California Sports Betting Fields Robust Support, Referendum Challenges Remain
Posted on: August 28, 2025, 12:33h.
Last updated on: August 28, 2025, 12:44h.
- Public support for sports betting is strong in California
- California remains clear of legal sports gambling
- Efforts to place a referendum on the 2026 ballot need to be expedited
Public support for sports betting in California continues to increase, new polling finds.
According to a recent Politico Citrin Center-Possibility Lab survey of more than 1,400 registered voters, 60% of likely voters in California would support a statewide constitutional referendum to amend the California Constitution to allow for such gambling. That’s up about 15% from similar polls conducted in 2022.
Supporters say it’s long overdue for California to provide sports fans with a safe, regulated betting environment, which would also generate new tax revenue. The 40% of those against the proposition cited concerns about gambling addiction.
Men were more likely to support the sports betting question at 64% to women at 55%. Politico said the survey was conducted from July 28 to August 12, and has a 2.6% margin of error.
California is considered the holy grail of the sports betting industry, a market that has expanded rapidly since May 2018, when the United States Supreme Court gave states the right to determine if such gambling is permitted within their borders. Since then, 39 states and Washington, DC, have legalized some form of sports betting. Mobile betting is allowed in 34 states and in the nation’s capital.
California Mistakes
The most populated state and the one with the largest economy, sportsbooks have sought entry into California since the landmark SCOTUS decision. But with California’s gaming market controlled by its many Native American tribes, critics who support legal sports betting say sportsbook leaders DraftKings and FanDuel fumbled their initial approach to enter the Golden State.
In 2022, DraftKings and FanDuel were behind Proposition 27, a statewide ballot referendum to legalize online sports betting for those aged 21 and older. Tax revenue would have benefited homelessness programs and tribes not participating in online sports betting.
California’s Native community strongly opposed Prop. 27, as it would have allowed commercial gaming firms like DraftKings and FanDuel to benefit from sports betting more than the tribes as a whole — something they claimed was a direct attack on tribal sovereignty. The tribes countered with Prop. 26, which asked Californians to only authorize sports betting at tribal casinos.
The sports betting questions became the most expensive ballot referendum campaigns in California history, with an estimated $450 million in spending. Both propositions were soundly rejected.
Earlier this year, executives with DraftKings and FanDuel acknowledged they made mistakes by not working closer with the tribal community for the proposition.
I’m not going to sit here and say we don’t make mistakes. Having tribal relationships and partnerships is absolutely essential — there’s no other way to do it here,” said DraftKings CEO Jason Robins in April at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Conference during a conversation hosted by Victor Rocha called the “Power of Partnerships.”
A FanDuel executive added that Prop. 27 was a “well-intentioned but uninformed and misguided attempt” to bring sports betting to California.
Clock Ticking on 2026 Referendum
FanDuel and DraftKings have worked to improve their relationships with California’s powerful tribal community, but they have yet to strike a deal to begin a subsequent referendum campaign.
California limits statewide initiatives and referendums to even-numbered years. With 874,641 voter signatures required to place a referendum on the 2026 ballot, time is of the essence.
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