California Card Rooms Protest Proposed Regulations to End Player-Banked Table Games

^{Blackjack has long been a staple among the table games at California card rooms, but new regulations could soon make it a thing of the past. (Photo: Oleksiy Maksymenko / Alamy)}

California card room owners and employees are fighting to stop proposed regulations that would end the longstanding practice of player-banked games like blackjack and baccarat at the facilities, a move they say would close businesses and lay off workers across the state.

The proposal from the California Department of Justice is the latest chapter in the long-standing battle between card rooms and tribal casinos in the state.

Tribes Engaged in Long Fight Against Card Room Table Games

Tribal gaming interests have argued that the player-banked games infringe on their exclusive ability to offer banked card games in California. Card rooms have gotten around this rule by allowing players to bank these games instead, ostensibly pitting them against each other rather than the house.

But in reality, almost all banking is done by third-party proposition players (TPPs), who are hired from licensed businesses. These TPPs bank whenever other players don’t wish to do so – in practice, on nearly all hands dealt.

For years, California’s Native American tribes have wanted to sue over this issue, but were unable to do so. As sovereign nations, the tribal governments did not have standing to sue in California’s state courts.

That changed when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Tribal Nationals Access to Justice Act into law last year. That gave tribes one chance to legally sue during a window at the start of 2025, an opportunity several tribes jumped on immediately. 

But in August, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lauri Damrell issued a ruling saying that the issue should be decided under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), not state law. The judge ultimately upheld that ruling, leaving tribes frustrated over another avenue closing to them over this issue.

Card Room Employees Say Current System Offers ‘Fair Balance’ for All

However, the state is now considering proposed regulations that would completely prohibit blackjack from being offered by card rooms. That proposal led about 150 people to protest outside California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office in Sacramento on Wednesday.

“Right now we have a fair balance,” Chris Linger, who works at Capitol Casino, told reporters. “Tribal casinos have slot machines and full-scale gaming, while card rooms offer table games that help sustain local economies.”

However, tribal officials say that trying to end blackjack at card rooms is simply an attempt to protect the rights that have been granted to tribes in California, where gaming brings revenue to disenfranchised groups and individuals across the state.

“It’s not about killing card rooms,” Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians Attorney General Tuari Bigknife told CalMatters. “It’s not about killing cities. It’s about protecting what’s ours.” 

A Standard Regulatory Impact Assessment from Bonta’s office estimated that about half of all players might stop visiting card rooms if the new regulations were implemented. According to card room owners, that could be enough to put many of these facilities out of business entirely. 

That would include Club One Casino, according to club president Kyle Kirkland. According to Kirkland, who is also the president of the California Gaming Association, there have been no private complaints about blackjack games at card rooms – only attempts to shut them down by tribal groups.

“This is 100% politically driven. There is nothing that impacts the tribes in any meaningful way,” Kirkland said via The Business Journal. “There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for the games now, all of a sudden, to be deemed illegal, unlawful, unsuitable for play.”