Californians are supposed to vote to allow sports betting and gambling this fall. Critics worry that tiny, new betting businesses won’t be able to operate in the state because of limited economic power.
Recently iGamingNJ informed that there might be some industry-related issues that could rake in the amount being more than $3.5B each year.
In total, there’ll be four sports betting and gambling-related initiatives on the November ballot. One of them—the most significant one—is proposed by such US gambling giants as FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.
The initiative is known to impose some special requirements that would be extremely complicated for smaller-size competitors to meet.
The New Jersey Path
When Nevada made gambling legal, it was a matter of time before more states allowed the use of gambling until online casinos were back in full swing. The value of the NJ casinos’ profit is enormous. We’re seeing big retail slot machines like MGM become the official entertainment partner for Major League Baseball. This is what makes the prospects for gambling so exciting for those who follow the market booth in the Garden State and California.
There are pretty numerous advantages when it comes to the gambling legalization process within a particular area in the USA. For instance, iGaming brings new job opportunities to the state’s market. It’s typical for all the states where gambling (and/or betting) got legalized—New Jersey included.
Another perk that California would gain is the budget’s size increase. If the initiative is approved, $100M is a sum that gambling companies will be supposed to pay as a license fee to exercise business in the state. Especially to start online gambling in that state.
Any Problems to Legalize Gambling in the Golden State?
The $100M license fee is much higher than in any other state seeking to make gambling legal. Now the $25M fees to acquire the license in New York is the highest in the country. Most states that have legalized gambling have license fees in the single-digit millions or hundreds of thousands, and no other states require businesses to already be licensed in other states.
Also, some gambling operators already dominate iGaming in the US. FanDuel controls 31% of the US market, followed by DraftKings with 26%, BetMGM with 16%, and Caesars with 12%. It means that smaller companies can’t do gambling business in California, which means fewer options for potential bettors and potentially less innovation.
We’ll see what happens in the future. For now, the Californian government strives to do all the possible best to make the legalization process hassle-free.
