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  • Game time: California to decide dual sports betting measures

    Game time: California to decide dual sports betting measures

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    LOS ANGELES — The gaming industry and Native American tribes bet big on dueling propositions to legalize sports gambling in California, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the most expensive ballot question campaigns in U.S. history.

    But voters casting ballots in the midterm elections that conclude Tuesday may not want a piece of that action.

    Californians have been inundated with a blast of advertisements as backers seek to legalize sports gambling by allowing it at tribal casinos and racetracks or through mobile and online wagering.

    With a multibillion-dollar market at stake, proponents raised nearly $600 million — more than 250% higher than the record amount spent in 2020 by Uber, Lyft and other app-based ride-hailing and delivery services to prevent drivers from becoming employees eligible for benefits and job protection.

    Still, preelection polls showed both ballot measures faced an uphill fight to win a majority. Should both be approved, a provision in the California Constitution calls for the one with the most votes to prevail.

    More than 30 other states allow sports betting, but gambling in California is currently limited to Native American casinos, horse tracks, card rooms and the state lottery.

    Proponents of the two initiatives propose different ways to offer sports gambling and each touts other benefits they say that will come to the state if their measure is approved.

    Proposition 26 would allow casinos and the state’s four horse tracks to offer sports betting in person. The initiative bankrolled by a coalition of tribes would also allow roulette and dice games at casinos.

    A 10% tax would help pay for enforcement of gambling laws and programs to help gambling addicts.

    Proposition 27 would would allow online and mobile sports betting for adults. Large gaming companies would have to partner with a tribe involved in gambling or tribes could enter the market on their own.

    That measure is backed by DraftKings, BetMGM, FanDuel — the latter is the official odds provider for The Associated Press — as well as other national sports betting operators and a few tribes.

    The initiative is being promoted for the funding it promises to funnel through tax revenues to help the homeless, the mentally ill and and poorer tribes that haven’t been enriched by casinos.

    The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found that both initiatives would increase state revenues but it’s unclear by how much. Proposition 26 could bring in tens of millions of dollars while Proposition 27 could bring in hundreds of millions, the office said.

    However, that revenue could be offset if people spend their money on sports gambling instead of shopping or buying lottery tickets.

    Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t taken a position on either proposal but has said Proposition 27 “is not a homeless initiative.”

    The California Republican Party opposes both proposals. State Democrats oppose Proposition 27, but are neutral on Proposition 26. Major League Baseball is backing Proposition 27.

    The No on Prop 26 campaign, funded largely by card rooms that stand to lose out, says the measure would give a handful of wealthy and powerful tribes “a virtual monopoly on all gaming in California.”

    The No on 27 committee says the proposal is based on deceptive promises and says the gaming companies behind it “didn’t write it for the homeless, they wrote it for themselves.”

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

    Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.

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  • Colombia’s President promises to deepen ties with Venezuela

    Colombia’s President promises to deepen ties with Venezuela

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    BOGOTA, Colombia — The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela met on Tuesday and said they would improve trade and security cooperation, as both countries seek to normalize relations following the election of Colombia’s first leftist leader.

    After the meeting in Venezuela’s presidential palace, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said it was “suicidal” for the governments of Venezuela and Colombia to have become estranged from each other recently, adding that the border between the countries had been forgotten and “turned over” to criminal mafias.

    Colombia’s president said both countries would now look for ways to share intelligence on drug trafficking groups, and added that he would lobby for Venezuela’s re-entry into the Andean Community of Nations, a regional trade and investment group that Venezuela withdrew from in 2006. Petro has asked for Venezuela’s support in peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a Colombian rebel group that operates on both sides of the border.

    Petro’s efforts to engage with Venezuela’s socialist government mark a radical departure from Colombia’s recent policy: Before Petro was elected in June, Colombia backed U.S. efforts to isolate Maduro’s government, sanction its oil exports and force Maduro into holding free and fair elections.

    The United States, Colombia and dozens of other countries stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader in 2019, after he won an election that was widely seen as undemocratic and backed a claim to Venezuela’s presidency by the former National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó.

    Petro changed course as soon as he was sworn into office and re-established diplomatic ties with the Maduro government. On Tuesday opposition leaders in Venezuela criticized Petro’s meeting with Maduro, with Guaidó tweeting that Petro was helping to “normalize” the violation of human rights in Venezuela by “visiting dictator Maduro and calling him a president.”

    The International Criminal Court is currently investigating Maduro’s government for human rights violations that include the torture and arbitrary detention of protesters in 2017. In a recent letter addressed to Petro, Human Rights Watch pointed out that there are still more than 240 political prisoners in Venezuela and asked Petro to seek concrete human rights commitments from the Maduro administration as both nations re-establish diplomatic and military ties.

    The watchdog group added that military cooperation with Venezuela should be banned until Venezuela security forces stop backing drug traffickers and rebels. Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch and a U.N. Fact Finding Mission suggests that Venezuela’s military conducted joint operations with the ELN last year to root out another rebel group and allowed them to take over gold mines in eastern Venezuela.

    Following the meeting Maduro said that he had listened to Petro’s proposals and was also interested in developing a deal between both countries to produce fertilizer, which has become more expensive for many countries in Latin America, due to the war in Ukraine.

    “It was an intense, fruitful and extensive meeting” Maduro said.

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