Proposed regulations threaten to dismantle California’s 150-year-old cardroom industry.
The Attorney General has proposed unnecessary and flawed regulations, pushed by tribal casinos, that could devastate local, tax-paying cardrooms that have operated legally in the state since 1850. The proposed regulations will bar cardrooms from offering entire categories of games and reverse decades of state policy concerning safe, regulated, and legal cardroom activities.
New cardroom regulations would disrupt local communities.
The proposed regulations are an effort to regulate cardrooms out of existence and redirect gaming revenues into the hands of a few powerful tribal casinos. The regulations would potentially deny local residents the ability to enjoy gaming in their own cities and towns, decimate thriving businesses, and devastate working families, all while ignoring the century-and-a-half legal tradition of local, licensed, and already heavily regulated cardroom gaming.
For almost 10 years, Tribes have tried to limit cardrooms so they can expand their control of California’s gaming industry. Courts and regulators have said again and again that cardroom games are legal. But now, the Attorney General is thinking about giving the Tribes what they want: new rules that would make it nearly impossible for cardrooms to stay open - hurting the local communities and economies that rely on them.
The regulations will leave a trail of harmful economic impacts to California communities:
REDIRECT OVER $200 MILLION annually away from cardrooms and their communities, according to the Attorney General’s own estimates
STRIP CALIFORNIA CITIES of
essential tax revenue
Force cardrooms toward
ECONOMIC INSTABILITY
“These proposed regulations threaten not only our cardrooms, but the livelihoods of thousands of workers and the economic stability of our communities. We stand united: city leaders, union members, educators, and law enforcement, because we know what’s at stake. This is not just about cards on a table; it’s about families, jobs, and justice.”
— Shavon Moore-Cage, Political Advocate - AFSCME Local 36, City of Hawaiian Gardens
How will the proposed regulations impact California?
Cardrooms support over 10,000 jobs in Los Angeles County alone, many of them held by residents of color from communities with limited economic opportunity. The regulatory changes that the Tribes are pushing would decimate that workforce, lead to layoffs, shutter local businesses, and unravel the fragile support systems that hold our communities together.
Force cardroom business elsewhere, like to Tribal casinos or illegal gambling, and surge the associated crimes often linked to non-regulated gaming, like money laundering, gang activity, drug trade, and illicit weapons or prostitution.
Strip California cities of essential tax revenue that pays for public safety and emergency services, housing programs, and health care — critical infrastructure that holds our cities and communities together.
Who’s with us.
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Juan Garza
Executive Director for California Cities for Self-Reliance, Former Mayor of the City of Bellflower
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Chris Boyd
Former City Manager & Chief of Police for the City of Citrus Heights
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Ruben Guerra
Chairman of the Latin Business Association
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Shavon Moore-Cage
Political Advocate - AFSCME Local 36, City of Hawaiian Gardens
“According to the state’s own impact assessment from last August, possible outcomes would likely include hundreds of millions in lost revenue and a considerable depletion to cardroom jobs. Many small towns throughout California rely heavily on the tax revenue from cardrooms to fund necessities like fire and police services.”
— iGaming Business - May 30, 2025
