Analyzing Dueling Gambling Proposals in California

Commentary

Most people throw out the campaign flyers in their mailboxes before the November 8th election. But it actually tells us a lot about what’s going on, especially when it comes to state and local selection.

Here we focus on one of the strangest controversies in the state’s history: Duel Gambling Initiative: Proposition 26 legalizes sports betting in California’s Indian casinos and racetracks.

Prop. 27 would legalize online gambling run by some tribes and gaming companies in India and give some money to the homeless and other programs.

Had either side stayed positive with the message, one might have won. If both win, California law states that the initiative with the most votes wins. Instead, massive negative advertising probably kills both.

In total, more than $400 million has been spent, as of September 24, the last reporting period, according to Ballotpedia. About $300 million of that was spent on professional advertising and $100 million on anti-advertising. The breakdown is as follows.

So far, I have only received negative flyers in the mail about two proposals. Each emphasizes two main things: gambling addiction and underage gambling.

Here’s the No flyer for Proposition 26 (paid for by Yes in 27 outfits): 2 pages.

If Prop. 26 wins, WARNING “MASSIVE GAMBLING”. And, “More and more young people are getting into sports betting. But Prop. 26 will lead to a massive expansion of sports gambling, attracting kids and increasing gambling addiction, substance abuse, and crime.” leads to.”

Such flyers tend to use words like “large scale” and “special interest.”

But behind the scenes, the sponsors are Licensed Card Club, California Commerce Club, Hawaiian Gardens Casino, and Knighted Ventures, all gambling joints profiting from Proposition 27.

The flyer reads, “Prop 26 Special Interest Sponsors are Exempt from Most State Law.

In fact, over the past 30 years, state law and previous initiatives have led California and Indian tribes to reach agreements on gambling taxes, regulations, and more. Tribes are supposed to act like nations. However, tribes are technically “states” that communicate with the federal government through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, so they have some degree of autonomy.

If you’ve seen “Longmire,” a show about a Wyoming sheriff’s relationship with local Indian tribes and casinos, it dramatizes such issues nicely.

Now let’s turn our attention to the other flyer we received. “No” on Proposition 27 (“Yes” on Proposition 26 costume paid). It’s 4 pages and it’s spread, so 3 pages are visible.

The theme is the same. A kid looking at a cell phone is probably gambling college money on the World Series. Kids these days can see far worse things on their phones than gambling, from pornography to toxic political beliefs.

And it’s a cliché that kids know more about the latest technology than their parents, and in this case they can gamble on sites that are already legal in other states.

Here is a quote from Anna Lembke, M.D., Addiction Medicine Specialist.

I haven’t been able to find an exact citation online, but Lembke is a true authority on the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic and author of “Dopamine Nation.”

On the back of the second leaflet, I pasted a photo of the ad and fingered the opponent. Lists funders and adds their logos: Fanduel, Draft Kings, and BetMGM.

The second flyer also acknowledges that it is sponsored by the “For 26, Against 27” consisting of Graton Ranchera’s Federated Indians, Pechanga Band of Indians and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. . That is, the gambling tribe.

It’s all so cynical. As a matter of fact, online gambling is already legal in most states and will soon be in California in some form. In a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the federal government could not ban online sports betting, leaving the matter up to the states.

for props. The 26-year-old and he seem likely to lose at 27, but the state legislature should finally get its act together and pass a compromise bill regulating online gambling in California.

I give them 3 to 1 odds of doing it within the next 2 years.

Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Epoch Times.

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John Cyler is a veteran California opinion writer. He has been writing editorials for the Orange He County He Register for nearly 30 years. He is a U.S. Army veteran and former press secretary for California Senator John Moorak. He blogs at his JohnSailer.Substack.com.