ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PROPOSITION 26

CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES, CIVIL RIGHTS, BUSINESS, PUBLIC SAFETY LEADERS URGE: YES ON PROP. 26

For over two decades, California voters have stood with Indian tribes, granting them the right to operate highly regulated gaming on tribal lands. Indian gaming has helped lift tribes out of poverty—creating jobs and providing revenues for critical tribal services including education, healthcare, housing, public safety, cultural preservation and more.

Prop. 26 will continue this legacy by authorizing in-person sports wagering at highly regulated Indian casinos for adults 21 and over and allowing Indian casinos to offer additional games like roulette and dice.

PROP. 26 PROMOTES INDIAN SELF-RELIANCE

A broad coalition of California Indian tribes supports Prop. 26 because it will promote self-reliance for all tribes, including smaller and non-gaming tribes. Prop. 26 will increase funds for revenue sharing agreements that provide tens of millions every year to California’s smaller, poorer Indian tribes.

“I’ve seen first-hand the transformative impacts Indian gaming revenue sharing has had on our people, helping our small tribe pay for schools, health clinics and fire services. Prop. 26 will continue to lift tribes like ours out of poverty and allow us to become more self-reliant.”—Thomas Tortez, Tribal Chairman, Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians

PROP. 26 IS THE MOST RESPONSIBLE APPROACH TO AUTHORIZING SPORTS WAGERING

Prop. 26 will legalize sports wagering in a controlled manner at highly regulated tribal casinos and licensed horse racing facilities. Requiring sports wagering in-person provides the strongest age verification safeguards to prevent underage gambling and protections against problem gambling. On the other hand, Prop. 27 would legalize online and mobile sports gambling in California, turning virtually every cellphone, tablet and laptop into a gambling device—increasing the risk of underage and problem gambling. We respectfully ask you to VOTE YES on Prop. 26 and NO on Prop. 27.

PROP 26. BENEFITS ALL OF CALIFORNIA

California’s tribal casinos annually generate $26.9 billion for the state economy, support over 150,000 jobs, $12.4 billion in wages and contribute nearly $1.7 billion in revenues to state and local governments. Prop. 26 will create more jobs and economic opportunity for Indian tribes and all Californians.

PROP. 26 SUPPORTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND STATE PRIORITIES

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, Prop. 26 will generate tens of millions of dollars annually for vital services such as public schools, homelessness and mental health programs, wildfire prevention, senior services and other state priorities.

PROP. 26 CONTAINS PROVISIONS TO ENFORCE CALIFORNIA’S GAMBLING LAWS AND PREVENT CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

California law prohibits house banked card games like those found in Nevada casinos. Despite this, some cardroom casinos and their financial bankers have been running these prohibited card games—operating illegal gambling and blatantly violating state law. Illegal gambling leads to money laundering, fraud and criminal activity. Prop. 26 will strengthen enforcement of California’s gaming laws to crack down on illegal gambling and prevent this criminal activity.

YES ON 26: SUPPORTED BY INDIAN TRIBES, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS, BUSINESS AND PUBLIC SAFETY ADVOCATES

• American Indian Chamber of Commerce • NAACP California • California District Attorneys Association • Yolo County Fire Chiefs Association • San Diego Police Officers Association • La Raza Roundtable of California • California Nations Indian Gaming Association • Gold Coast Veterans Foundation • Baptist Ministers Conference of LA and Southern California

www.YesProp26.com

Beth Glasco, Tribal Vice-Chairwoman

Barona Band of Mission Indians

Tracy Stanhoff, President

American Indian Chamber of Commerce

Greg Sarris, Tribal Chairman

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PROPOSITION 26

PROP. 26: LEGALIZES SPORTS BETTING

Prop. 26 is a massive expansion of gambling in California sponsored by five wealthy tribal casinos whose goal is to expand their monopoly over all gambling and legalize sports betting on college and professional games.

Prop. 26 will lead to more underage gambling and addiction.

PROP. 26: EXPANDS UNREGULATED GAMBLING

The sponsors of Prop. 26 claim it will lead to better regulation of gambling, but they are not subject to most state laws in the first place.

Some of these same gaming tribes even refuse to abide by California laws, including:

• Our environmental quality laws • Our anti-discrimination and sexual harassment laws • Our minimum wage laws

Some prohibit their employees from joining a union and some even allow eighteen-year-olds to gamble!

PROP. 26: DESTROYS COMPETITION

The sponsors of Prop. 26 made big profits staying open during COVID while their card club competition had to close. Now they want to put licensed and regulated card clubs out of business by giving private trial lawyers the enforcement powers held by the Attorney General to bury card clubs with frivolous lawsuits.

PROP. 26 HURTS OTHER COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

If Prop. 26’s sponsors are able to put their card club competition out of business, the state will lose 32,000 jobs and $500 million in annual local revenue that funds police, fire, health care and afterschool programs—disproportionately in communities of color. Even worse, California’s communities will lose $1.6 billion in wages.

PROP. 26 IS SO BAD MOST CALIFORNIA INDIAN TRIBES DON’T EVEN SUPPORT IT.

Learn more at VoteNoOnProp26.org.

