Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that has caused much controversy. The law allows tribes that own casinos in California to sue their competitors’ card rooms for illegally offering blackjack and other card games for money. The decision could lead to cuts in city budgets.
Taxes on card rooms supplement the budgets of some California cities. Thus, the tribes’ victory in court would jeopardize funding for fire, police, and other city services.
Tribal officials say California voters gave them exclusive rights to run the controversial table games. Because Indians in California are sovereign, they had no legal basis to sue the roughly 80 gambling halls scattered throughout the state.
During the fight to pass the bill, Indian casinos and gambling business owners spent millions of dollars on lobbyists. For example, the Hawaiian Gardens Casino in Los Angeles has spent $9.1 million on lobbying, and Chevron Corp. spent even more. Over the years, tribes have contributed considerable sums to Newsom’s campaign and to causes he cares about.
Since 2017, Newsom has been nominated for governor, and tribes have donated at least $7.1 million through his ballot-counting committee, recall committee, and other nominating committees. Gaming establishments donated about $252,000 during the same period.
Newsom apologized on behalf of the state for the “historic injustice done to Native communities.” The governor insisted that the lands be returned to the tribes and supported tribal initiatives. As a result, four major dams on the Klamath River were dismantled.
Newsom signed a package of other bills supported by the tribes. Among them is a law requiring schools to consider Native American views when teaching California history. Another law allows Native Americans to start wildfires if necessary for land management intentionally.
Cities fear loss of revenue from gambling parlors
As the tribes claim, cardrooms have stolen millions of dollars in profits from tribal communities across California that have been historically disenfranchised. However, even more significant losses to tribal casinos have been caused by the iGaming industry. The fact is that most modern people prefer to gamble online. Online casinos offer thousands of gambling games, which are available on tablets and smartphones. To find them, you just need to visit this site with high Google rankings. After a quick registration, you can play right from your phone and deposit it into your account. This allows you not to waste time, energy, and nerves visiting land-based casinos.
Several cities in the state did not support the bill, as their budgets were replenished at the expense of card rooms. The leaders of cities like San Jose argue that after the ban on card games, municipalities will be forced to reduce police, firefighters, and other services. This is because card rooms pay taxes to local authorities. For example, almost two-thirds of the town’s budget for Hawaiian Gardens and nearly half for Commerce come from local gambling establishments.
According to San Jose City Councilman Sergio Jimenez, the city receives 30 million dollars annually from the card rooms. This amount is enough to fund 150 police officers or 133 firefighters. He also noted that the city budget would be jeopardized if the tribes won in court.
The card rooms argue that their games are perfectly legal and have been approved by the attorney general’s office. However, if the tribes can sue, the gambling establishments will not be able to file counterclaims, which would result in bankruptcy. Also, the gambling houses have stated that their annual revenue does not even reach 10% of the amount the tribes earn from their casinos.