The battle between tribal casinos and cardrooms is the epitome of a no-win proposition for California politicians.
This bitter feud, which may be coming to a head in a Sacramento County courtroom, pits two well-heeled interests in what both parties view as a zero-sum game.
On one side, you have the Golden State’s gaming tribes, economic forces in their communities that have long been influential and have only become more so in the wake of their overwhelming defeat of online sportsbooks in the 2022 state election over sports betting.
With their political power at arguably its zenith, California’s gaming tribes are looking to settle their long-running dispute with the cardrooms, who they see as illegally offering games like blackjack that they say should be their sole domain.
