Published on: March 30, 2026, 07:49h. 

Updated on: March 30, 2026, 07:53h.

• California cardroom regulations jeopardize significant local revenues
  
• Commerce and Bell Gardens are highly dependent on casino tax revenues
  
• Officials advocate for a sales tax increase to mitigate potential financial deficits

Two cities in California are urging voters to endorse a sales tax increase following the declaration of a “fiscal emergency” linked to new state regulations impacting cardrooms.

Officials plan to ask voters for a 0.25 percentage point increase in sales tax to help counter anticipated revenue declines.

Both Commerce and Bell Gardens heavily rely on income from their cardrooms, the Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Casino, to fund essential services like police and fire departments, road maintenance, and other city expenditures.

Both venues are massive – with the Commerce Casino being acknowledged as the largest poker room in the country, closely followed by the Bicycle Casino.

However, new rules proposed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, effective April 1, aim to effectively ban modified table games known as “California Games.”

Understanding California Games

These games are adaptations of popular table games such as blackjack and Pai Gow Poker that cardrooms have modified to bypass restrictions on house-banked games outside tribal areas.

“These games generate over $17 million annually in cardroom taxes for our city, constituting more than 40% of our total general fund,” highlighted Bell Gardens City Manager, Michael O’Kelly.

This revenue is essential for the services our residents depend on, including police, parks and recreational facilities, senior and youth programs, crossing guards, and community family services,” O’Kelly noted.

Advocates for cardrooms assert that these games operate within legal bounds by charging a fixed rake per hand while allowing the role of the “bank” to switch amongst players, akin to a typical poker cash environment.

This structure theoretically places the financial risk with the players who act as dealers, rather than with the house.

Tribal Concerns

Native tribes have long contended that the current regulations merely stipulate the dealer position must be available, not necessarily rotated. This can lead to scenarios where a single player monopolizes the dealer role indefinitely unless others opt to take on the position.

Since many players are unwilling to take on the banker role, cardrooms often involve state-licensed third-party providers, known as Third-Party Proposition Player Services (TPPPs), to fill the dealer position. Tribes argue that if rotation is not effectively enforced, these companies function as unofficial banks.

Rebranding Blackjack

The new regulations will essentially bar cardrooms from offering blackjack or similar player-dealer games as they exist today. Starting in April, the use of the number “21” or the term “blackjack” for marketing any game will be prohibited.

The player-dealer must be an active participant at the table, with the dealer role offered at the beginning of each hand, and rotated to at least two other players within a 40-minute timeframe; otherwise, the game must cease operations.

Additionally, the new regulations will significantly restrict the ability of TPPPs to serve as dealers for extended periods. Though TPPPs will not be completely banned, their roles will be limited, curtailing their capacity to act as a continuous banker.

Industry Shifts

Cardrooms warn that these changes will adversely affect profitability by slowing gameplay, creating interruptions during dealer rotations, and eliminating blackjack elements that typically enhance game volume and increase player expenditures.

Bonta’s Department of Justice estimates that the new blackjack regulations alone could result in a revenue loss of approximately $68 million and 53 job layoffs per year, whereas the complete set of new regulations could lead to a total of around 364 fewer jobs annually compared to current conditions.