California Governor Signs Bill Letting Tribes Challenge Private Card Rooms

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has put his signature on Senate Bill 549 making it law. This new legislation gives Native American tribes the right to take legal action against private card rooms. 

Political Clash Erupts Over Tribes’ Rights to Challenge California Card Rooms

The tribes claim that card rooms are breaking the law by running house-banked card games like blackjack and pai gow poker. This bill has sparked a heated political fight between two big players in California’s gambling world: tribal casinos and card rooms.

The bill’s approval gives tribes the legal right to challenge around 80 card rooms owned by private entities across the state, reported CalMatters.

They can now claim these places step on the exclusive gambling rights that voters gave tribes long ago. Before this, tribes could not take card rooms to court because they were sovereign nations. The new law has gotten rid of this legal obstacle.

The stakes are high, as many California cities depend on card room tax money. Places like Hawaiian Gardens and Commerce could face big financial problems. Card rooms provide two-thirds of Hawaiian Gardens’ budget and almost half of Commerce’s. Other cities worry too. San Jose gets about $30 million each year from its card rooms. City leaders there fear cuts to key services like police and fire if card rooms have to shrink their business. They are concerned this could happen after the new rules come into play.

California Legislation Sparks Lobbying Frenzy from Tribes and Card Rooms

The bill has sparked intense lobbying from both camps. Tribes have argued for years that card rooms drain money from tribal communities that have faced historical disadvantages. They view the bill as progress in tackling this economic gap. 

On the flip side, card rooms insist their operations are lawful, with approval from the state attorney general’s office. Yet, they worry that giving tribes the right to sue without the chance to countersue might result in crippling legal expenses shutting them down for good.

Lobbying and campaign donations had a big impact on the political moves around the bill. Last year, one card room, the Hawaiian Gardens Casino, put over $9 million into lobbying. Tribes have spent more than card rooms in recent years to back Governor Newsom. Since Newsom started his run for governor, tribes have given more than $7 million to his various political efforts, while card rooms have donated $252,000.

The bill came at the same time as other moves focused on Native Americans, as Newsom signed more laws to help tribal communities on California Native American Day. These laws aim to add Native American views to school lessons and to make it easier to use traditional ways to manage land.