The California Cities Gaming Authority Wednesday applauded a judge’s ruling invalidating Attorney General Rob Bonta’s cardroom regulations.
The San Francisco Superior Court judge’s decision ends rules that the CCGA had warned were legally flawed and financially devastating to its member communities of Gardena and Inglewood as well as the town of Colma.
The judge concluded that the Bureau of Gambling Control exceeded its legal authority by adopting rules that would have reshaped how cardrooms have operated in California for decades. The regulations would have prohibited the businesses from operating blackjack and other player/dealer games.
The CCGA says its member cities rely on cardroom revenue to fund essential local services such as public safety officers, parks and community programs.
Authority Chairwoman and Gardena Mayor Tasha Cerda praised the ruling.
“This is a decisive win for the working families and small businesses in our cardroom communities,” Cerda said. “Time and again, our cities told the state that these regulations would eliminate jobs, tear holes in municipal budgets and force cuts to the services residents depend on most.
“Cardroom revenue keeps officers on our streets, firefighters and paramedics aiding residents in need, keeps our parks open and keeps community programs running,” Cerda continued. “We are grateful the court recognized the serious and lasting damage these rules would have done to local governments, workers, small businesses, and residents across California.”
The CCGA says cardrooms deliver roughly $9.3 million a year to Gardena, more than $5.1 million to Inglewood and about $4.12 million to Colma, and that the money is used to pay for important services and neighborhood programs in each city.
The state’s own Standardized Regulatory Impact Assessment had projected that the regulations could cut cardroom revenues statewide by more than half, jeopardizing thousands of jobs and a significant share of the budgets of the cities that host cardrooms, according to the CCGA.