<!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ --></p> <p>from <a href=""https://calmatters.org/author/ryan-sabalow/"" title=""Posts" by="" ryan="" sabalow="" class=""author" url="" fn="" rel=""author"">Ryan Sabalow</a>CalMatters</p> <figure> <img decoding="async" width=""1200"" height=""800"" src=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/052126-Cardroom-Protest-MG-CM-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1"" class=""attachment-post-thumbnail" size-post-thumbnail="" wp-post-image="" alt=""people" stand="" on="" a="" downtown="" sidewalk="" holding="" signs="" protesting="" proposed="" city="" budget="" cuts="" including="" messages="" reading="" off="" local="" revenue="" defund="" fire="" our="" jobs="" and="" slash="" budget.="" decoding=""async"" loading=""lazy"" srcset=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/052126-Cardroom-Protest-MG-CM-02.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1" https:="" sizes=""auto,"/><figcaption>Protesters gather outside the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel in Sacramento on May 21, 2026 to oppose regulations that would end blackjack-style games in card rooms across the state. The state’s arcade industry recently sued Attorney General Rob Bonta to block the regulations. Bonta was speaking at a CalMatters-sponsored event at the hotel. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters<br /> </figcaption></figure> <p>This story was originally published by <a href=""https://calmatters.org/"">CalMatters</a>. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/"">Sign up</a> for their newsletters.</p> <p>California’s dozens of private gambling halls can continue to offer blackjack and other table games after a San Francisco judge ruled last week that Attorney General Rob Bonta overreached when he tried to ban them.</p> <p>San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin ruled that Bonta’s Bureau of Gambling Control <a href=""https://www.courthousenews.com/california-busts-on-new-blackjack-regulations-for-cardrooms/"">had no legal authority</a> to issue state regulations severely restricting card room gaming.</p> <p>The decision that followed <a href=""https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/rob-bonta-blackjack-regulations-gambling/"">Darwin’s interim order in May</a>is the latest setback for the state’s casino-owning Native American tribes. They have spent years and tens of millions of dollars unsuccessfully appealing to <a href=""https://calmatters.org/digital-democracy/2025/10/california-gambling-casinos-cardrooms/"">courts</a>, <a href=""https://www.latimes.com/projects/2022-california-election-proposition-26-27-sports-betting-gambling-money-tracker/"">voters</a>, <a href=""https://calmatters.org/digital-democracy/2024/03/gambling-california-cardrooms-tribes/"">the legislature</a> and California regulators to drive their only in-state competitors out of the blackjack business.</p> <p>The tribes claim the card rooms unscrupulously violated state laws prohibiting anyone but tribal casinos from offering “house banks,” Las Vegas-style table games, including blackjack, the most lucrative. </p> <p>Card room operators say the ruling once again proves their business model is legal. It also ensures that the taxes that cities receive from blackjack revenue will continue to support local government services and cardroom jobs.</p> <p>“For more than a year, we’ve been saying that this case is about much more than gaming — it’s about whether the attorney general and his regulators can bypass the legislature and unilaterally rewrite decades of established law,” Kyle Kirkland, a Fresno arcade owner and president of the California Gaming Association, said in a statement. “The court gave a clear answer: they cannot.</p> <p>James May, a spokesman for the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, did not return an interview request.</p> <p>Bonta’s office said in an email that officials are disappointed by the decision and are reviewing their options.</p> <p>This article was <a href=""https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/07/judge-blocks-bonta-california-blackjack-ban/"">originally published on CalMatters</a> and is republished under <a href=""https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives</a> license.</p> <p> Copy the HTML
