California and huge card room news

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California cardrooms anticipate thousands of layoffs as gambling rules change.  Operators may be forced to drop blackjack and other table games due to new state rules that they say favor tribal casinos

"A banked card game is a type of gambling game in which players place bets against a central dealer, known as the banker or house, rather than directly against each other.

Cardrooms — like the Gardens Casino — are state-licensed venues that, under state law, may only offer player-banked or peer-to-peer games — or tables where players play against each other, not the house.

Bonta is now saying California laws on banked games must adhere to the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 and California Proposition 1A passed in 2000, according to the California National Indian Gaming Association. However, the cardroom industry disputes the tribal gaming industry's legal interpretation of these laws, saying that Bonta's rules could disrupt its business model.

Pai gow was the first card game using a player-dealer position in the cardroom industry in 1983.

Outsourced player-dealer services— or third party proposition players as they are known in casino parlance — came in 1990. An outsourced player-dealer service is a licensed independent company, not the casino itself, whose employees play in cardroom table games to ensure they remain active and filled, acting as a neutral party like any other player in the game."


https://www.presstelegram.com/2026/02/15/california-cardrooms-anticipate-thousands-of-layoffs-as-gambling-rules-change/

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Here are the changes effective April 1st, 2026.

On February 6, 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that the Office of Administrative Law approved two long pending California Department of Justice regulations governing cardroom operations. The regulations were finalized without substantive revision and will take effect on April 1, 2026. This marks a significant shift in how cardrooms may lawfully operate their most popular games.

https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/us/insights/alerts/california-cardrooms-face-major-operational-shift-following-doj-rule-approval

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Here is a very detailed outline of what is happening.  It affects all California card rooms with card games.

https://capitolweekly.net/cardrooms-file-legal-challenge-to-new-gaming-regulations/