Blackjack future uncertain for Salinas cardrooms under new California ban

A ban against blackjack in California cardrooms took effect this month, with state officials cracking down on versions of the game that could impact what players see locally.

This does not affect traditional casinos where people play against the house. Cardrooms are places where players compete against each other, and that’s where these new rules apply.

Kyle Kirkland, president of the California Gaming Association, said new state-approved regulations by the Department of Justice were approved by the Office of Administrative Law to crack down on how blackjack-style games are run, targeting versions that rely on a third-party banker, a person hired to come in and use their own money to pay out players.

“We play poker, we play blackjack games. All the popular table games that you see at commercial casinos. And in the last few years, some of the tribal casinos have taken strong issue with that,” Kirkland said.

Tribal casinos have the exclusive right to operate house-banked games in California, including blackjack, and they argue that the versions being offered in cardrooms are too similar.

“The issue is a change in how those games are, you know, effectuated within our casinos, and the rules that the attorney general is for, basically make those games unworkable,” Kirkland said.

Cardrooms like Bankers Casino in Salinas don’t act as the house; instead, players compete against each other. To work around that, cardrooms have used third-party companies to bank games, creating versions of blackjack like Spanish 21.5, which are still technically player vs. player.

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