California Cardrooms Strike Back as Government Seeks to Stop TPPP Blackjack

California’s cardrooms have initiated the “legal remedies” they promised they would pursue as the state seeks to ban them from offering their flagship blackjack games. The challenge to Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Bureau of Gambling Control’s sweeping regulatory changes comes in the form of two separate lawsuits.

California’s New Rules Will Jeopardize Entire Economies

Under the AG’s new rules, California will no longer allow cardrooms to offer the blackjack games they are best known for. For context, California’s law prohibits anyone but state tribes from offering banked gambling. However, cardrooms have long employed third-party player-dealers and devised games that fit the local regulatory framework, while still providing visitors with the opportunity to play.

Cardrooms have long been one of the prime adversaries of tribal operators, who have previously argued that the cardrooms infringe on their exclusivity to offer gambling.

Earlier this year, the AG set out to introduce sweeping changes by banning the blackjack games offered by cardrooms and changing the broader rules related to third-party proposition player services (TPPPs).

Unless successfully challenged, the new rules will come into effect on April 1. Then, operators will have until May 31 to submit their plans.

The AG Has Been Ignoring All Public Concerns

Cardrooms, which heavily rely on card game revenue, were outraged at the drastic reforms, arguing that the measure would not only hurt their businesses, but also entire areas depending on the economic activity they spark. A few cities in the state gain a huge chunk of their tax income from cardroom taxes, meaning that they would be deprived of a significant source of revenue.  

In any case, cardrooms never meant to go down quietly and promised to take legal action. As a result, the California Gaming Association (CGA) has joined the California Cardroom Alliance and Communities for California Cardrooms to file two lawsuits against the sudden ban on blackjack-style games.

Proponents of the cardroom sector emphasized that cardrooms have been operating for years without causing public safety concerns. They also noted that the AG has ignored the 1,700+ public comments about the new regulations. Kyle Kirkland, president of the CGA, explained:

Our industry repeatedly raised legal and economic concerns throughout the rulemaking process, but the Attorney General refused to engage with the communities and working families who will be harmed.

Kyle Kirkland, president, CGA

The lawsuits hope to stop the new regulations before they come into force.