Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed a bill that would allow California’s casino-owning tribes to sue their business competitors, concluding one of the most expensive political fights of the legislative session., tribes now have the ability to ask a judge to decide their longstanding claim that the state’s card rooms are illegally offering card games such as blackjack and pai gow poker.
The fight over the bill saw tribes and the cardroom industry spend millions of dollars on lobbyists and donations to lawmakers’ campaigns. Tribes over the years also have vastly outspent card rooms when it comes to donating money to Newsom’s campaign and to causes he cares about. It followed a failed 2022 sports betting initiative that the tribes spent millions of dollars to sponsor and that included a similar provision that would have let the tribes sue.
Cities, including San Jose, argue that if the card rooms stop offering the disputed table games, it could force the municipalities to cut police, fire and other city services because their budgets are propped up by the taxes and fees that the card rooms pay local governments.