California card rooms have welcomed the court’s decision to allow them to continue allowing visitors to bet on blackjack, one of their most profitable games.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge struck down laws that would have prohibited card rooms from offering blackjack in California.
Authorities wanted to close what some see as a legal loophole that allows card rooms to offer blackjack and games in which players play against the house. Those types of games should only be offered in Native American casinos, but card rooms have been limited by using established foreign casinos.
In a decision dated June 30, Judge Richard Darwin said that Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and the California Bureau of Gambling Control exceeded their mandate by introducing this change.
The California Department of Justice formally introduced the proposed rules in May 2025, and responded to more than 1,700 public comments.
The California Office of Administrative Law greenlit the rules in February, and they were to go into effect on April 1, but in March, the California Gaming Assn. he filed a lawsuit to make it illegal.
In May, Darwin imposed the first injunction, temporarily stopping the government from enacting new laws.
There are more than 70 card rooms across California that employ about 20,000 workers, according to the California Gaming Assn. It is estimated that these changes could cut the number of domestic jobs in half and significantly reduce the positive economic impact of this industry.
A 2019 analysis by the group estimated that the tax revenue generated by California card rooms was approximately $500 million annually.
Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Assn. and the owner of Club One Casino in Fullerton, said the law would not only affect the card houses, but also the cities and communities that depend on the money they generate.
“We give the city of Fresno a million dollars a year in table tax money, and they’ve been actively asking me how they can budget for this going forward, given the impact it’s going to have,” he said.
At Club One, about 60% of the revenue comes from blackjack, Kirkland said.
“I can’t live on the other 40%,” he said.
If these laws were to go into effect, Kirkland said he would have to fire about 200 of the 250 card employees.
LA County cardrooms generate more than $2 billion in economic activity and support more than 9,000 jobs.
Kirkland said the rules would especially affect cities like Bell Gardens and Hawaiian Gardens, where casinos represent about 70% of the general fund.
In Commerce City, the Commerce Casino generates 40% of the city’s general fund, and employs 2,200 people. When these laws were first passed, Mayor Kevin Lainez said the city was “spoiled”.
In response to the potential loss of revenue, the city declared a fiscal emergency, and introduced a higher sales tax.
Lainez said the city would have had to cut senior programs, public safety services and capital improvement projects.
“We built our budgets with responsibility and we fixed them with the money that the cardroom earns, so with all the other businesses here in the city, of course, and we have made other life services that our community really depends on, so for this to no longer hang over our heads is a relief for our community,” he said.
The ban would not have affected Native American casinos.
Proposition 1A, passed by California voters in 2000, gave tribes the right to conduct Nevada-style gambling, such as casino bank card games, on reservations.
Cardrooms have continued to offer blackjack and other bank games such as baccarat by giving players the opportunity to take turns dealing with the game and by relying on third-party businesses that hire people to act as bankers.
The Bureau of Gambling Control for years accepted this practice, which lawyers representing the card houses say is “perfectly legal” and approved by Bonta’s predecessors, but new federal laws prohibit the use of these third-party businesses and tighten the rules for “player buyers.”
Although the case of California Gaming Assn. If successful, Kirkland said he expects the Justice Department to appeal, saying the conflict is far from over.
“There aren’t really many celebrations,” she said. “It’s about whether the attorney general would think that was a valid way to go out and regulate the cardroom industry, so I wonder what the next step is, what comes after, but at least in this fight, it’s been a solid and resounding victory.”
