Judge Blocks Rob Bonta's Blackjack Ban at California Cardrooms
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin blocked rob bonta’s attempt to ban blackjack at California cardrooms, temporarily stopping regulations from the Bureau of Gambling Control from taking effect this week. The preliminary injunction keeps the dispute alive for about 80 private poker rooms while the state and cardrooms continue fighting over whether blackjack can remain part of their business.
The ruling matters beyond the gaming tables. The regulations threatened taxes on table games that many local governments across California rely on, and the fight has become a yearslong contest between cardrooms and casino-owning tribes over gambling in the state.
Darwin’s injunction
Darwin issued the preliminary injunction last month, blocking regulations that would have removed blackjack from cardrooms. The rules came from Bonta’s Bureau of Gambling Control and were set to take effect this week. Cardrooms are private businesses that host poker and other card games.
The order does not resolve the larger dispute over whether California’s cardrooms can keep the model they have used for years. It only pauses the state’s latest effort to stop blackjack while the legal fight continues.
Taxes and donations
Local governments are part of the fight because the regulations threatened to wipe out taxes on table games that many of them depend on. That financial stake runs alongside a political one: 27 of the state’s casino-owning tribes have donated at least $15.8 million to current members of the state Legislature, while 26 cardrooms and affiliated companies have given at least $2.8 million.
Cardrooms have donated at least $244,000 to Bonta since 2012. Tribes have donated $531,000 to him since 2012. Bonta is up for reelection this year, and he stopped accepting campaign donations from the gambling factions before he began implementing the regulations.
Rob Bonta and tribal gaming
Jonathan Underland, Bonta’s campaign spokesperson, said, “Contributions have never impacted the Attorney General’s decision-making process,” and added, “The constitution is a hard line, and Rob Bonta is committed to enforcing it.” He also said, “California voters made their decision on tribal gaming in 1998, and reaffirmed it two years later,” pointing to the ballot history behind tribal gaming rights.
Mike Gatto, a former Democratic lawmaker from Los Angeles, described the stalemate this way: “It keeps the fight going; it keeps the two very powerful interests caring about what goes on at the Legislature, and therefore it keeps the campaign contributions moving as well,”
The injunction leaves California’s cardrooms operating under the status quo for now, but it also keeps the core question in court: whether the state can force blackjack out of a business sector that includes about 80 rooms and reaches local budgets across the state.
