California tribes are currently facing a challenge from sweepstakes casinos operating in the state without licenses or tribal permission. Victor Rocha, the conference chairperson of the Indian Gaming Association, emphasized the need for tribes to address these social casinos that are gaining popularity and exploiting legal loopholes to offer unregulated gambling in California. Sweepstakes casinos offer free-to-play casino-style games where real money withdrawals are not possible, but players can use their money to buy non-withdrawable virtual coins.
Rocha stated that while he does not want to completely block these platforms, he believes that operators should work with tribes to offer their products, as any new entry of gaming in California should involve the tribes. He plans to hold more webinars on the issue, with guests including representatives from the American Gaming Association and a lobbyist from the Sports Betting Alliance. James Siva, Chairperson of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), expressed concerns about the difficulty of taking down unregulated gambling platforms once they become popular in a state. CNIGA is preparing to send letters to popular app stores to alert them about the presence of unlicensed apps.
Jason Giles, Executive Director of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), suggested uniting tribes from across the country to send cease-and-desist letters to sweepstakes casino operators. This strategy has gained traction recently, with state gaming regulators sending such letters to offshore gambling site Bovada. A report by gaming consulting group Eilers & Krejcik estimates the US online sweepstakes sector to be worth over $2.5 billion.
Social casinos have faced scrutiny from various quarters in recent years, with lawsuits filed against popular social casinos and app store providers like Apple and Google for allegedly profiting from unlicensed gambling. The issue of unregulated gambling in California is a growing concern for tribes, and efforts are being made to address it through collaboration with industry stakeholders and regulatory authorities.