Blackjack banned from California card rooms
February 15th, 2026 at 1:36:33 AM
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Blackjack banned from California card rooms - Fox40 News
Looks like the card room charges a vig for every hand from $1 to $8 depending on the size of the bet (10% to 2% vig).
The rules already require banker/dealer to be rotational. (?)
Table games will be outlawed starting April 1st, 2026 and there's a 2 month grace period to close up the tables. Lawsuits will be pending.
New California regulations to signifantly impact blackjack-style games in cardrooms - CBS News Sacramento
Changes to some CA card gaming rules could affect Bakersfield casinos - KGET News
I would shut down the games for charging a vig on every hand, that's just bogus. But it looks like they are trying to work around the monopoly Indian gaming has on Black Jack and the card rooms' alternative game that's been around all century was just declared invalid. Maybe Spanish 21 is what they need, idk.
From Reddit:
Card game was already illegal at card rooms since the 90s, but they circumvented it through the use of “volunteer” house dealers as a loophole to make a profit.
That’s not how the fees work. They aren’t paid by patrons. They are paid by the third party agency that allows them to basically bank the games as a player at the table
"I’m a prop player, and we pay the house for your bet, not you. Our company isn’t part of the casino at all, and the service we provide is to YOU, so the YOU can play these games the same way you could at a reservation.
CA law says a player has to put the money up, so if there isn’t anyone willing to put their own money up for you to play against, you can’t play. So we put a player at the table with money for you to play against. So you can walk in and sit down at the table and play the game.
We offer better odds on payouts than the reservations, our progressive bets are cheaper and hit more often. Nobody was skirting the law, we have compliance standards and DOJ inspections like everyone else."
To summarize the story, the new regulations say you can't call it blackjack or 21. I assume you could rename the game, brownjack or blackbart.
You can establish any point, but you can't bust if you go over the point. “Whether a player wins or loses shall be determined solely by whether the total points of a player’s hand is closer to the target point count when compared with the total points of the player-dealer’s hand,” the regulations state.
From WOV:
You can change how much you want them to bet and how many hands are played each time. I’m not sure if you know how it works in California card rooms but the casinos can not bank the action. The casino has a dealer and the corporation pays them to deal hands to the players and the corporation pays out the wins and takes the losses. You have the option to make them play if you want. You can play one hand and then tell them you want them to play a hand. There has to be some way to take advantage of this.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/blackjack/33496-banking-blackjack-against-the-house/#post735815
Dark Oz tries to explain California Cardroom Black Jack to MDawg. Sounds like fees on top of fees, and a corporation whale playing against the players instead of the casino as banker. Players can play against the whale too if they have the bankroll to be the dealer.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/blackjack/33496-banking-blackjack-against-the-house/#post735892
Thekid wrote: According to wizard of odds BJ house edge calculator it puts it at 2.01881% at an even count (6:5 payout, hit soft 17). What does that do to the numbers you calculated? The other thing is you are only paying that $1 when you decide to bank. So you are not paying $112 waiting to get an advantage. You can sit and play $5 hands until the count is strongly in the houses favor then decide to bank.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/blackjack/33496-banking-blackjack-against-the-house/#post735981
******************************************************************************************************************************
California card room protest latest chapter in ongoing fight with tribes over dealer, blackjack rules - 27th October 2025
https://igamingbusiness.com/casino/land-based-casino-regulation/california-card-rooms-protest-attorney-general-regulations/
Representatives from the biggest California card rooms went directly to the state's attorney general last week to protest new regulatory changes that they say are backed by tribes.
Looks like the card room charges a vig for every hand from $1 to $8 depending on the size of the bet (10% to 2% vig).
The rules already require banker/dealer to be rotational. (?)
Table games will be outlawed starting April 1st, 2026 and there's a 2 month grace period to close up the tables. Lawsuits will be pending.
New California regulations to signifantly impact blackjack-style games in cardrooms - CBS News Sacramento
Changes to some CA card gaming rules could affect Bakersfield casinos - KGET News
I would shut down the games for charging a vig on every hand, that's just bogus. But it looks like they are trying to work around the monopoly Indian gaming has on Black Jack and the card rooms' alternative game that's been around all century was just declared invalid. Maybe Spanish 21 is what they need, idk.
From Reddit:
Card game was already illegal at card rooms since the 90s, but they circumvented it through the use of “volunteer” house dealers as a loophole to make a profit.
That’s not how the fees work. They aren’t paid by patrons. They are paid by the third party agency that allows them to basically bank the games as a player at the table
"I’m a prop player, and we pay the house for your bet, not you. Our company isn’t part of the casino at all, and the service we provide is to YOU, so the YOU can play these games the same way you could at a reservation.
CA law says a player has to put the money up, so if there isn’t anyone willing to put their own money up for you to play against, you can’t play. So we put a player at the table with money for you to play against. So you can walk in and sit down at the table and play the game.
We offer better odds on payouts than the reservations, our progressive bets are cheaper and hit more often. Nobody was skirting the law, we have compliance standards and DOJ inspections like everyone else."
To summarize the story, the new regulations say you can't call it blackjack or 21. I assume you could rename the game, brownjack or blackbart.
You can establish any point, but you can't bust if you go over the point. “Whether a player wins or loses shall be determined solely by whether the total points of a player’s hand is closer to the target point count when compared with the total points of the player-dealer’s hand,” the regulations state.
From WOV:
You can change how much you want them to bet and how many hands are played each time. I’m not sure if you know how it works in California card rooms but the casinos can not bank the action. The casino has a dealer and the corporation pays them to deal hands to the players and the corporation pays out the wins and takes the losses. You have the option to make them play if you want. You can play one hand and then tell them you want them to play a hand. There has to be some way to take advantage of this.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/blackjack/33496-banking-blackjack-against-the-house/#post735815
Dark Oz tries to explain California Cardroom Black Jack to MDawg. Sounds like fees on top of fees, and a corporation whale playing against the players instead of the casino as banker. Players can play against the whale too if they have the bankroll to be the dealer.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/blackjack/33496-banking-blackjack-against-the-house/#post735892
Thekid wrote: According to wizard of odds BJ house edge calculator it puts it at 2.01881% at an even count (6:5 payout, hit soft 17). What does that do to the numbers you calculated? The other thing is you are only paying that $1 when you decide to bank. So you are not paying $112 waiting to get an advantage. You can sit and play $5 hands until the count is strongly in the houses favor then decide to bank.
https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/blackjack/33496-banking-blackjack-against-the-house/#post735981
******************************************************************************************************************************
California card room protest latest chapter in ongoing fight with tribes over dealer, blackjack rules - 27th October 2025
https://igamingbusiness.com/casino/land-based-casino-regulation/california-card-rooms-protest-attorney-general-regulations/
Representatives from the biggest California card rooms went directly to the state's attorney general last week to protest new regulatory changes that they say are backed by tribes.
Last edited by: ChumpChange on Feb 15, 2026
