | Pomona (Los Angeles) | 09/12/96-09/30/96 | $92.9 |
| Sonoma County Fair | Santa Rosa (Sonoma) | 07/24/96-08/05/96 | 30.9 |
| Alameda County Fair | Pleasanton (Alameda) | 06/26/96-07/07/96 | 29.9 |
| San Mateo County Fair | Bay Meadows Track (San Mateo) | 08/07/96-08/19/96 | 28.4 |
| Solano County Fair | Vallejo (Solano) | 07/10/96-07/22/96 | 25.4 |
| California State Fair | Sacramento (Sacramento) | 08/21/96-09/02/96 | 17.8 |
| San Joaquin County Fair | Stockton (San Joaquin) | 06/12/96-06/23/96 | 12.5 |
| Fresno District Fair | Fresno (Fresno) | 10/02/96-10/13/96 | 6.7 |
| Humboldt County Fair | Ferndale (Humboldt) | 08/08/96-08/18/96 | 1.6 |
| aHandle as defined on page 2. | |||
Charitable Gambling
Indian Gambling
| Figure 12 | |||
| Indian Gambling Operations in California | |||
| As of July 1997 | |||
| County | Facility Name | City | Owner/Operator |
| Amador | Jackson Indian Bingo and Casino | Jackson | Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians |
| Butte | Feather Falls Casino | Oroville | Mooretown Rancheria |
| Gold Country Casino | Oroville | Tyme Maidu Tribe of the Berry Creek Rancheria | |
| Colusa | Colusa Indian Bingo | Colusa | Colusa Band of Wintun Indians |
| Del Norte | Golden Bear Casino | Klammath | Coast Indian Community of the Resighini Rancheria |
| Elk Valley Casino | Crescent City | Elk Valley Rancheria | |
| Lucky 7 Casino | Smith River | Smith River Rancheria | |
| Fresno | Mono Wind Casino | Auberry | Auberry Big Sandy Rancheria |
| Table Mountain Rancheria Casino and Bingo | Friant | Table Mountain Rancheria | |
| Humboldt | Hoopa | Lucky Bear Casino and Bingo | Hoopa Valley Tribe |
| Cher-Ae Heights Bingo and Casino | Trinidad | Trinidad Rancheria | |
| Imperial | Paradise Casino | Winterhaven | Quechan Indian Tribe |
| Inyo | Sierra Spring Casino | Big Pine | Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley |
| Konocti Vista Casino and Bingo | Finley | Big Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians | |
| Paiute Palace Casino | -- | Bishop Paiute Tribe | |
| Kings | The Palace Indian Gaming Center | Lemoore | Santa Rosa Band of Tachi Indians of the Santa Rosa Rancheria |
| Lake | Twin Pines Casino | Middletown | Lake Miwok Indian Nation of the Middletown Rancheria |
| Robinson Rancheria Bingo and Casino | Nice | Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians | |
| Lassen | Northern Lights Casino | Susanville | Susanville Indian Rancheria |
| Mendocino | Red Fox Casino and Bingo | Laytonville | Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria |
| Shodaki Coyote Valley Casino | -- | Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians | |
| Hopland Sho-ka-wah Casino | Hopland | Hopland Band of Pomo Indians | |
| Black Hart Casino | -- | Sherwood Valley Rancheria | |
| Riverside | Spa Hotel and Casino | Palm Springs | Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians |
| Cabazon Bingo Inc., Fantasy Springs Casino | Indio | Cabazon Band of Mission Indians | |
| Cahuilla Creek Rest and Casino | -- | Cahuilla Band of Mission Indians | |
| Casino Morongo | Cabazon | Morongo Band of Mission Indians | |
| Soboba Legends Casino | San Jacinto | Soboba Band of Mission Indians | |
| Pechanga Entertainment Center | Temecula | Temecula Band of Luiseno Mission Indians | |
| Spotlight 29 Casino | Coachella | Twenty Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians | |
| San Bernardino | Havasu Landing Resort and Casino | Havasu | Chemehuevi Indian Tribe |
| San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino | Highland | San Manuel Band of Mission Indians | |
| San Diego | Barona Casino and Bingo | Lakeside | Barona Band of Mission Indians |
| Sycuan Indian Bingo and Poker Casino | El Cajon | Sycuan Band of Mission Indians | |
| Viejas Casino and Turf Club | Alpine | Viejas Band of Mission Indians | |
| Santa Barbara | Chumash Casino | Santa Ynez | Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians |
| Shasta | Burney Casino | Burney | Pit River Tribe |
| Win-River Casino Bingo | Redding | Redding Rancheria | |
| Tulare | Eagle Mountain Casino | -- | Tule River Tribe of the Tule River Indian Reservation |
| Tuolumne | Chicken Ranch Bingo | Jamestown | Chicken Ranch Band of Me-Wuk Indians |
| Yolo | Cache Creek Bingo and Casino | Brooks | Rumsey Indian Rancheria |
| Source: National Indian Gaming Commission. | |||
| AcknowledgmentsThis report was prepared by Megan M. Atkinson, under the supervision of Gerald Beavers. The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) is a nonpartisan office which provides fiscal and policy information and advice to the Legislature. | Publications To request publications call (916) 445-2375. This report and others are available on the LAO's World Wide Web site at http:// www.lao.ca.gov. The LAO is located at 925 L Street, Suite 1000, Sacramento, CA 95814. |
Legalized sports gambling in California is still at least two years away. But to those in the gambling community, the Golden State already looks like a potential golden goose.
