California: Court Asks Card Rooms to Supply Surveillance Footage

A dispute between Native American Tribes and card rooms in California is expected to be resolved after the two clashed for years over the offering of certain casino games by the latter. Previously, Tribes didn’t have the ability to sue card rooms as the former has a sovereign status, which means that they cannot turn to court to resolve an issue.

That was the case until a bill was greenlighted in California, permitting Tribes to ask a court in the state to determine whether the offering of blackjack, baccarat, pai gow and other casino games by card rooms violates the exclusivity the Tribes have.

Card Rooms Agree to Provide CCTV Footage

Now, card rooms have reportedly agreed to provide CCTV footage of their games amid the ongoing lawsuit with the Tribes. As announced by iGB, citing court filings, the Sacramento Superior Court’s Judge Lauri A Darnell ordered card rooms to provide footage from cameras regarding the casino games described by the Tribes and recognized in the lawsuit as “Subject Games.”

The video recordings will be “limited to the cameras that provide an overhead view of the Subject Games.” Per the court’s order, the card rooms agreed to provide footage from December 28, 2024, between 12:00 am and 11:59 pm. In case that footage is insufficient, the card rooms agreed to supply additional video evidence from December 31, 2024.

Per the court’s order, if the surveillance footage of the “Subject Games” from the two dates is insufficient, the two sides in the lawsuit are expected to meet again and agree on extracting further video feeds from other dates.

It is likely that the Tribes will try to use the aforementioned video evidence to support their case against the offering of particular games by the card rooms. In their lawsuit, the Tribes alleged that the card rooms “brazenly profit from illegal gambling,” referring to the house-banked casino games they offer.

What’s more, the lawsuit claims that the card rooms “refused to recognize” the Tribes’ exclusive rights over house-banked casino games and profited from them for years. In their legal claim, the Tribes also asked the court to determine that offering such games by card rooms is illegal under the established laws in California and that they should be prohibited from offering and profiting from such games.

Using Third Party Providers, Card Rooms Circumvent a Requirement for House-Banked Games

With house-banked games, usually, the casino or gambling venue acts as a bank. While that is the case most of the time, card rooms have found a way to circumvent this requirement. This is accomplished via Third-Party Providers of Proposition Player Services, also known as TPPPS.

According to data from the California Gambling Control Commission, there are currently 23 licensed TPPPS operators across the state. Those providers play a key role in card rooms as they are hired to act as the bank in house-banked games such as baccarat, poker and blackjack, among others.

As there is no law that prohibits the use of TPPPS providers, it looks like card rooms are not breaching any regulations. Still, it remains to be seen what the court would rule in this landmark case that may finally resolve a dispute that has been ongoing for nearly two decades.