The revised guidelines for how card rooms in California can conduct card games still don’t satisfy many gaming tribes, who say that they still allow a practice that is specifically forbidden by the California constitution.
They say that Las Vegas style games are not allowed in California’s card rooms, but the new guidelines issued on June 30 by the Bureau of Gaming Control— which is under the California Attorney General’s office—continue to allow them. Tribal casinos say that the new guidelines resolve nothing.
For their part the card clubs are concerned that they will be forced out of business if the rules are any stricter.
Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Association, told the Las Vegas Sun that card clubs are “very concerned about the substantial adverse economic impact these changes will have on our industry’s ongoing operation.”
Since 2012 tribal casinos have been pressuring the state to rescind an earlier ruling issued in 2007 by a former official of the Bureau who is now under an ethical cloud. That official issued a letter that said that the rule was satisfied if players were offered the deal, which they could then refuse. That change allowed card clubs to offer higher stake games that attracted more players.
After issuing the letter, the official, Robert Lytle almost immediately left government service to become a card room consultant. Recently he was stripped of his state gaming license.
The rule is supposed to prevent card clubs from skirting a state law that requires that the deal at a card room table be rotated among players “continuously and systematically,” those preventing “banked games,” which only tribal casinos may offer.
The new guidelines allow one player to hold the deal for as long as an hour. After that a two-minute break is mandated. If not new dealer claims the job, play may continue.
Tuari Bigknife, attorney general for the Viejas tribe, told the Las Vegas Sun that the ruling allows up to 50 hands to be played before the deal is moved, which doesn’t fit the definition of “continuously” rotating the deal.
“We’re disappointed with the actions the bureau has taken,” said Bigknife. “We don’t think what has been put out complies with the law.”