Such is the power of California’s potential betting market, which PlayCA.com, a site that analyzes legalized gambling in the state, estimated could annually generate more than $30 billion in wagers.
The day the state legalizes the business, considered a virtual inevitability by most in the industry, will be like the start of a modern-day gold rush. Big-brand sports books and small-time oddsmakers alike will pour in, mining for millions of untapped customers.
“The numbers that we’re seeing, what we’ve heard anecdotally from the off-shore [gambling] operators … it’s going to be huge,” said Brian Musburger, founder and chairman of sports betting information site VSiN. “Everybody [in the gambling community] has their California plan in place. They’re just holding their breath.”
Some businesses have already put plans in motion, with Monkey Knife Fight, a fast-growing daily fantasy sports site, making among the most visible early efforts. Launched by entrepreneur Bill Asher in 2018, the site has already infiltrated the state through public partnerships with the Chargers, San Diego Padres and, as finalized this week, the AEG-owned Galaxy and Kings (which notably includes an on-ice logo at Staples Center starting next season).
“They want exposure, they want fan engagement,” said Josh Veilleux, the AEG vice president of global partnerships who helped negotiate the deal both parties believe will be popular among Kings and Galaxy fans. “To me, a team-centric deal makes a lot of sense.”
Asher’s playbook seems simple: Promote his site’s already-legal daily fantasy sports products (deemed contests of skill that allow users from most states, including California, to play for money) while building brand recognition that could prove vital in a gambling-centric future.
Legalized Gambling In California
“Let’s say California becomes legal,” Asher said. “If you’ve got 1 million people playing on your fantasy sports site, well, all of a sudden you’re going to get a license and offer them a gambling sports site.”
It’s not a novel business plan. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states that quickly legalized sports betting after a 2018 Supreme Court decision struck down a federal law banning the activity, long-established daily fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel found instant success as sports books too, becoming the go-to oddsmakers for the thousands of users already on their sites.
“There was a general consensus they were going to be pretty competitive in the sports betting marketplace, given … the brand and the technology and the user base,” said Peter Schoenke, a board member for the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Assn. and president of the fantasy sports information site RotoWire. “But they certainly exceeded expectations in terms of their market share and how rapidly they grew.”
Doing the same in California would be like hitting the ultimate jackpot. In many states, business can swing drastically depending on the season and success of local teams, but California has “a unique blend” of bettors passionate about the NFL, college football and the NBA, Musburger said.
© (Ethan Miller / Getty Images) Guests line up to place bets at the Westgate Las Vegas resort and casino in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)There are political uncertainties specific to California, where lawmakers declined to put a legalized gambling question on the 2020 ballot. For sports betting to flourish as the gambling companies hope, the state will need to adopt online and mobile options that would allow users to sign up from home.
“If you're FanDuel or DraftKings looking at California, you really hope they allow a free market,” said Eamonn Toland, a sports gambling consultant who formerly worked for FanDuel owner Paddy Power. “Digital marketing being what it is, you’re trying to find people in their den [at home]. You’re not trying to find people as they make a journey to a card room or racetrack or tribal casino.”
Morongo Casino
Companies that are already enacting California strategies, Toland said, “are essentially placing a bet on how the markets are going to open up before you know for certain.”
Legalized Gambling In California State
Still, many in the industry are optimistic that California’s regulations won’t be too restrictive; that when the market eventually opens up, it will be ripe for competition.
“If you think back to the days of DraftKings and FanDuel ad wars,” Musburger said, referring to a multiyear stretch in the mid-2010s when the two sites reportedly spent hundreds of millions to attract customers, “it will look like child’s play when California lights up.”
That’s what has led a company such as Monkey Knife Fight — which Schoenke described as “a new force in the community” yet still owns just a minuscule slice of the daily fantasy sports pie — to differentiate its approach.
Instead of traditional team-building fantasy sports games, Asher’s site offers player-specific proposition games, such as a “More or Less” mode in which users try to predict a player’s performance in a certain statistical category (i.e., Will LeBron James score more or less than 28.5 points in a game?).
Instead of running expensive ad campaigns in already established gambling states with little market share to spare, it is leaning on grass-roots team partnerships to make connections with consumers in seemingly soon-to-be-legal locales, such as Texas, Florida and Wisconsin.
Legalized Gambling In California Laws
Even the Monkey Knife Fight name, which Asher brainstormed with his business partners over a bottle of tequila, is meant to stand out.
“There’s going to be a tremendous value to whatever fantasy sports site is out there, is entrenched, and has brand awareness, brand loyalty and customers,” said Asher, whose site reported 400% year-over-year revenue growth before the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re going to be able to, in California, suck up as many players as possible over the next couple of years while the gambling legislation goes through the process.”
They won’t be alone. While neither DraftKings nor FanDuel has any active sports team partnerships in the state, representatives of both companies indicated marketing efforts are already in the works. More traditional gaming companies such as MGM and European bookmakers will be expected competitors too.
“It’s an incredibly competitive space right now,” Musburger said. “The lifetime value of these customers is seen as in the thousands of dollars. Companies are willing to spend aggressively to build that relationship. … Every company wants to talk about the California strategy. It’s a massive opportunity and everyone wants a piece.”
Legalizing Gambling In California
Editor’s note: The Los Angeles Times has published news and advice columns from VSiN reporters based in Las Vegas.