- Ocean’s 11 Casino is fighting back against the California blackjack ban.
- The California Gaming Association is joining the fight back against the ban.
SAN DIEGO – In the latest pushback from state regulated California card rooms against the recent ban on blackjack, the Ocean’s 11 Casino in San Diego and the California Gaming Association are expressing their frustrations with the decision.
Since the decision to ban legal blackjack was made in early February, they’ve received plenty of backlash from card room operators around the state.
Ocean’s 11 Casino Fighting Back
In San Diego, President of Ocean’s 11 Casino, Mark Kelegian, expressed his resentment towards the matter.
“The Attorney General is massacring our business,” said Kelegian. “The Attorney General is basically working with the tribes to attack us, and close us, and put us out of business. This is their third attempt.”
Kelegian is referring back to 1999 when the Native American Tribes in California had a proposition passed giving them exclusive rights to offering blackjack. This forced Ocean’s 11 Casino and other state regulated casinos to offer blackjack using “player dealers” rather than house dealers.
“We’ve been playing these games for almost 30 years, and now all of a sudden they want us to stop playing them,” Kelegian continued. “Well, who wants us to stop playing them: The Tribes. The Attorney General is absolutely doing the bidding of the tribes. It comes as no surprise to us.”
He continued to note that the number of jobs affected would hit his casino, with likely more than half of their employees being laid off.
California Gaming Association Chimes In
In addition to sending a letter to Attorney General, Rob Bonta, the president of the CGA, Kyle Kirkland, gave his thoughts on the California blackjack ban:
“Attorney General Bonta and the Bureau have unilaterally implemented extreme regulatory changes that will harm thousands of working families and the dozens of California communities that depend on cardroom taxes. By the Bureau’s own simplistic economic assessment, these unnecessary regulations will eliminate over half of all cardroom jobs and force many communities to cut police, fire, parks, senior, and food programs when the long-standing tax base disappears.”
The California blackjack ban is expected to take place beginning on April 1st, with card rooms deadline to submit their compliance plans on May 31st.