During a panel discussion on the future of online casino and online sports betting at the Next.io conference in New York on Wednesday, Edward King, a co-founding partner of Acies Investments, said California will soon legalize both.

“It’s an inevitability for a state the size of California,” King said, according to an AP report. “The tax dollars are too big.”

Not everyone agreed with this assessment, particularly Victor Rocha, the Conference Chair of the Indian Gaming Association and editor of Pechanga.net, which covers all manner of gambling for Native Americans.

“Moron Says California Could Offer Internet Gambling Soon,” reads the headline Rocha “fixed” for the AP story.

I fixed the headline https://t.co/9Dvvn9SqVi

— Victor Rocha (@VictorRocha1) March 7, 2024

The next chance California voters – along with the Native American tribes – will have to consider sports betting or igaming legalization by initiative will  be in 2026. 

New York, Maryland next?

In other news from the panel, New York and Maryland were the two states mentioned that have the best chance of legalizing online casinos going forward.

Shawn Fluharty, a West Virginia state delegate and chairman of a national group of legislators from gambling states, along with Brandt Iden, vice president of government affairs for Fanatics and a former Michigan state representative who wrote the Michigan online gambling bills, were two of the panelists who cited New York and Maryland as online casino possibilities.

But both states have run into roadblocks this year.

In New York, state Sen. Joseph Addabbo’s iCasino bill didn’t earn a mention in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget report, which – while not outright killing it – is not a good sign. 

In Maryland, legislators are running into opposition, most recently from the Maryland Retailers Association.

Nonetheless, the hopes for New York and Maryland at Next.io echo sentiments made at last year’s Global Gaming Expo (G2E) from a different group of panelists – Howard Glaser, head of government affairs at Light & Wonder, and Entain Foundation trustees Martin Lycka and Bill Pascrell III – who also mentioned Illinois as a potential iCasino state along with New York and Maryland.

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