California gambling initiatives are flooding TV screens and confusing voters ahead of November’s election

Screens are being flooded online and on TV with numerous commercials promoting measures on the movement’s ballot that would legalize sports betting.

So far, however, not many ads for a particular measure are as airborne as they are fighting back.

“It’s bad for the tribes and for all Californians,” one ad said.

That was shown in full at a press conference in Commerce on Thursday morning.

“We are asking voters to vote no to the only legitimate tribal gaming initiative in the November ballot.”

The initiative that people are concerned about is called the California Sports Betting Ordinance and Unlawful Gambling Act which is promoted by many of the Indian casinos.

It would legalize sports betting on their casino properties, but it would also open the door for tribes to prosecute casinos that break the law.

READ MORE: CA’s online sports betting initiative would channel funds to help homeless and mental health services

One group fears it will give Indian casinos an open season to haunt card rooms at places like Commerce Casino.

“There is a special provision that would allow lawsuits against cardrooms and even customers in the cardrooms to shut them down,” Compton Mayor Emma Sharif said.

If the casinos were to close, it could be devastating for some of these communities.

“Forty-six percent of [Bell Gardens’] The general fund income comes from our casino,” said Alejandra Cortez, Bell Gardens City Council Member

However, there is another gambling initiative that voters might see on the ballot that would legalize online and mobile sports betting, but none of that is mentioned in the title.

Instead it says California Solutions to Homelessness and Mental Health Support Act.

Rob Stutzman is a spokesman for a group called Tribal Sovereignty and Safe Gaming and opposes the measure.

“Yes, they promise money to help end homelessness, and if you look at the fine print, 90% of those dollars go out of the state, and then the remaining cents get chopped up through some other loophole,” Stutzman said. “Essentially, you’re looking at increasing the amount of money the state currently spends on homelessness by maybe 3%.”

Bottom line, one of the initiatives would legalize online sports betting in California, the other would only legalize it for tribal casinos and racetracks.

Only the second is currently eligible for a vote, but it’s likely the other will also be eligible sometime in June.