LOS ANGELES – A union-affiliated protest last week outside the office of California’s attorney general marked the latest public showing of a years-long battle between state tribes and card rooms.
On 20 October, about 150 California card room employees, city officials and labour organisers gathered outside Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office in downtown Los Angeles to protest two sets of proposed regulatory changes related to blackjack-style games and player-dealers. The changes, if enacted, could significantly affect revenue and future growth for the sector.
Armed with picket signs and bullhorns, protestors chanted “fight for our jobs” and “save our cities”, buttressed by honking support of cars and city buses passing by. The demonstration as a whole lasted about an hour.
The aesthetic of the rally was the Monopoly board game. A “Monopoly man” mascot posed for photographs and rained fake money that featured Bonta’s face, with the words “Supporting CA Tribal Monopoly, Destroying our Communities”.
Several elected officials spoke against the proposed regulations, including representatives of nearby cities Hawaiian Gardens, Compton, Commerce and Bell Gardens. All of those cities feature card rooms that provide revenue to fund municipal services.
In Bell Gardens, for example, more than 40% of the city’s general fund comes from card room revenue. Parkwest Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens is the third-largest card room in the state by table count. For others, like Hawaiian Gardens, that percentage is even higher, reaching 70% or more in some years. Bell Gardens Councilwoman Francis de Leon Sanchez told iGB at the protest that the regulations would “tremendously affect” her city’s services and residents if enacted.
“A lot of jobs are going to be lost,” Sanchez said. “I come from a very hardworking Latino community, and a lot of our residents do work at the casino, so they’re going to have to find other sources of income. It’s going to be devastating.”
The California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) did not respond to requests for comment. Tuari Bigknife, the attorney general for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians who has advocated for tribes on this issue, also did not respond to requests. The Indian Gaming Association declined to comment.
How did California card room fight get here?
The protest was the latest round in a fight that has been ongoing for decades. Indian tribes have exclusivity for Class III gaming in California, which includes slots and house-banked table games (player vs the house). This was granted through the passage of Proposition 1A in 2000.
As such, card rooms are only able to offer player-banked, or peer-to-peer, gameplay. The revenue-generating differences between the two styles is stark, with the advantage going to Class III.
Per the National Indian Gaming Commission, California tribal casinos generated $12.1 billion in gross gaming revenue in fiscal year 2024, up 1% year-over-year. There is less available data for card rooms, but a 2019 study estimated their total economic impact to be about $5.6 billion annually.
The complex system of TPPPs in California card rooms
In late 2007, card rooms deployed what are known as third-party proposition players (TPPPs). State regulations require dealers in card rooms to offer players the opportunity to act as the bank after every hand or round. Most players do not have the funds or desire to act as the bank in a peer-to-peer setting, which can stifle gameplay.
TPPP entities are licensed contractors whose employees work in card rooms as designated player-dealers. They take up the offer to bankroll gameplay repeatedly and are funded by their employers for that purpose. Card rooms utilise this system to help run Class III-style games like blackjack and baccarat.
Tribes have long contended that this is simply a workaround to offering house-banked games that violate their exclusivity. Proponents point to regulations that stipulate TPPP providers must be financially independent from card rooms. This separation is what stakeholders say delineates the games from house-banking. They argue that the games have been operating in accordance with state law for nearly 20 years now.
“Let’s be clear: these are legal, licensed and regulated games,” Hawaiian Gardens Mayor Dandy de Paula said at Monday’s protest. His city is home to Gardens Casino, the state’s second-largest card room by table count.
Despite the independence requirements, the web of connections between card room owners and TPPP providers is deep and complex. Further, the original idea for TPPPs is widely credited to Bob Lytle, who served in the AG’s office as the state’s top regulator before resigning to work for a card room.
Lytle sent a letter to two card room lobbyists days before resigning that outlined his interpretation of player-dealers under state law, and TPPPs emerged shortly after. Lytle was later banned from the state’s gaming industry for tax fraud and other charges in 2016.
Tribal suit bill passed, but lawsuit dismissed
TPPPs have been controversial since their inception but tribes had limited avenues of enforcement. Previous legal action in state court had been unsuccessful because of tribes’ lack of standing as sovereign nations. However, both legal and regulatory pathways emerged in recent years.
The legal front started with the bill SB 549, also known as the Tribal Nations Access to Justice Act, which was introduced in the state Legislature in 2023. Its passage in 2024 provided tribes with a unique, one-time carveout to sue card rooms over the banked-games issue. That suit was filed in January of this year but ultimately dismissed this month.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lauri A Damrell ruled that the case was preempted by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which is federal law. Tribes immediately signalled intent to appeal, and the matter is still yet to be fully determined.
“I may be wrong,” Damrell said during the hearing, per Casino Reports. “And I expect there will be an appeal. And so, I welcome the guidance from the Court of Appeal on this as well and we’ll see where it goes.”
The dismissal was a notable setback for tribes, who so far have successfully defended every challenge to their exclusivity post-Prop 1A.
In 2022, Indian Country defeated Proposition 27, a mobile sports betting initiative backed by commercial bookmakers that became the most expensive ballot fight in US history. This year, the state legislature unanimously approved a ban on sweepstakes sites, a prohibition sought by tribes. And Bonta’s office in July published a long-awaited legal opinion declaring essentially all forms of daily fantasy sports illegal in the state. DFS has long been in tribes’ sights as well.
