“They say they are going to give us for free, and that just brings up narratives that we’ve dealt with in all of our history,” Morongo Band of Mission Indians Vice Chairman and California Nations Indian Gaming Association President James Siva said. How they view Thompson’s group and its methods is more evident.
What, exactly, tribal leaders think of the actual proposals is unclear. Collins and Thompson co-founded Pala Interactive, which was purchased by Boyd Gaming last year. The listed contact is Reeve Collins, founder of SmartMedia Technologies and other tech startups. The proposals were signed by Ryan Tyler Walz, who according to LinkedIn is the vice president of business development for Enshored, a company that works with startups. Kasey Thompson, co-founder of Pala Interactive and a former owner of a poker magazine, in late October was the man behind a pair of initiative proposals that would give the state’s tribes a monopoly on California sports betting and begin to lay the groundwork for online casino. They made that clear in 250 million ways in 2022, when they spent about that much to kill a sports betting proposal backed by a consortium of seven commercial operators.Ī year later, a businessman with previous ties to one California tribe is walking down the same pathway. If there is one thing that California’s tribes don’t like, it’s being told what to do.
