For years, tribal casinos in California have claimed they have exclusive rights to host blackjack and other Las-Vegas style gambling.
They want to keep these games out of the private cardrooms they compete with. And they’ve spent tens of millions of dollars appealing to courts, voters, and the Legislature to do it.
Now, tribes are facing yet another defeat, in the wake of a new court ruling last week from a San Francisco judge.
Earlier this year, Attorney General Rob Bonta sided with the casinos, when he moved to ban blackjack at private cardrooms through a rule change under the state’s Bureau of Gambling Control.
But Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin ruled that the bureau didn’t have the legal authority to do that, dealing a win to cardroom operators who say the ruling once again proves their business model is legal.