The Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians opened the Pauma Sportsbook at Casino Pauma in San Diego County on Nov. 12, creating a venue where guests aged 18 and over can place sports wagers at eight self-service kiosks. The opening followed a ribbon-cutting ceremony and was described by 500 Nations as the first known California tribal casino sportsbook to accept sports wagers.
The casino, which is owned and operated by the band on the Pauma Indian Reservation, opened the betting area to guests immediately after the ceremony, ahead of Thursday Night Football. Former San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman made the first official wager, backing the Los Angeles Chargers to beat the Baltimore Ravens in their Nov. 16 game.
Customers select wagers at kiosks on the casino floor, pay in cash, receive printed tickets and redeem winning tickets at the casino cage. The sportsbook offers football, basketball, hockey, soccer, baseball, boxing, MMA and other domestic and international leagues, alongside straight bets, parlays, teasers, props, live in-play bets and same-game parlays.
Casino Pauma plans to introduce mobile wagering later this winter, limited to patrons physically on casino property. The tribe partnered with SCCG Management to plan and launch the operation.
The launch comes although California law bans sports betting. Voters rejected two sports-wagering ballot initiatives in 2022: Proposition 26, which would have permitted in-person betting at tribal casinos and racetracks, and Proposition 27, which would have authorized online and mobile wagering outside tribal lands.
The Pauma Band operates under federal Secretarial Procedures, rather than a tribal-state gaming compact. The Interior Department issued those procedures on July 8, 2025, permitting the tribe to conduct Class III gaming after California declined to consent to a mediator-selected compact. The federal procedures do not expressly list sports wagering and require the tribe to give the National Indian Gaming Commission at least 60 days’ notice before introducing a new Class III game.
That process followed an April 22, 2024, District Court ruling that California had failed to negotiate in good faith by seeking compact terms not proper subjects under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. A court-appointed mediator selected the tribe’s final compact offer in September 2024, but California declined to consent the following month; the National Indian Gaming Commission agreed to take on many regulatory responsibilities.
Oscar Garcia, Casino Pauma’s general manager, called the opening “a proud and historic moment,” crediting tribal leadership, regulators, operational teams and sportsbook partners. The band said the sportsbook formed part of its exercise of tribal sovereignty and its investment in the tribe’s future.
