California cardrooms are celebrating a recent court decision that will allow them to continue offering blackjack, one of their most profitable games. A San Francisco Superior Court judge struck down state regulations that aimed to ban the popular card game, a move widely welcomed by the industry.
On June 30, Judge Richard Darwin ruled that Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Bureau of Gambling Control had overstepped their authority by introducing the proposed changes. These regulations were officially put forward by the California Department of Justice in May 2025 and had garnered over 1,700 public comments.
The California Office of Administrative Law had green-lit the rules in February, with an intended effective date of April 1. However, in March, the California Gaming Assn. filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate them. Judge Darwin then issued a preliminary injunction in May, temporarily preventing the state from implementing the new regulations.
The California Gaming Assn. estimates that more than 70 cardrooms across the state employ approximately 20,000 workers. The association had warned that the proposed ban could halve the number of cardroom jobs and significantly diminish the industry’s positive economic contributions. A 2019 analysis commissioned by the group indicated that California cardrooms generate roughly $500 million in tax revenue annually.
Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Assn. and owner of Club One Casino in Fullerton, highlighted the severe financial repercussions the regulations would have brought. He noted that about 60% of Club One’s revenue comes from blackjack, stating, “I can’t survive on the other 40%.” Kirkland projected that he would have had to lay off nearly 200 of his 250 employees if the ban had gone into effect. He also pointed out the impact on local governments, saying, “We give the city of Fresno a million dollars a year in table tax revenue, and they were actively asking me how could they budget for this going forward, given the impact that it’s going to have.”
The economic activity generated by cardrooms in L.A. County alone exceeds $2 billion, supporting over 9,000 jobs. Cities like Bell Gardens and Hawaiian Gardens would have been particularly hard hit, as casinos contribute nearly 70% of their general funds. In the City of Commerce, the Commerce Casino is responsible for 40% of the city’s general fund and employs 2,200 people. Mayor Kevin Lainez described the city as “devastated” when the regulations were initially passed. In anticipation of potential revenue losses, Commerce declared a state of fiscal emergency and introduced a higher sales tax. Lainez explained that the city would have faced cuts to senior programs, public safety services, and capital improvement projects. He expressed relief, stating, “We’ve responsibly built our budgets and shaped them around the revenue that the cardroom generates… and we’ve developed some quality of life services that our community really relies on, and so for this to no longer be hanging over our heads is a relief to our community.”
It’s important to note that the proposed ban would not have impacted Native American casinos. Proposition 1A, passed by California voters in 2000, granted tribes the right to conduct Nevada-style gambling, including casino-banked card games, on their reservations. While the Bureau of Gambling Control had accepted the practice for years—a practice cardroom attorneys deem “completely legal” and approved by Bonta’s predecessors—the state’s new rules aimed to crack down on the use of third-party businesses and tighten regulations for “player-dealers.”
Despite the successful lawsuit, Kirkland anticipates that the Justice Department will appeal the decision, suggesting that the conflict is far from over. “There’s not really a lot of celebration,” Kirkland remarked. “It’s concerning that the attorney general would think that that was a valid way of going out and regulating the cardroom industry, so I’m just wondering what’s the next step, what’s coming behind, but at least in this battle, it was a pretty strong and resounding victory.”
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Annika Duneja is a business reporting intern at the Los Angeles Times. She graduated from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media and the Kenan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she wrote for the Daily Tar Heel’s City & State Desk. She has previously worked at CNBC and NBC4 Washington, and is a native of Washington, D.C.
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