Blackjack banned in California card rooms
Any game that even looks like blackjack will only be available in tribal casinos from April 1st.
State regulators in California have approved a ban on blackjack in commercial card rooms.
The state only allows tribal casinos to run "house-banked" games, ie. games where the house bets against the players.
However, card rooms in California had been using a workaround, using a third-party as a "player-dealer" acting in a grey area, somewhat like a staked player.
The tribal casinos argued that this violates state law, and that the California card rooms were acting like casinos without a license.
No games that look like Blackjack
The California Office of Administrative Law approved new regulation which takes effect on April 1, which would prohibit this "player-dealer" workaround.
Blackjack is banned, and defined as any game with a "player-dealer", has a 21-point-target, standard deck values and has a hit/stand/bust structure. This would also potentially prevent any new workaround formats of blackjack.
Regulators have estimated that card rooms, which currently offer "California Blackjack" would lose $464 million in lost revenue, while tribal casinos would gain close to $232 million, as a result of these changes. It is speculated that many California card rooms could go bust as a result.
