The California Gaming Association on Tuesday condemned newly finalized regulations by Attorney General Rob Bonta and the state’s Bureau of Gambling Control that it said would prohibit long-approved blackjack-style and player-dealer games, warning the changes could eliminate roughly half of cardroom jobs and revenues statewide.
According to the association, the regulations would slash licensed cardroom revenues by more than 50% and place cities that rely on cardroom taxes in immediate fiscal distress. It cited the Bureau’s own economic analysis as projecting the loss of about 50% of cardroom jobs, putting tens of thousands of working families at risk and threatening budget shortfalls for municipalities that use gaming taxes to fund police, fire protection, parks, and other services.
The Bureau advanced the regulations without any showing of legal necessity or public safety risk tied to the games, which have been offered in cardrooms for decades and approved by previous attorneys general, the association said. It also alleged that regulators failed to provide proper notice of the changes or meaningfully engage with the public as required by law.
“Attorney General Bonta and the Bureau have unilaterally implemented extreme regulatory changes that will harm thousands of working families and the dozens of California communities that depend on cardroom taxes,” Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Association, said in a statement.
“By the Bureau’s own simplistic economic assessment, these unnecessary regulations will eliminate over half of all cardroom jobs and force many communities to cut police, fire, parks, senior, and food programs when the long-standing tax base disappears,” he added.
Kirkland said the industry had documented “serious legal and economic concerns” about the regulations but that the attorney general “refused to identify a single threat to public safety” and “advanced the regulations without good faith discussion or lawful disclosure.”
“Given the Bureau’s failure to follow the laws they are bound to follow, our industry intends to pursue legal remedies to preserve our lawful, legitimate businesses and defend the livelihood of the working families and the communities who depend on us but have been dismissed as politically irrelevant by Attorney General Bonta,” he said.
Multiple California cities, elected officials, employees, and other stakeholders have warned state officials about the potential economic and legal consequences of the regulations, according to the association.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/02/11/117566-california-gaming-association-condemns-new-cardroom-rules-warns-of-job-losses
