Summary:
- A California court decided that state regulators do not have the necessary authority to impose a statewide ban on blackjack.
- The decision saved thousands of jobs and protected a major source of revenue connected to the industry.
- Any future ban on banked card games requires legislature.
California licensed card rooms can breathe easily now that a judge decided that state gambling regulators are not legally authorized to ban blackjack games at their venues.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin’s ruling marks an important victory for licensed card room operators like Fresno’s Club One Casino that heavily use blackjack and similar games as an important source of income.
Judge Darwin concluded that the Bureau of Gambling Control within the California Attorney General’s Office did not have the authority to introduce regulations that would prohibit these games.
Instead, the judge decided that all major changes to the state’s gambling laws must come from the state Legislature.
During his ruling, Darwin explained that the Bureau had acted beyond the powers granted to it under the state’s Gambling Control Act by trying to introduce the proposed restrictions.
The Banked Games Controversy
The dispute revolves around banked games, where players compete directly against the house rather than one another. California’s tribal casinos have long argued that they hold exclusive rights to offer these games.
Card rooms, however, have operated modified versions of blackjack by using third-party proposition players, a practice that has remained at the heart of a lengthy legal battle.
Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Association, welcomed the decision, describing it as a confirmation that regulators cannot rewrite state law without legislative approval.
He argued that the proposed rules would have harmed local businesses, employees and communities while benefiting a limited number of tribal gaming operators.
Costly Prohibition
Economic concerns also played a major role throughout the case, with an assessment prepared by Berkeley Economic Advising and Research estimating that banning the games could have cost California card rooms about $464 million over the next decade while eliminating an estimated 364 full time jobs each year.
The same report projected tribal casinos would see revenue gains of approximately $232 million.
For Fresno area casinos, blackjack represents a substantial share of overall business. Operators warned that losing the games could have forced job cuts, affected hundreds of local families and reduced tax revenue paid to city governments.
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