A California State Superior Court judge Jan. 8 denied a motion for a temporary restraining order and show-cause request for a group of seven tribes. The request was the latest move in the case filed by the tribes against the state’s card rooms.
Though Judge Lauri A. Damrell declined to order the card rooms to suspend offering certain games, she did not deny the request from the tribes for the card rooms to provide video surveillance of the games in question in the lawsuit. Instead, she gave the parties until Jan. 10 to agree on a way to provide such video footage. An informal discovery hearing will also be held today.
Late last year, the California state legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a bill giving the tribes one shot to sue card rooms. At issue is the legality of how the card rooms offer their table games.
California’s tribes have exclusivity for house-banked gambling. Card rooms have traditionally offered player-banked games but, beginning in 2007, started using player-dealers, also known as third-party providers of proposition player services (TPPPS). The tribes say this violates their exclusivity.
Because they are sovereign nations, tribes cannot sue other entities in the U.S. But SB 549 gives them one chance and would allow the courts to settle the lingering issue. The tribes had until April 1 to file, but did so Jan. 2. Seven of the biggest tribes in the state filed the suit against every card room in California.
The judge also acknowledged that the case will be cumbersome – seven tribes are suing all 87 card rooms in the state. She directed counsel for both sides to determine the best way to meet and move forward to avoid “waste of judicial resources.”
