The most expensive ballot proposition gamble in U.S. history went bust Tuesday as California voters resoundingly rejected sports betting.
The two groups raised nearly $600 million in competing efforts to expand gambling and capture a piece of a potential billion-dollar market. Voters didn't want a part of that action.
Sports gambling would have been legalized at tribal casinos and horse tracks if the dueling measures had been passed.
The money raised and spent more than doubled the amount that was spent in 2020 to prevent drivers from becoming employees.
Both ballot measures faced an uphill battle to win a majority according to pre election polls. Gambling in California is restricted to Native American casinos, horse tracks, card rooms and the state lottery.
Proponents of the two initiatives proposed different ways to offer sports gambling and each boasted of the benefits they would bring to the state.
The state's major horse tracks would have been able to offer sports betting in person. The initiative was bankrolled by a coalition of tribes. A 10% tax would have helped fund programs to help gamblers.
Online and mobile sports betting would have been legal. If a tribe were to enter the market on their own, large gaming companies would have had to partner with them. Other national sports betting operators and a few tribes supported the measure.
The funding the initiative promised to funnel through tax revenues to help the homeless, the mentally ill and poorer tribes was being promoted.
Both initiatives were found to increase state revenue, but it was not clear how much. The office said that the two measures could have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars.
If people spent their money on sports gambling instead of shopping or buying lottery tickets, the revenue would have been lost. The governor didn't take a stance on either proposal, but he did say that the proposal was not a homeless initiative.
Both proposals were opposed by the Republican Party. The state Democrats were neutral on the two issues. The Major League Baseball supported the proposition.
The No on Prop 26 campaign said the measure would give a few wealthy and powerful tribes a virtual monopoly on all gaming in California.
The gaming companies behind the proposal did not write it for the homeless, according to the No on 27 committee.
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