Could sports betting solve California’s budget woes?

If we legalize sports betting in California, schoolkids will be the winners.

Maybe also the aged poor. And working single moms who need child care.

Most state legislators — Democrat and Republican — are attacking Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed draconian cuts in funding for K-12 schools, impoverished seniors, health care for the poor and numerous safety net programs.

But few are suggesting serious ways to blunt the cuts by raising new revenue — the dirty T-word for tax.

Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa and Assemblyman Adam Gray of Merced, however, are proposing that California finally legalize sports betting — as 23 other states have done — and reap several hundred million dollars annually in “sin” taxes.

We’ve long taxed liquor and tobacco. Four years ago, we fully legalized marijuana and now are taxing the drug. In 1984, Californians voted overwhelmingly to create a state lottery, which is providing $1.3 billion for K-12 schools — 1.3% of their total spending.

Dodd and Gray figure their proposed state constitutional amendment, SCA 6, would generate at least $200 million in taxes the first year and $500 million to $700 million annually thereafter.

As Dodd says: “We have to find as many sources of revenue as possible. And here’s one with real money. There’s already billions of dollars of illegal sports gambling going on in the state. There’s no regulatory framework. There’s no taxation.”

The governor projects a $54 billion deficit because the economy was essentially shut down when people were confined to their homes to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCarty of Sacramento has called the budget cuts a “death knell” for early childhood education.

Newsom has promised to rescind $14 billion in proposed cuts if Congress and President Trump send the states a bailout package.

“If you are aged, poor or disabled, this budget is devastating,” said Healdsburg Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood, a dentist.

Gray was about the only Assembly member who has offered some partial solutions, including sports betting.

Lottery winnings aren’t currently taxed by the state, only by the feds. Gray would tax winnings exceeding $1 million and earn the state between $40 million and $400 million a year, depending on the players’ luck.

He’d stop allowing gamblers to write off losses against winnings in calculating their state income taxes. That could bring in between $300 million and $500 million.

“Before we start cutting schools and health care, we should take stock of our revenue options,” Gray told me. “It’s the responsible thing to do. It’s a mistake to sit back and wait for Congress to solve our problems.”

The sports betting measure would allow wagering only on pro games. The authors say major sports leagues support the proposal.

Big Indian gaming tribes don’t like its main feature: online betting from the convenience of the bettor’s home. They want people betting inside their casinos.

The tribes were sponsoring their own ballot initiative, but collection of voter signatures collapsed because of the coronavirus. Now they won’t be able to qualify a measure until the 2022 ballot.

The Dodd-Gray proposal seeks a compromise among the long-warring tribal casinos, horse racetracks and card rooms. Casinos and racetracks could operate sports betting — inhouse and online.

Card rooms would be excluded, but they’d also benefit. Their current card games would be cemented into law, safe from the constant assaults of tribes and the state attorney general.

The measure is unlikely to pass unless the three gambling interests agree to play. They’d win and so would California budget victims.