Floyd Meshad, President

National Veterans Foundation

George Mozingo, President

California Senior Advocates League

Shavon Moore-Cage, Member

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 36 Management Chapter

ARGUMENT AGAINST PROPOSITION 26

PROP. 26 IS A MASSIVE EXPANSION OF GAMBLING IN CALIFORNIA that will legalize betting on professional, college and amateur sports. Five wealthy tribal casinos are sponsoring Prop. 26 to expand their monopoly over gambling in California—so they can make billions more in profits and continue to pay virtually NOTHING in state taxes.

PROP. 26: MORE UNDERAGE GAMBLING AND ADDICTION

Despite state laws that make it illegal for anyone under 21 to gamble, one of the sponsors of Prop. 26 regularly allows 18-year-olds to gamble, and NOTHING in their measure stops underage gamblers from betting on college and professional sports in a tribal casino.

PROP. 26: LEAVES WORKERS UNPROTECTED

Prop. 26’s sponsors have refused to allow their workers to join unions or engage in collective bargaining and claimed they are not required to pay the state’s minimum wage—even encouraging employees to go on Medi-Cal rather than pay for their health insurance.

Even worse, they have a history of refusing to follow California’s anti-discrimination and sexual harassment laws. One tribal casino behind Prop. 26 promised it would waive sovereign immunity for sexual harassment lawsuits in exchange for adding more slot machines. But when one of its employees sued for sexual assault in federal court, the casino claimed immunity and asked a judge to toss the sexual harassment claims.

“Prop. 26 leaves workers unprotected from California’s worker safety, wage-and-hour, harassment, and anti-discrimination laws and regulations. Please join us in voting NO on Prop. 26.”—Shavon Moore-Cage, Member, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 36 Management Chapter

PROP. 26: PUTS CARD CLUBS OUT OF BUSINESS AND HURTS COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

Prop. 26 is sponsored by five wealthy southern California tribal casinos that made big profits staying open during Covid while the state forced their card club competition to close. Now those same casinos want to expand their monopoly and put card clubs completely out of business by changing the State Constitution to give private trial lawyers the enforcement powers of the Attorney General to bury card clubs with frivolous lawsuits.

If the sponsors of Prop. 26 are allowed to put card clubs out of business, some of the state’s hardest hit communities of color will lose $500 million in local tax revenue that pays for essential services like police, fire, health care and after-school services. Those communities will lose 32,000 jobs, $1.6 billion in wages and $5.6 billion in economic output.

“We support the rights of Native Americans to be self-sufficient, but we oppose Prop. 26 because it will devastate other communities of color in California.”—Julian Canete, President and CEO, California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce

PROP. 26: EXPANDS GAMBLING AT HORSE RACETRACKS

Prop. 26 is cleverly designed to save the horse racing industry by expanding sports betting to horse racetracks around California—giving them millions in new revenue just to save a dying industry that drugs, abuses and kills horses year after year.

Please join us and VOTE NO on PROP. 26.

Madeline Bernstein, President

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA)

Jay King, President

California Black Chamber of Commerce

Floyd Meshad, President

National Veterans Foundation

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT AGAINST
PROPOSITION 26

PROP. 26 AUTHORIZES IN-PERSON SPORTS WAGERING ON TRIBAL LANDS

For over two decades, California voters have entrusted California’s Native American tribes to operate safe, highly regulated gaming on their own tribal lands. Prop. 26 allows Indian tribes to offer in-person sports wagering, roulette and dice games at tribal casinos. Section 3 of Prop. 26 specifically expresses its intent to limit sports wagering to “those 21 or older to safeguard against underage gambling.”

“California’s Indian Casinos are strongly regulated and have operated safe, responsible gaming for over two decades.”—Richard Schuetz, Former Commissioner, California Gambling Control Commission

PROP. 26 PROMOTES INDIAN SELF-RELIANCE

Prop. 26 will generate additional funding to support education, housing, healthcare and other services in tribal communities. Prop. 26 will also provide tens of millions annually in revenue sharing for smaller, non-gaming tribes.

CARDROOM CASINO OPERATORS ARE RUNNING A DECEPTIVE CAMPAIGN AGAINST INDIAN TRIBES AND PROP. 26

Cardroom casino operators and their gambling bankers funding attacks on Prop. 26 have been fined millions for violating anti-money laundering laws, misleading regulators, and illegal gambling. But there is very little state oversight of cardroom casinos. These bad actors are running a deceptive campaign against Prop. 26 to avoid accountability.

PROP. 26 HELPS STOP AND PREVENT ILLEGAL GAMBLING

Illegal gambling is often associated with drug trafficking, money-laundering, loan sharking, and violent crime. Prop. 26 establishes a streamlined process with the Department of Justice to help stop and prevent illegal gambling. Prop. 26 will NOT shut down a single legitimate business.

SUPPORT INDIAN SELF-RELIANCE AND SAFE, RESPONSIBLE GAMING: YES ON 26.

YesProp26.com

Maxine Littlejohn, Tribal Councilmember

Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

Anthony Roberts, Tribal Chairman

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation

Olin Jones, Former Director

Office of Native American Affairs at California Department of Justice