![]() Kathy Fairbanks, a spokesperson for the Vote Yes on Proposition 26 campaign, noted that tribes already contribute roughly $65 million a year to the state Gambling Control Commission, which funds the Office of Problem Gambling. Additionally, the amount that could be generated from tribal casinos is uncertain because it would depend on whether new compacts require additional payments and direct money to treatment programs. But racetracks have been in decline for decades, and their share of sports betting would be the smallest slice of the pie. The authors of Proposition 26 included a provision to direct 10% of the sports betting revenue from horse-racing tracks to the state Department of Public Health, with some of that money set aside “to prevent and treat problem gambling,” according to material furnished to KHN by supporters of the initiative. Support for Proposition 27 was even smaller, with 53% of likely voters opposed and only 27% in favor.īoth ballot measures offer limited new resources to help people with gambling problems or addictions, and neither requires the state to improve tracking or treatment. A recent poll by the UC-Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found 42% of likely voters opposed to Proposition 26, compared with 31% in support. Some of that money would come from taxing 10% of sports bets at racetracks, and some could come from tribal casinos, which would need to renegotiate compacts with the state.įor weeks, Californians have been bombarded by competing ads in what’s become the nation’s most expensive ballot-initiative fight, at $400 million and counting. ![]() The office pegged state revenue from Proposition 26 at tens of millions of dollars a year. California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the state will collect hundreds of millions in tax dollars each year, but likely not more than $500 million annually, if Proposition 27 passes. In 2020, Pennsylvania collected $38.7 million from gambling - three-quarters of it generated by mobile sports betting. ![]() Gamblers get hooked on that reward.įor many states, the lure is obvious: tax revenue. Research shows that mesolimbic dopamine, which provides the brain feelings of reward and pleasure, is released in larger quantities in pathological gamblers than in people in control groups. The American Psychiatric Association classifies gambling as such, placing it in the same category as tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, cannabis, and opioids. The National Problem Gambling Helpline Network reported a 45% increase in year-over-year inquiries in 2021, when 11 states went live with some new form of sports betting.Īlthough gambling addiction doesn’t involve the ingestion of drugs or chemicals, it does involve the stimulation of regions of the brain the same way that other addictive disorders do. Sports betting is already legal in some form in 36 states and Washington, D.C., and calls to gambling hotlines spiked in Michigan, Connecticut, New York, and other states after they allowed that form of gambling. “Instead of one bet on the Rams-Chargers game, I now can make an infinite amount right from my phone.” Timothy Fong, a psychiatrist and co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program. “You don’t get addicted to full-season fantasy football you get addicted to in-game betting,” said Dr. By contrast, Proposition 27, designed and funded by such national corporate gambling sites as DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM, would legalize online sports betting, essentially opening the door for people to bet on games - and the athletes and plays within them - whether they’re sitting in the bleachers or on a couch.Įach measure would likely increase instances of problem gambling and gambling addiction, but mental health experts say the sheer ease of online betting - on scores, player point totals, the number of penalties in a game, and almost everything else connected to a sporting event - increases the chance for trouble. Proposition 26, supported by some of the state’s largest tribal casino owners, would permit sports betting, but only within existing brick-and-mortar establishments that already offer gambling and at horse-racing venues. Although neither appears to have strong public support, gambling addiction experts are worried about one far more than the other. It’s little surprise, then, that voters will face not one but two ballot propositions this fall aimed at capturing California’s sports betting market. At stake is $3.1 billion in annual revenue, according to one industry consulting firm. #POWER TO THE PEOPLE FALLOUT 4 PROFESSIONAL#Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that states could legalize betting on sports, California - with 40 million people and numerous professional teams - has been the great white whale, eluding gambling companies and casino-hosting tribal communities. ![]()
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