New data has revealed that a total of $1.4 million was donated to committee legislators before the 15-1 voting in favor of Senate Bill 549. SB549 is a bill currently being passed through the California State Senate that, if ultimately passed by the Governor, would allow tribal casinos to sue cardrooms.
California is currently the US state with the most tribal-run casinos. This is because only tribes can run the major casinos in the state. However, non-tribal cardrooms are still allowed to operate and have done so in the Golden State since the 19th century.
Tribal casinos have, for a long time, wanted to take cardroom owners to court. They deem that the operation of card rooms has infringed on their exclusive rights to offer casino games to California.
Now, it has emerged that both tribes and cardrooms have donated a collective total of $1.4 million to committee legislators while this bill is being considered. The tribes have donated by far the most, having contributed more than 70% of the total.
This is unsurprising, given that tribal casinos generate around $9 billion annually from brick-and-mortar casinos alone. They’d be able to donate a whole lot more if online gambling was permitted in the state.
Sports betting, online casinos, and crypto casinos would contribute massively to the overall profit of Californian tribes, given the huge winnings reported at these casinos, as gambling winnings are taxed at a rate of between 1-12.3% in the state, depending on the amount won. As stated, these sites accept players from the US, Canada, the UK, and many other countries. Their high international usership allows them to offer considerable winnings.
Should tribal casinos in California be allowed to eventually offer online casino games and crypto gambling to customers, they’d surely turn over an even bigger profit in the future.
Not that they need the help. They already make considerably more than California cardrooms. According to the California Cardroom Alliance, cardrooms only create around $2 billion in economic activity.
This is minor when you look at the statistics of tribal casinos. According to the American Gaming Association, tribal casino venues make an annual economic impact of $34.6 billion.
Despite this difference, Californian tribes still perceive cardrooms as a threat to their trade. So much so that they decided to donate such a substantial amount of money to key legislators.
Whether or not the $1.4 million donated actually influenced the vote is up for debate. However, it can be claimed that the money donated was intended to do so.
The tribes donated around $92,500 in the weeks immediately before the initial SB549 vote was cast on July 2. This would suggest that the tribes intended to persuade legislators to vote in favor of SB549.
Of course, it’s illegal for a legislator to explicitly cast a vote as a response to a money donation, which makes it impossible to ever determine whether or not the donations made an impact on the vote. But, given the massive victory in favor of the bill, it can be assumed it at least persuaded some legislators.
