The most expensive Game of Thrones ballot measure in history was defeated in California | Media Pyro

A more than half-billion-dollar bet by Native Americans and the gambling industry that all of the country’s most populous nation’s voters would participate in legal sports betting and other gambling programs failed to cash in at the polls on Tuesday.

Californians faced the costliest election gambling challenge in American history as state voters rejected proposals to legalize sports betting at public gyms, and enabling online and mobile sports betting operated by companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel. According to The Associated Pressnearly $600 million was raised to help support the campaign and both received less than 30% of the vote.

“They’re spending hundreds of millions because there are billions on the line,” said Democratic consultant Steven Maviglio. The AP before Tuesday’s election. “Both sides stand to benefit in the long term. [It could become] a stable source of funding for some companies – or a handful of people.”

Although gambling on horse races, in Indian casinos, in card games and state gambling is legal in California, about 40 million residents of the Golden State are not interested in legalization. in sports betting, has spread across the country.

“Our internal poll has been clear and consistent for years: California voters do not support online sports betting,” said Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation tribal chairman Anthony Roberts. “Voters are very concerned about turning mobile phones, laptops and tablets into gaming devices, which can lead to addiction and exposure to children.”

If the measures were passed, they would have created the largest sports betting market in the US with annual revenues of $3 billion, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates.

“I’ve never seen anything in my career that’s this ridiculous,” Macquarie Group gaming industry analyst Chad Beynon said. The Financial Times. “If they didn’t manage 30% [of votes] with the hundreds of millions already spent, how much more money will they have to spend to pass? We are a long way from legal sports betting [in California] than we were before the war.”

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who easily won the election, did not participate in any of the competing proposals. In the meantime, fans will have to regroup and wait until they can try to get legal sports betting on the books in California by 2024.