“The entire strategy was unsuitable from the start,” James Siva, president of the California Indian Gaming Affiliation, mentioned in a webcast this week. “The strategy of maintaining tribes’ toes to the hearth — both you get on board with this, or we’ll do it — won’t ever work for us.”
Thompson and Collins are betting large that California’s highly effective, well-established Native American tribes will put apart their anger at being disregarded early within the course of and be part of them. Because the poll initiative qualification cycle continues, they’re forcing a fast resolution from tribes which have simply spent a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to fend off out-of-state operators DraftKings and FanDuel and pursue their very own unsuccessful betting initiative.
Thompson argued that monetary upside presents an irresistible proposition. He guarantees a windfall for tribes by transferring belongings from unlawful offshore areas, the place many Californians presently stake their declare on tribal management — transfers he’ll handle, giving him a minimize of the proceeds. He has promised to fund the marketing campaign with out taking a dime from the tribes, and estimated that gathering signatures for the poll initiative alone might price $25 million.
“Individuals simply assume that is too good to be true,” Thompson instructed Politico in considered one of his first intensive media interviews for the reason that poll measure was launched final month. “We knew we might make it occur and provide you with an answer for the tribes.”
The tribes should not so positive. Thompson and his staff alienated potential allies by transferring ahead earlier than getting the blessing of the tribal leaders. This has raised doubts about his motives and criticism of the paternalistic technique of dictating orders to the tribes, whilst he promised to not transfer ahead with out them.
The cautious response strengthened the truism of California coverage: Do not mess with the tribes on its lands.
“In the event you are available in and you do not respect the tribes, you do not respect the tribal leaders, and also you are available in with that form of environment that you recognize what’s finest for Indian nation, you are completed earlier than you even begin,” Siva mentioned. “Anybody who needs to come back to this state begins and ends with the tribes – interval.”
A 2024 sports activities betting push appeared unlikely after a virtually half-billion-dollar 2022 marketing campaign resulted in a pricey impasse and angered voters, who rejected each initiatives by greater than 30 factors. However Thompson turned that logic on its head final month when he launched two initiatives, writing to tribal leaders: “We don’t imagine that ready one other two years is in one of the best curiosity of California tribes.
This raised a wave of unanswered questions: Who is that this supporter? What was he getting out of this? Why was he doing it this fashion?
“Principally, what you’ve is: a tech bro and a poker bro strolling right into a bar,” mentioned Victor Rocha, a Pechanga member and political advisor who writes about playing. “Or go into the Secretary of State’s workplace.”
Thompson spent years on this planet of high-end playing. He capitalized on the poker craze of the mid-2000s by launching a playing publication known as All In Journal, and his social media is crammed with pictures of him. Flying on private planesAttending charity poker occasions and networking with celebrities. He says he participated within the high-stakes poker video games that impressed the film “Molly’s Sport.”
As soon as established within the gaming business, Thompson labored with the Southern California-based Pala Band of Mission Indians to launch a betting platform known as Pala Interactive in 2013. He collaborated on this venture with Collins, whose portfolio features a cryptocurrency firm, Tether, which Federal decree And State audit Due to its monetary solvency, market failures such because the FTX collapse have shaken the cryptocurrency business. Reeves and different Tether representatives mentioned the corporate’s funds are sound and famous that they repeatedly publish monetary info.
Thompson mentioned he started a 12 months and a half in the past to formulate a plan to profit California tribes and remove grey market betting. He now says he has a “absolutely funded” poll marketing campaign prepared, although he was imprecise about his donors, noting they labored on Wall Road and noting how finance giants like Blackstone I supported the deal For PokerStars web site.
“It is the top of the business,” he claimed. “It is the largest of the large ones.”
Thompson mentioned he spent months laying the groundwork for the measure by chatting with tribal leaders and incorporating their suggestions. Though no tribe has publicly agreed with the proposal, the collective silence “under no circumstances means they’re towards it,” he mentioned. If the tribes have not made their enthusiasm recognized, it is as a result of “no person needs to exit first” as they examine the proposal, Thompson mentioned.
However Thompson didn’t identify anybody he met, and no tribe has publicly confirmed that they’ve made contact together with his staff. 4 tribal leaders or representatives contacted by POLITICO denied this initiative. This included Thompson and Reeves’ former enterprise companions within the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
Jacob Mejia, a spokesman for the Pechanga tribe, mentioned he knew of no supporting tribes and dismissed “a few rich males” who had been searching for to implement a “cynical and ridiculous” venture that undermined tribal sovereignty.
“So far as I do know, it’s clear that the overwhelming majority of tribes in California won’t assist this questionable secret effort,” Bo Mazzetti, chairman of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians, mentioned in an e mail.
For some Native officers, the push by Thompson and his staff is an echo of DraftKings and FanDuel’s try and enter California final 12 months solely to be thwarted by the tribes’ funds and longstanding political clout. They really feel indignant after they see intruders attacking them.
“It is attention-grabbing to see this type of narrative about: ‘Oh, we simply wish to begin the dialog,’” Siva mentioned. “You were not within the room for the dialog.”
This sentiment factors to the work that lies forward for Thompson and Collins. Thompson has been reaching out for assist, together with sending Siva a message telling him “everybody actually likes you.” Collins described ongoing conversations with tribes and mentioned the marketing campaign was feeling “optimistic” about its prospects.
“It isn’t simply a few random folks making a proposal,” Collins mentioned. “It’s a properly thought out and properly designed technique.”
