San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin has granted an injunction allowing California cardrooms to continue offering blackjack-style games while litigation over new state regulations proceeds.
The ruling pauses enforcement of rules advanced by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Bureau of Gambling Control, which were approved by the Office of Administrative Law in February and scheduled to take effect in April.
Cardrooms were due to submit compliance plans by May 31.
The regulations targeted blackjack-style games and player-dealer rotation practices used by cardrooms. Under the changes, affected games could not use a target point of 21, include a bust feature, award automatic wins for natural blackjacks or use the terms blackjack or 21 in game titles.
The rules also tightened how third-party proposition players could act as the player-dealer, a structure that has long allowed cardrooms to offer player-banked games without the house banking the game directly.
The state’s economic assessment estimated that player-dealer rotation changes could remove 50% of third-party proposition player services revenue from cardrooms, equal to a $396m annual loss. It also projected that 25% of affected gaming activity could shift to tribal casinos.
The assessment placed total 2023 cardroom revenue at $1.36bn and estimated that the wider cardroom sector supports 18,000 jobs, $730m in wages and benefits and $3bn in economic activity.
Kyle Kirkland, president of Fresno’s Club One Casino and president of the California Gaming Association, said the ruling prevents “severe and unnecessary harm to cities, workers, and small businesses dependent on the cardroom industry.”
Kirkland added: “Today’s ruling validates what we have said all along: Attorney General Bonta and the Bureau of Gambling Control exceeded their authority by attempting to rewrite California gaming law.”
The dispute also reflects a longer-running division in California gaming. Tribal groups have argued that commercial cardrooms are offering games that infringe on tribal exclusivity over banked games, while cardrooms maintain that their player-banked formats have been permitted under state oversight for decades.
In December 2025, the Coalition to Protect Cardroom Communities said it had collected more than 1,000 signatures urging Bonta to withdraw the regulations, following protests involving cardroom workers, local officials and community supporters.
The state’s own assessment estimated blackjack-specific changes alone could cost cardrooms $68m annually