Regulations promulgated by Bonta, regulators
As lawmakers were debating SB 549, Bonta and the state’s Bureau of Gambling Control (BGC) also initiated the rulemaking process that ultimately led to the proposed regulations on the games and player-dealers. The BGC is the state’s gambling law enforcement and investigative arm, separate from the California Gambling Control Commission.
Public comments from both tribes and card rooms were collected in October 2023, and official notices of proposed rulemaking for both sets of rules were published 11 April 2025.
The proposed changes to player-dealer regulations include:
- The player-dealer must be seated at the table at all times and the position must be offered to all players before every hand. This offer shall be “visible to surveillance cameras”.
- Each table must post the following notice: “Any player can assume the player-dealer position when it is offered. The player that assumes the player-dealer position cannot win or lose more than the amount they wager.”
- The role of player-dealer must rotate to “at least two players other than the TPPP every 40 minutes or the game shall end”.
- If the TPPP is serving as the player-dealer, the next rotation must be to another player.
- Additionally, TPPPs would only be allowed to accept and settle wagers when they are serving as player-dealer.
- Only one TPPP would be permitted per table.
Huge changes to blackjack-style rules
The proposed changes to blackjack-style games would render them virtually unrecognisable from a gameplay standpoint.
They include:
- Games would no longer be able to have a “bust” feature, where a player or dealer automatically loses if their total exceeds 21. Rather, wins and losses “shall be determined solely by whether the total points of a player’s hand is closer to the target point count when compared with the total points of the player-dealer’s hand”.
- The target point cannot be 21.
- With the absence of a 21 target, players or dealers would no longer automatically win a hand with that combination.
- In the event of a tie or “push”, players would win, instead of the usual non-action.
- No games shall feature the words “21” or “blackjack” moving forward.
While the player-dealer changes would be significant, the blackjack rules drew the most scrutiny from demonstrators at the protest.
“Why should [tribes] have the exclusive right to blackjack, when cities across LA County depend on this revenue to survive?” Compton Mayor Emma Sharif said. “For families across LA, this isn’t just about a game. It’s about our jobs and our people.”
Tribes accused of pushing for new regulations
The protestors and speakers accused tribes of being the motivating force behind the new rules. Most of the changes appear to align with tribes’ longstanding objections. In its published notices, the BGC indicated that the rules were being introduced to help clarify and enforce existing regulations.
“The regulations will benefit the public’s health, safety and welfare and the regulated industries because they will ensure that the public does not engage in, and the regulated industry does not offer, any form of gambling prohibited by Penal Code section 330 and the State Constitution,” the BGC’s notice said in part.
Bonta’s office told iGB it is unable to comment during rulemaking processes, other than to confirm the review is ongoing. The office said the process must be completed “within one year from the date of notice publication”. That would mean 11 April 2026.
Political spending from tribes, card rooms
Both card rooms and tribes are heavily involved in state politics and lobbying, though the latter have more spending power. According to CalMatters, tribes donated $23.5 million to candidates for state offices from 2014-24.
Card rooms, by comparison, donated $3.8 million in that timeframe. Notably, card rooms ramped up lobbying after the passage of SB 549 and managed to unseat three officials who had voted in favour of the bill.
Bonta accepted donations from both sides during his 2022 AG campaign, per state records. Tribes were the bigger contributors, however, including out-of-state tribes from Montana and Oklahoma. His 2022 campaign grossed $7.1 million in total donations, while his 2026 reelection campaign is currently at $6.7 million.
Opposing sides share reliance on gambling
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the debate is that the warring sides share many similarities and desires. Both groups rely on gaming revenue and casinos as their communities’ main sources of funds and employment.
For many tribes, gaming has transformed life for members in just a few generations. In 1990, when tribal gaming was in its infancy, the poverty rate among California Native Americans was 34%, per UCLA. A University of California study from this year pegged that rate at 18%.
Tribal casinos have grown to become some of the state’s largest employers and community partners. Their facilities are consistently recognised with top hospitality and gaming honors. USA Today listed three California tribal properties in the top five of its 10 best casinos outside of Las Vegas.
“We are very much focused on being good community partners and having that positive view of our industry,” CNIGA Chairman James Siva told GGB in 2024. “As we look forward to the expansion of gaming, at the end of the day, it will be about defending our sovereignty, and tribes will be willing and are willing, and in the future we’ll continue to fight in any way we need to defend that.”
‘Without our card room, I don’t think I would be here’
Card rooms, by comparison, are also mostly located in minority communities. The cities of Commerce and Bell Gardens, for example, are both more than 90% Hispanic, per census data. Compton’s population is 70% Hispanic and 25% African-American.
Nary Chin is a dealer at Gardens Casino, having worked there since immigrating to the US 27 years ago. She told iGB at Monday’s protest that the casino provided her with everything she hoped for when she first arrived in the country. It has come to represent her version of the American dream.
“There was a time where I only wanted to commit suicide – I had no way out,” Chin said. “This is the first time I’ve got a job, made good money, and I told my children, ‘We don’t have to go through hard times anymore. We’re gonna be OK.’ The card room provided me all of that.
“Every time they want to shut down the place, they want to take blackjack-style games away, for me, I cannot handle that. They tell you, ‘Oh, it’s just a job, you go there to make money.’ But it’s a job that cares. Without our card room, I don’t think I would be here today, honestly.”
Representatives from the biggest California card rooms went directly to the state’s attorney general last week to protest new regulatory changes that they say are backed by tribes.