With California Attorney General Rob Bonta gearing up to run for reelection in 2022 for the job he inherited when former AG Xavier Becerra joined President Biden’s cabinet, he is getting lot of political donations from card clubs.
Card clubs and non-tribal casinos and executive are so far providing the lion’s share of Bonta’s war chest. The same card clubs that the Department of Justice regulates. Bonta is also responsible for the wording of a sports wagering initiative, including its title, that a consortium of tribes say they have raised enough signatures to qualify for the 2022 ballot.
Bonta isn’t unique in this. Becerra was heavily lobbied by commercial and tribal gaming interests who also both heavily donated to his campaigns. However, Becerra received less commercial casino donations than Bonta, who has so far collected $300,000 of his total $500,000 from those interests.
Gaming tribes and card clubs have been at swords’ point for two decades since tribal gaming was authorized by amendments to the Golden State’s constitution. The sports betting initiative that tribes are pushing is another offensive in that war. It would allow tribes and racetracks to offers sportsbooks but shuts out card clubs.
Card clubs have so far raised more than $8 million to fight the initiative. They have also contributed to Bonta’s reelection campaign.
Nathan Clark, Bonta’s campaign spokesman, says the donations will have bearing on how the initiatives are worded. “The AG will impartially fulfill his duties under the law on this and every other initiative measure,” he said.
In the past few years several card clubs have been hit with hefty fines for violating laws against money laundering as well as misleading state regulators. The most recent was Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno that agreed to pay a fine of $5.3 million—a record. That same casino donated $10,000 to Bonta.
Jacob Mejia, spokesman for the tribal coalition, commented, “The previous attorney general rightly proposed regulations to clean the industry up.” He added, “We trust that the new attorney general will not be deterred from holding the card room industry accountable.”
