{"id":10966,"date":"2026-07-01T04:44:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T04:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/california-card-rooms-win-court-fight-against-bgc-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T04:44:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T04:44:30","slug":"california-card-rooms-win-court-fight-against-bgc-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/california-card-rooms-win-court-fight-against-bgc-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"California Card Rooms Win Court Fight Against BGC Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>California card rooms can keep their blackjack style games and player dealer model for now after a San Francisco judge ruled that the Bureau of Gambling Control went beyond its legal power.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em><strong>Good To Know<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>Judge Richard Darwin said the BGC exceeded authority granted by the legislature and the Gambling Control Act.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>The blocked rules targeted blackjack style games and player dealer rotations.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Card rooms warned the changes could cut existing blackjack revenue by around 50%.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong>Court Focuses On Who Has Power<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The case did not turn mainly on whether California can regulate card room games. It turned on whether the BGC had authority to rewrite broad rules for whole game categories.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Richard Darwin said it did not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI find that in issuing the subject regulations, the Bureau acted in excess of the authority granted to it by the legislature and the Gambling Control Act,\u201d Darwin said after oral arguments.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling follows a May preliminary injunction that had already stopped enforcement of the April 1 rules. A case management conference is set for July 10.<\/p>\n<p>California has two gambling agencies with different roles. The California Gambling Control Commission handles independent regulation and oversight. The BGC sits under the Attorney General office and deals mainly with enforcement and prosecution. Card rooms argued the Bureau tried to make policy that belonged elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Card room attorney Jeremy Kreisberg said the Bureau could approve individual games, but not ban whole types of play.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe power to categorically prohibit games is not reasonably related to the Bureau\u2019s individual game approval authority, and that I think is the statutory problem with the Bureau seeks to do here.\u201d<\/em> Kreisberg argued.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Attorney General Sharon O\u2019Grady defended the rules as implementation, not policy.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cRegulation is not purely policy \u2014 these regulations are implementing the details of implementation, they are not policies,\u201d<\/em> she argued. <em>\u201cPenal Code Section 330 sets the broad policy. These are implementation regulations, not policy setting regulations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why Card Rooms Fought So Hard<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The blocked rules would have changed the core card room product. Blackjack style games would have lost the bust feature and a target point of 21. Player dealer rules also would have required rotation every 40 minutes and an offer of the position before every hand.<\/p>\n<p>For many rooms, that would have hit revenue fast. State analysis estimated a roughly 50% loss in blackjack revenue. Some cities even reviewed tax increases because local budgets depend on card room income.<\/p>\n<p>As of 2019, California card rooms generated about $5 billion in annual economic impact.<\/p>\n<p>Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Association and owner of Club One Casino in Fresno, told iGB the industry felt vindicated.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe reaction from the industry and our members is relief,\u201d<\/em> Kirkland said. <em>\u201cWe felt like we were on the right side of the law and the argument, and we heard that back in May when we got the preliminary injunction. Today, this just cements it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Tribal Fight Still Sits Behind The Case<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>California tribes were not parties in this lawsuit, but the dispute still connects to the wider fight over Class III gaming exclusivity. Tribes have long argued that blackjack style games and player dealer formats violate their casino rights. Card rooms have rejected that argument, and courts have not backed the tribal position so far.<\/p>\n<p>A separate SB 549 linked tribal lawsuit was dismissed last year and has not yet been appealed.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Rob Bonta has also become more active in gambling cases during his re election campaign. His office has joined prediction market lawsuits, removed gaming machines from Santa Anita racetrack and issued an opinion saying daily fantasy sports are illegal in California.<\/p>\n<p>An appeal could follow, but the path may be slow. California Supreme Court review is never automatic. From September 2024 through August 2025, the court received more than 3,500 petitions for review, heard 52 cases and issued 45 written opinions.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/casino-news\/california-card-rooms-win-court-fight-against-bgc-rules\/\">California Card Rooms Win Court Fight Against BGC Rules<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/\">iGaming.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California card rooms can keep their blackjack style games and player dealer model for now after a San Francisco judge ruled that the Bureau of Gambling Control went beyond its legal power. Good To Know Judge Richard Darwin said the BGC exceeded authority granted by the legislature and the Gambling Control Act. The blocked rules [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}