Some efforts were made in the Legislature, but the casino-owning tribes, which now have a near-monopoly on legal gambling in the state, adamantly opposed having anyone else gain access to gamblers’ wallets. Naturally, the corporations that promoted it in other states cast their eye on California, the nation’s most populous state and therefore its largest potential market. Supreme Court invalidated laws that prohibited sports wagering and since then 35 states have legalized it in some form. So, assuming both are rejected after more than a half-billion dollars having been spent on losing campaigns, what happens next?Ī brief review of what happened before this year’s high-dollar campaigns might be instructive.
