Major California newspaper says bill giving tribes right to sue cardrooms “a mockery”

The California paper’s editorial board didn’t hold back in its 20 August editorial saying the bill, SB 549, will “make a mockery of our judicial system”.

SB 549 was introduced by State Senator Josh Newman back in February 2023. Dubbed the Tribal Nations Access to Justice Act, it would change a legal technicality – tribes are sovereign nations and, therefore, currently ineligible to sue or be sued – to allow tribes to sue cardrooms.

Thanks to Prop 1A passing in 2000, tribes are the only entities in California allowed to offer house-banked card games at their casinos, such as blackjack and baccarat and slot machines.

“Tribes want full control” over California gambling

However, cardrooms offer modified versions of table games by using third-party player proposition services to act as the house.

SB 549 would let tribes ask the courts to determine if these games violate state law. And, if they do, courts could file injunctions to force cardrooms to stop offering these games.

“The politics here are fairly simple,” the Los Angeles Daily News editorial board wrote. “The tribes want full control over California’s lucrative gambling markets. There’s a lot of money at stake, after all. On the other side are cardroom operators and local governments which benefit from the revenue generated by cardrooms.

“Caught in the middle of this are California adults who just want to play some card games.”

SB 549 generating momentum in assembly

The Los Angeles Daily News editorial board likely felt now was the time to write this editorial because SB 549 is gaining steam in the house. It already passed the senate back in May 2023.

And it has quickly progressed through the assembly this summer, most recently receiving its second reading in the assembly on 20 August. It has now been ordered for a third reading.

Read the full story here.