California Court Sides with Cardrooms in Blackjack Dispute

^{California Attorney General Rob Bonta had proposed new regulations for the state's cardrooms late last year. (Photo: Lezlie Sterling / The Sacramento Bee / TNS / Sipa USA)} 

Cardrooms in California will be able to continue offering blackjack games after a court ruled that the state’s Department of Justice overstepped its authority by adopting two controversial regulations earlier this year.

The ruling by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin, issued on Tuesday, removed rules that critics said would potentially destroy the cardroom industry.

Ruling is Latest Salvo in War Between Tribes, Cardrooms

Under the new regulations, California cardrooms were told by the California Gambling Control Commission that they would need to eliminate many of the features associated with blackjack from their games, including having a winning point of 21, the concept of busting by going over that total, and the natural blackjack that awards a bonus payout. In addition, such games would not have been able to refer to “blackjack” or “21” in their game names.

Those rules came as Native American tribes in California were claiming that cardrooms were infringing on their exclusive rights to banked card games in California. The cardrooms had gotten around this restriction by offering player-banked games instead. 

However, true players rarely actually banked hands for their fellow customers. Instead, cardrooms hired third-party proposition players (TPPs) who worked from licensed businesses and would pick up banking duties when no other player wanted to do so.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom gave tribes one chance to have legal standing to sue the cardrooms over the issue when he signed the Tribal Nationals Access to Justice Act. Several tribes took that opportunity in early 2025. However, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lauri Damrell ruled against the tribes in August 2025, saying that the issue was one to be decided under the purview of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) rather than state law.

Kirkland: Ruling a ‘Lifeline’ for California Communities

But that wasn’t the only avenue for attacking the games provided by cardrooms. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office proposed the new regulations in October 2025, immediately drawing  furious protests from cardroom workers and owners. 

At the time, California Gaming Association President Kyle Kirkland said that he had heard of no complaints about blackjack games at card rooms outside of the attempts of tribes in the state to shut them down. When Tuesday’s ruling was issued, Kirkland celebrated it as a necessary win for the industry.

“The court’s ruling is a lifeline for communities across California,” Kirkland said. “If these regulations had been allowed to stand, the consequences would have been devastating for working families, local businesses and the cities that rely on cardroom revenues to fund police, parks, libraries, youth programs, and other essential services.”

In a statement, Attorney General Bonta said his office was “disappointed” by the ruling and would review its options. Native American groups, including the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, have yet to make any comment on the ruling.