<\/p>\n
Jackson McFetridge, dressed as Mr. Monopoly, joins card room employees and union members protesting outside Attorney General Rob Bonta\u2019s Sacramento office on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, against proposed regulations that would effectively ban blackjack-style games and severely limit player-dealer games in California card rooms.<\/p>\n
REN\u00c9E C. BYER<\/p>\n
rbyer@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
New regulations are coming to California card rooms, game rooms that allow gambling, like Limelight Bar, Cafe & Cardroom and Capitol Casino in Sacramento.<\/p>\n
California law forbids businesses from operating \u201cbanked\u201d games, like traditional blackjack and baccarat, where the house is pit against players, except on tribal land.<\/p>\n
For years, card rooms have instead used \u201cplayer-dealers,\u201d who are employed by third parties, and played \u201cCalifornia Blackjack\u201d or \u201cBlackjack 21.5\u201d \u2014 versions virtually indistinguishable from the original game. Operators of tribal casinos have complained consistently<\/a> that the games are workarounds and should be outlawed.<\/p>\n The new regulations would do just that: rolling back allowed games and putting stricter limits on the player-dealer game style. The rule proposals were submitted by Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Bureau of Gambling Control and were approved by the Office of Administrative Law Friday evening.<\/p>\n Heather Guerena, chief counsel for Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights, said she was disappointed by the new regulations, and that getting rid of blackjack variations will cut out 40% of Stones\u2019 revenue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe provided (the Bureau) with over 150 pages of legal authority explaining why these were inappropriate, and they did not take or provide, from our perspective, an adequate response to any of the legal arguments presented,\u201d Guerena said.<\/p>\n The battle between card rooms and tribal casinos has been going on for close to two decades. A 2024 analysis<\/a> of the issue by the Senate Rules Committee found there had been a \u201clong historical feud.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGoing back to 2007, opinion letters or other actions on the matter by regulators have been issued, reversed, and further issued with no definitive clarity or action. In some cases, California\u2019s Cardrooms claimed the action went too far while the tribes said they did not go far enough,\u201d the analysis reads.<\/p>\n Card rooms will be expected to report how they\u2019ll modify their game play by May 31st, 2026.<\/p>\n Kyle Kirkland, President of the California Gaming Association, characterized the changes as \u201cextreme.\u201d Kirkland also alleges the office didn\u2019t correctly follow the process for public disclosure or input.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the Bureau\u2019s failure to follow the laws they are bound to follow, our industry intends to pursue legal remedies to preserve our lawful, legitimate businesses and defend the livelihood of the working families and the communities who depend on us but have been dismissed as politically irrelevant by Attorney General Bonta,\u201d he said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n In an emailed response, Bonta\u2019s office said it did comply with all requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cThis lengthy process, over multiple years, involved public hearings where DOJ heard from hundreds of stakeholders and numerous additional meetings and discussions with stakeholders about these proposed regulations,\u201d said a press office spokesperson.<\/p>\n A news release announcing the regulations said the DOJ had responded to 1,764 public comments about the changes.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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