Entain Executive Writes ‘Hotel California’ Parody to Support Prop 27

Backers of Prop 27 are doing anything they can to make up ground in what’s looking more and more like a losing battle to legalize California online sports betting in the November election.

That includes writing songs, apparently.

Or, more specifically, changing the lyrics of an iconic California song.

Martin Lycka, the SVP of American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling at Entain, penned an article for SBCAmericas this week titled “Martin Lycka: Welcome to the Sportsbook California.” In it, he rewrote the lyrics to the Eagles classic “Hotel California” and made the new song focus on California sports betting and Prop 27.

Entain is an international sports betting and gambling company that runs four companies in the US — including a joint operation with MGM Resorts for BetMGM, as well as partypoker and PartyCasino. BetMGM has donated $25 million to the Prop 27 campaign and is one of the online sports betting initiative’s most prominent advocates.

NOT JUST SPORTS BETTING: Beyond Legalize Sports Betting, What Else Would Prop 26 Do in California?

Here is the “Hotel California” parody Lycka wrote. Read it to the tune of the legendary Eagles song.

On a regulatory highway, twenty-plus states in the bag
PASPA since long revoked, sports betting coming with a bang

Looking to the Far West, I saw the Golden State
40 million people, that might be eager to play

Signatures a relative child’s play, the bill drafting is done
So, I was thinking to myself: “This could be (Twenty) Seventh Heaven, California’s to come”

Then we launched the campaign, prop adverts on football nights
Asking the good westernmost folk, to take the following stance:

Welcome betting to California
What a superb game (what a superb game)
What a superb play

Plenty of fans down in California
This is the year (This is the year)
You can regulate it here

Yet not everyone is that keen, some prefer rooms to sites 
It’s gonna be a tough one, to change the hearts and minds 

Twenty-Six and Twenty-Seven, at each other’s throats 
Fighting the fiercest battle for the Golden State votes 

So we made a promise: “We will put roofs above your heads”
The industry’s surplus put towards fancy places with silky beds

The polls may be wobbly and showing a potential loss
Yet we will not give up on getting this message across:

Welcome betting to California
What a superb game (what a superb game)
What a superb play 

They’re wagering it out across the nation
What a form of joy (what a form of joy)
Come and enjoy
   
On the eighth of November, come out and vote you shalt
So that in the land of Lebron, betting is no longer halt

And then near the Sofi Stadium there’ll no longer be a room 
For illegal bookmakers as legit sportsbooks will step into the vacuum 

Best odds on offer with a Californian twist 
You can show the East Coasters that the Westerners are the masters of the blitz

In favor of Prop 27, is the industry’s call 
We shall sincerely hope that betting flies high in California this fall.

Will Prop 27 Pass in California?

It’s starting to look less and less likely Prop 27 will pass and legalize California online sports betting this November.

An August report from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, an independent research and consulting firm, gave a “less than 50%” chance that either Prop 26 or Prop 27 would pass.

This week, the Public Policy Institute of California released its polling from Sept. 2-11 that found 54% of likely California voters plan to vote no on Prop 27. The survey focused on three props — Prop 27, Prop 1, and Prop 30 — and didn’t ask any questions about Prop 26, which could legalize California sports betting only at Indian casinos and the state’s horse racetracks.