{"id":92969,"date":"2018-11-19T09:04:28","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T17:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=92969"},"modified":"2018-11-19T09:04:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T17:04:28","slug":"california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/","title":{"rendered":"California Tribes Sue Card Clubs Over \u2018Illegal\u2019 House-Banked Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and Santa Ynez Band of Cumash Indians have launched legal action against many of the state\u2019s card rooms for operating what the tribes consider to be house-banked card games.<\/p>\n

\"Rincon\"
Chairman of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians Bo Mazzetti (left) is pictured with Vice Chairman Tishmall Turner. Mazzetti says he doesn\u2019t want to put the card rooms out of business but has had enough of them allegedly skirting the rules on table games. (Image: Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

California\u2019s 55 tribal operators have exclusivity on Class III casino gaming, per a 2000 ballot initiative, but have become increasingly enraged over the card clubs offering so-called \u201cCalifornia games<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are usually variations of blackjack or Pai Gow Poker in which players are permitted to play in a dealer position. The card rooms take a rake on each bet as they would in a regular poker game, and so because they are not acting as the house the games are legal.<\/p>\n

Gaming the System<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But the tribes are aggrieved at what happens when a player does not wish to take their turn as the dealer. In this instance, the card rooms hire employees of licensed third-party companies to \u201cshill\u201d in the dealer spot.<\/p>\n

\n

Under California law, the player-dealer position is required to be rotated continuously, but the tribes allege some card clubs are abusing the system by failing to rotate the dealer spot as required by law, which essentially enables them to offer Las Vegas-style high-stakes table games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Among those named in the tribes\u2019 lawsuit are major card clubs like Larry Flynt\u2019s Hustler Casino, The Commerce Casino, Hawaiian Gardens and The Bicycle Casino. Tribes have also threatened to sue the state for what they see as its failure to police the clubs.<\/p>\n

Too Little, Too Late<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In September, California\u2019s Bureau of Gambling Control promised it would clamp down on the card clubs, but Chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association<\/a> (CNGA) Steve Stallings dismissed this as a \u201cdelaying tactic.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Chairman of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians Bo Mazzetti said the lawsuit was not challenging the right of the clubs to do business, just their non-compliance with California law.<\/p>\n

It seeks injunctive relief to bar the defendants from offering banked and percentage card games, and \u201clegal relief for the financial losses of business and governmental revenue, tribal employment opportunities and goodwill,\u201d according to The Times of San Diego.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the California Department of Justice and the Gambling Control Commission would have [sic] enforced the current laws that exist, we would not have taken this action. We have been trying to work with the state for over 13 years on this issue,\u201d Mazzetti said. \u201cUnfortunately, this lack of enforcement gives us no other option but to pursue legal remedies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and Santa Ynez Band of Cumash Indians have launched legal action against many of the state\u2019s card rooms for operating what the tribes consider to be house-banked card games. California\u2019s 55 tribal operators have exclusivity on Class III casino gaming, per a 2000 ballot initiative, but have become increasingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":92970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60,18,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia Tribes Sue Card Clubs Over \u2018Illegal\u2019 House-Banked Games<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and Santa Ynez Band of Cumash Indians are taking legal action against California card clubs, such as The Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Casino.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California Tribes Sue Card Clubs Over \u2018Illegal\u2019 House-Banked Games\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and Santa Ynez Band of Cumash Indians are taking legal action against California card clubs, such as The Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Casino.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-19T17:04:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rincon.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"937\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/\",\"name\":\"California Tribes Sue Card Clubs Over \u2018Illegal\u2019 House-Banked Games\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rincon.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-19T17:04:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-19T17:04:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and Santa Ynez Band of Cumash Indians are taking legal action against California card clubs, such as The Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Casino.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/california-tribes-sue-card-clubs-over-illegal-house-banked-games\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rincon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/rincon.png\",\"width\":1250,\"height\":937,\"caption\":\"Chairman of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians Bo Mazzetti (left) is pictured with Vice Chairman Tishmall Turner. 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