California voters lean toward legalizing sports betting in new UC Berkeley poll

A poll released Wednesday by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times finds 45% of voters surveyed would support amending the California Constitution to allow sports betting. One-third of voters said they are opposed to such an effort while the remaining 22% of respondents — more than 1 in 5 — are undecided.

The poll did not ask voters to weigh in on any of the details of how California would establish legal sports betting. As many as three ballot measures on the topic could appear on the statewide ballot in November, each envisioning a different business model. The proposals are backed by rival groups promising to spend what could be a record amount of campaign cash to prevail on election day.

“It’s just anybody’s guess right now how an initiative might fare,” said Mark DiCamillo, the institute’s survey director. “They might be able to win if they can prove a benefit to the state and a lack of harm to the larger population.”

Efforts to legalize sports betting in California have been in the works since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that banned all states except Nevada from establishing sports betting operations. The legal challenge was brought by New Jersey in its bid to boost the sagging fortunes of its race tracks and Atlantic City casinos.

Four years later, the industry has kicked into high gear. More than 30 states, including all of those that share a border with California, have already authorized sports betting operations. But no state offers as lucrative a market as the one estimated to exist in California. Last fall, an analyst with a national gaming research firm told The Times the state could generate more than $3 billion a year in sports betting revenue if voters legalize the practice.

By John Myers and Taryn Luna