After a 2018 Supreme Court ruling, sports betting was allowed to be legalized on a state-by-state basis. So far, we’ve seen 38 states (plus Washington D.C.) legalize sports betting, with over 25 states offering mobile sports betting.

This past year saw several big states legalize sports betting, including Massachusetts, Ohio and Kentucky, but the biggest state of all 50 still remains: California.

Home to nearly 40 million residents, California represents a massive opportunity for sports betting expansion, but also many challenges due to a large number of groups that need to be kept happy, including card rooms, sports leagues, Tribal gaming, horse tracks and online operators like FanDuel and DraftKings.

Back in 2022, California offered two different voter referendums to legalize sports betting in the state: Prop 26 and Prop 27. One was supported by the tribes and one was supported by a coalition led by DraftKings and FanDuel; both didn’t come close to passing.

With 2024 out as a possibility, the focus in the state shifts to 2026 at earliest for legalization. But even that seems unlikely.

FanDuel president Christian Genetski sat on a panel last Wednesday at the FanDuel-sponsored Western Indian Gaming Conference and offered up both an apology for how 2022 went, as well as a view on the future on legalization in California, per Play USA’s Matthew Kredell.

“When I reflect on 2022, I think if I’m being a little charitable it was what I would describe as a well-intentioned but uninformed and misguided attempt,” Genetski said. “It was definitely a spectacular failure from our perspective, but that’s OK. It wasn’t the time and it wasn’t the right way, and we understand that … It’s going to take us a long time to build anything remotely resembling trust, and we accept that and we appreciate it. If we can get to a place where we can start to move the ball forward on a construct that Indian country recognizes as a productive one, that’s when we’ll actually be some place.”

That candor and recognition to include the tribes before putting together a ballot referendum is a positive first step. As to when sports betting might be legalized in the state?

“Will [legalization] happen by 2026? Well, it’s the first time it can happen,” Genetski said. “I can go on record that it’s not happening before that. But whether it’s 2026, 2028 or 2030, we’ll know when we know.”

Things can change quickly, but even if a referendum was passed in 2026, it would mean that sports betting wouldn’t be operational until 2027 at some point, at earliest.