In California, state law prohibits card rooms not located on tribal lands from having any financial stake in the outcome of the games. In traditional casinos in Las Vegas and on Native American lands, players at a card table try to win money from the casino, which is represented by the dealer who also acts as the banker. “This proposal is a clear attack on the card room industry and a message that the bureau is intent on eliminating this lawful $5.6-billion industry and putting 32,000 Californians out of work.” “If these regulations were adopted as proposed, they would kill the card room industry and devastate dozens of communities and thousands of working California families across the state,” the California Gaming Assn., a trade group for the state’s card rooms, said in a statement. But card room operators say the proposed rules could make gambling in places such as the Bicycle Hotel and Casino in Bell Gardens and the Hustler Casino in Gardena so onerous and complicated that gamblers may abandon them for casinos in Las Vegas or on tribal lands, where the rules do not apply. The tentative rules follow a year of hearings on card rooms held by the state’s gambling control commission.

The state Bureau of Gambling Control has proposed new rules for California’s 72 card rooms that operators of the establishments say could make games such as seven card stud poker, pai gow and baccarat more complicated and a lot less fun.

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