Blackjack ban could bust L.A. card clubs

Gambling operators fight new state rules they say would cost jobs and tax revenue.

- IRIS KWOK

IN L.A. COUNTY, cardrooms generate more than $2 billion in economic activity.

As California is set to ban blackjack, Los Angeles' card clubs and cities that depend on gambling revenue are trying to stop the change.

California's Office of Administrative Law has green-lighted new rules that would ban cardrooms from offering blackjack in April.

Authorities want to close a legal loophole that allowed card clubs to offer blackjack and other banked games in which players play against the house. Those types of games are supposed to be offered only in Indian casinos, but the card clubs were getting around the restriction by using designated outside dealers.

Card club operators see the changes as an existential threat that will lead to job losses and reduced tax revenue for the areas where they operate. They have vowed to pursue legal remedies.

"The proposed regulations destroy the financial viability of the California cardroom industry, jeopardize thousands of working families and harm dozens of California communities," California Gaming Assn. President Kyle Kirkland wrote in a letter to Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta earlier this month.

There are more than 70 cardrooms across California employing about 20,000 workers, according to the group. It estimates that the changes could cut the number of cardroom jobs in half and significantly reduce the industry's positive economic impact.