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SportsTranscript
00:00So let's start off there, some of these casinos trying to get involved, there's some legality
00:08involved in it.
00:09Maybe you can dive in a little bit more, explain what this is all about.
00:12Yeah, sure thing.
00:14It's a complicated topic with these sweepstakes casinos, which essentially are the social
00:20sports books or social casinos you see on the app store that operate in a lot of states
00:26where sports betting or online gaming has not expressly been made legal.
00:31They do so using this model where you can play for free if you write in and ask for
00:37a certain free currency.
00:38So essentially using this old sweepstakes law to kind of skirt around a lot of the regulation
00:45that sports books like FanDuel, DraftKings have to deal with.
00:48So those companies have been pretty angry about that.
00:52And that anger has been growing.
00:53It was a hot topic at G2E.
00:55But now what I think is one of the most significant developments in the space or what could end
00:59up being one of the most significant developments is you have the native tribes starting to
01:04pay attention, starting to weigh in and actually announcing their intention to coordinate a
01:09multi-state effort along with the commercial gaming operators to essentially crack down
01:14on these sweepstakes casinos, get regulators to pass regulations that explicitly prohibit
01:21them, get lawmakers, if needed, to pass laws that would explicitly prohibit them.
01:27So yesterday these tribal leaders met on this podcast where a lot of tribal gaming issues
01:35are discussed.
01:36It's hosted by Victor Roca, who is a member of the National Indian Gaming Association.
01:41And he had guests on from the California Indian Gaming Association talking about this is now
01:46brought to our attention.
01:47We're going to try to get the commercial operators on board.
01:50And that's pretty notable considering how powerful tribes have been.
01:55They were the driving force that stopped California from legalizing sports betting.
01:59It was the most expensive ballot campaign in U.S. history, with $150 million being spent
02:05by the Draftkings, BetMGMs of the world, the commercial operators.
02:09And it only got 18 percent of the vote.
02:10It was the first state where sports betting was brought to the ballot, where people voted
02:14against it.
02:15So that's no small feat, especially in a state as large as California.
02:18They also prevented sports betting from getting to the ballot in the first place in Florida.
02:23So these are very powerful tribes in terms of their influence on allowing gaming to happen,
02:29allowing it not to happen.
02:30But it's sort of an unlikely alliance here.
02:33There's an old proverb, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, where the tribes were the ones
02:37fighting the commercial operators, but now they could be uniting on this issue.
02:41I caught up with the American Gaming Association, who is the industry lobby for the commercial
02:46operators.
02:47And they said they'd be more than pleased to work with the tribes together on this issue
02:51to crack down on sweepstakes and other forms of fantasy sports that some states have determined
02:57to blur the line with sports betting.
02:59The Sports Betting Alliance, which was behind the California initiative, they didn't commit
03:04to working with the tribes, but they said they're happy to see more attention brought
03:08in this space as well.
03:09So meanwhile, the sweepstakes themselves, they're forming new groups trying to argue
03:16that we need regulation that clarifies we are okay, the law is not being interpreted
03:21right by these groups.
03:23So they're on the other side of this issue.
03:26Tribes obviously don't want their exclusive gaming rights infringed upon, and the sports
03:30books want their competitors in this space to pay their fair share.
03:33So I think it's one of the most significant developments in this space.
03:36We'll have to see what this multi-state effort looks like with them coming together with
03:41the commercial operators working with the tribes.
03:43These are groups that have historically been opposed.
03:46So maybe this can lead to some more work on some more issues as well.
03:49I know FanDuel and DraftKings have been working to mend their relationship with the tribes
03:53as well.
03:54So perhaps California sports betting, perhaps Florida, we'll have to see.