L.A. cardrooms applaud court ruling to allow blackjack
California cardrooms welcomed a court ruling that allows them to continue allowing visitors to bet on blackjack, one of their most lucrative games.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge struck down regulations that would have banned card parlors from offering blackjack in California.
Officials wanted to close what some saw as a legal loophole that allowed card rooms to offer blackjack and games in which players play against the house. Such games were supposed to be offered only in Native American casinos, but cardrooms got around the restriction by using designated outside dealers.
In the decision dated June 30, Judge Richard Darwin, Esq. General Rob Bonta and the California Bureau of Gaming Control overstepped their authority by implementing this change.
The California Department of Justice formally submitted the proposed regulations 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 scheduled to go into effect April 1, but in March the California Gaming Assn. He filed a lawsuit to have them invalidated.
In May, Darwin filed an injunction temporarily blocking the state from enforcing the new rules.
There are more than 70 gaming rooms across California, employing nearly 20,000 workers, according to the California Gaming Assn. It is estimated that the changes could halve the number of cardroom jobs and significantly reduce the sector’s positive economic impact.
An analysis commissioned by the group in 2019 estimated tax revenue from California card parlors at about $500 million annually.
Kyle Kirkland is president of the California Gaming Assn. The owner of Club One Casino in Fullerton said the regulation would impact not only cardrooms but also the cities and communities that depend on the money they generate.
“We give the city of Fresno a million dollars in annual tax revenue, and they were actively asking me how they could budget going forward, given the impact this would have,” he said.
At Club One, about 60% of revenue comes from blackjack, Kirkland said.
“I can’t survive on the other 40%,” he said.
If the regulations had gone into effect, Kirkland said the card room would have had to lay off about 200 of its 250 employees.
Cardrooms in LA County generate more than $2 billion in economic activity and support more than 9,000 jobs.
Kirkland said the regulations would particularly impact cities like Bell Gardens and Hawaiian Gardens, where casinos make up about 70% of the general fund.
Commerce Casino in Commerce City generates 40% of the city’s general fund and employs 2,200 people. When the ordinances were first passed, Mayor Kevin Lainez said the city was “devastated.”
In response to potential revenue losses, the city declared a fiscal emergency and implemented a higher sales tax.
Lainez said the city will have to make cuts to senior programs, public safety services and capital improvement projects.
“We created our budgets responsibly and tailored them to the revenue the card room generates, so we, along with all the other businesses in the city, have developed some quality of life services that our community really relies on, and so it’s a relief to our community that it’s not hanging over our heads anymore,” he said.
The ban would not affect Native American casinos.
Proposition 1A, passed by California voters in 2000, would have given tribes the right to engage in Nevada-style gambling, such as card games, on reservations and casino banking.
Card rooms continued to offer other bank games, such as blackjack and baccarat, by giving players the option of taking turns dealing the game and relying on third-party businesses that employed people to act as bankers.
The Gambling Control Bureau had for years accepted the practice, which lawyers representing the cardrooms said was “perfectly legal” and approved by Bonta’s predecessors; but the state’s new rules restrict the use of these third-party businesses and tighten the rules for “player-dealers.”
Although the California Gaming Assn.’s lawsuit was successful, Kirkland said he expects the Justice Department to appeal and the dispute is far from over.
“There really isn’t much celebration,” he said. “It’s concerning that the attorney general thought this was a valid way to regulate the card room industry, so I wonder what the next step is, what comes next, but at least it was a pretty strong and resounding victory in this battle.”
