FanDuel President Christian Genetski has been turning up in the most unusual places this month.

Last week, he appeared in his home state of Alabama in a hearing room in Montgomery, lobbying for a legal sports betting bill there. And Wednesday, he walked into an intimate meeting room filled with some of the most powerful tribal leaders on the West Coast at the Western Indian Gaming Conference at the Pechanga Casino Resort in suburban Los Angeles.

What could have been an incredibly awkward hour — Geneteski was there essentially giving a mea culpa to the tribes — was instead informative, convivial, and hopeful.

“I’ll address the elephant in the room, the gentlemen next to me,” California Nations Indian Gaming Association chair James Siva said as he nodded at Genetski. “As soon it was announced, there were a lot of questions. As much as I hammered them during the initiative fights, the way we left it was always that we do have to find a path.”

That introduction came just over a year after the tribes banded together to kill a commercial online sports betting initiative in California. FanDuel was one of seven national operators that backed the initiative, which lost in spectacular fashion at the 2022 ballot box.

Genetski responded by quoting famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, saying, “Failure is never fatal, but failure to change can be.

“If I reflect on 2022, it was a well-intentioned but uninformed and misguided attempt. It was definitely a spectacular failure on our part. It wasn’t the right plan or the right time. So we looked in the mirror and said, ‘It was a failure, what will we do?’

“We decided to sit with it and let the jokes come, … and then we contacted several Indian nations to see if they would grant us an audience. And we would come and listen and try to learn. We have been humbled by the grace we’ve been shown. … I’m happy to sit here and be the butt of hopefully some friendly jokes.”

— Daniel Kustelski (@djkustelski) February 21, 2024

It’s not often that the president of a massive corporation shows such vulnerability or openly owns mistakes. But Genetski’s takeaway from 2022 is clear: FanDuel has now been indoctrinated and appears to believe that in order for California to legalize sports betting, the tribes must take the lead.

While Genetski wouldn’t explicitly say that he and FanDuel are committed to being management services partners rather than having branded platforms, he did repeatedly state that it is his company’s intention going forward to honor tribal sovereignty — to not just listen to, but also hear Indian Country; and to work together to find the right pathway into the state. He and Siva also confirmed that even during the worst of the 2022 initiative campaign, at least some tribes and commercial operators continued to try to keep the lines of communication open.

“We were still talking to the tribes,” Genetski said. “We just didn’t put in the time to get the wires uncrossed and really understand and appreciate the time that needed to be put in.

“We [came back and] started by saying, ‘That was a mistake; when you are ready to talk, we will show up.’ We’ve had a number of conversations, and there are six or seven members of my team here today, each of whom are ready to travel at the first invitation. It takes a long time to build trust. There are lots of words from me today, but actions matter.”

Among the FanDuel employees present was Rikki Tanenbaum, the company’s president of strategic partnerships who is the former CEO for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Her hire last October was the first time a commercial sports betting company brought a tribal voice in-house with the intention of developing meaningful relationships in Indian Country.

What happens next is unclear. Neither Siva nor Genetski would commit to when California voters might next see an initiative on the ballot. Both men left open the possibility that it could be longer than 2026, which is the next opportunity. Genetski also remained laser-focused on sports betting and wouldn’t directly comment on the future of online casino in the state.

— TheStreet (@TheStreet) February 21, 2024

Among the questions Genetski fielded Wednesday was one from Victor Rocha, often the public voice of California Indian Country and the owner of Pechanga.net. Rocha described a scenario in Connecticut where FanDuel rival DraftKings is partnered with the Mashantuket Pequot Tribe for retail and digital sports betting. Rocha said DraftKings has advertised in Connecticut at times without mentioning the tribe.

“Are you OK with being a technology partner?” Rocha asked. “Are you going to be allies and supporters, or be like DraftKings and be a sneaky?”

Genetski answered head on: “We have no intention of being sneaky. We have a wonderful relationship with [our Connecticut partner] Mohegan. Again, a lot of words here, and it’s about what we do. We have a lot of tribal partners, and I encourage you to speak with them.

“Part of getting to the best overall situation is not to be wed to ‘it has to be this way because this is what has worked.’ I think if we can all come to the table with that mindset, then I think we’ll find something.”

What will sports betting look like? That, too, remains an open question, but it’s one that Genetski and FanDuel are more than willing to explore alongside, rather than at odds with, California’s tribes.