California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 341, which reinstates the ban on cardroom expansion up to 2043.
With the passage of this bill, the California Gambling Control Commission is no longer prohibited from issuing any new licences to cardrooms. Both the cardrooms as well as the California tribes supported the bill.
The Gambling Control Act of 1997 imposed a moratorium of 25 years on the expansion and development of cardrooms. The new law, which was passed at the start of this year, proposes another 20-year moratorium on the granting of new licenses.
The bill retroactively applies to January 1, so cardrooms cannot take advantage of the temporary lifting of restrictions by applying for new licenses.
The bill contains provisions that allow for a limited increase in the number tables a cardroom can offer.
A city or county can amend its ordinances so that a cardroom with fewer than 20 tables may add two tables the first year and two more tables every four years after.
