Sports and Business News: June 23

Sorry California, No Legalized Sports Gambling For You

California looked to be the next state to pass a legalized sports gambling bill, but those hopes are now over. 

The bill’s sponsor, California state Senator Bill Dodd, pulled the bill after heavy opposition from Native gaming tribes. Dodd’s bill proposed California legalize sports gambling for both in-person and online sportsbooks through Native American casinos. According to LegalSportsReport, the native tribes have their own bill in the works and want to get it on the 2022 ballot but have yet to gather the necessary signatures for their plan to legalize sports gambling in the Golden State.

The US Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports gambling in 2018. Since then 17 states have launched their sports gambling marketplace.

MLB Owners Ditch Negotiations, Now Dictate 60 Game Season

The drama between Major League Baseball and owners rages on. 

Team owners agreed to have a 60 game season on Monday only to see the MLB Players Association reject that proposal. 

According to ESPN, the league now passed the ball back to the players’ court by requesting an update on if players will agree to report to team facilities by July 1st and if they will accept the health and safety protocols the league wants to implement. If the latest proposal is accepted, the MLB season would start on July 24th and players would receive a 37% prorated salary in the shortened season.

Daily Coronavirus and Business Update

There are over 9.1 million cases of the virus worldwide, with over 473,000 deaths. The U.S. has over 2.3 million cases with over 120,000 deaths. Brazil has 1.1 million cases and 51,000 reported deaths. 

U.S. health officials are testifying to Congress today about the government’s pandemic response. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a House committee that he believes “it will be when and not if” there will be a vaccine for the coronavirus. He said a Covid-19 vaccine could be ready at the end of the year, adding he was “cautiously optimistic."

Fauci has said, “I have said multiple times publicly that we are still in the middle of the first wave. Before you start talking about a second wave, what we’d like to do is get this outbreak under control.”Fauci also contradicted President Donald Trump, who said on Saturday that the U.S. was slowing down testing. Fauci said that neither he nor any other officials he knew of, had been asked by the president to slow testing and that they planned to do the opposite. He also said that the pandemic is a “mixed bag” with some states doing well in controlling the spread of the virus, but said that the surge in other states “very troublesome to me.”