Judge Sides with Cardroom Operators: Strikes Down DOJ Ruling

A court in California has made a ruling that casts aside a previous ruling that banned cardrooms in the state.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin issued a preliminary injunction with his opinion that the California Department of Justice and its Bureau of Gambling Control was out of bounds when it targeted cardrooms in California.

The DOJ ruling ordered that cardroom operators could not offer blackjack. In addition, the CA DOJ said that cardrooms must have at least three "real" players for a game to be legitimate. Previously, operators were allowed to claim the dealer as a "dealer-player" in order to keep a game active.

The issue of cardrooms has been a hot topic in California for years. A group of card operators, spurred in large part by interested California operators who cannot secure licenses through tribal nations, sued the state DOJ to reverse the decision, which they said would threaten the industry.

(Photo By Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

California Gaming Association celebrates ruling

The California Gaming Association backed the repeal of the DOJ orders. In a statement, the CGA stressed the importance of Judge Darwin's ruling.

“The Court’s ruling is a lifeline for communities across California," California Gaming Association president Kyle Kirkland said. “If these regulations had been allowed to stand, the consequences would have been devastating for working families, local businesses, and the cities that rely on cardroom revenues to fund police, parks, libraries, youth programs, and other essential services.”

The lawsuit halted implementation of the DOJ's ruling, which would have started on June 1. Now, Darwin's decision means the state government will need to decide whether to appeal or give up the fight to control this segment of gaming in the largest economy in the United States.

CA AG Bonta mulls legal response

The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta expressed dismay over the decision by the court in northern California. A statement from Bonta's office to ABC10 News in Sacramento said that the Attorney General is “disappointed in the ruling but are reviewing our options and will respond appropriately.”

Cardrooms are a unique gaming option in California. Licensed operators are permitted to run poker and other table games as long as the house does not play against the participants and does not have a house bank. In that way, cardrooms skirt the agreements between the state and tribal nations that grants the latter exclusive rights to live table games.

Prior efforts to eliminate cardrooms, supported by most tribal nations, has failed. The state legislature has introduced bills in three of the last five sessions that would have either outlawed cardrooms or limited their operation. The cardroom operators see any attempt to limit cardrooms as an effort to wipe out their operations. They point out that most cardrooms are social clubs that attract customers who are not taking money out of the pockets of casinos, which are licensed to tribal lands in the state.