Jan. 4—A Lodi cardroom has been named in a lawsuit filed by seven tribes that claim games such as blackjack and pai gow poker cut into gambling revenues.
The complaint, filed in Sacramento County Thursday by six southern California tribes and a Yolo County tribe, comes as SB 549 — the Tribal Nations Access to Justice Act — went into effect this week.
The law allows tribes that operate casinos on their reservations to sue card clubs they say are illegally offering card games.
“Defendants brazenly profit from illegal gambling,” the complaint states. “California law prohibits card rooms from offering ‘banked’ casino games — such as blackjack, baccarat and pai gow — where an entity with an odds-based advantage takes on all comers, pays all winners and collects from all losers.”
Parkwest Casino, located at 1800 S. Cherokee Lane in Lodi, offers seven card games including baccarat, pai gow, black jack and Texas hold ’em.
A casino employee would not speak about the lawsuit with the News-Sentinel, but said parent company Fortiss was aware of it.
A phone call to the Los Angeles-based company — which operates Parwkest sites in Manteca, Sacramento, Livermore and Rancho Cordova — was not returned Friday.
There are 72 licensed card rooms in California that have traditionally offered poker to guests, a non-banked “round” game where each player takes a rotating turn as dealer, and the house only collects table rental fees.
However, the complaint claims that card rooms have steadily increased the number and types of games they offer since the early 2000s.
The plaintiffs allege that in order to boost revenue, the card rooms have introduced “banked” games suck as blackjack, baccarat and pai gow.
A banked game is where a single player or entity — such as the house — takes all comers, pays all winnings and collects all losses.
The seven tribes all operate casinos on their reservations and are seeking an injunction to halt the card rooms’ illegal activity. The new law doesn’t allow for monetary damages.
The California Gaming Association, which represents card rooms in the state, issued a statement in response to the lawsuit that said its members “are operating table games in full compliance with the law, just as they have done for decades.”
If the suit moves forward and a judge rules in favor of the seven tribes, cities stand to lose budget revenue from the taxes imposed on card rooms that are allocated toward police and fire departments.
Lodi Municipal Code requires a card room to pay $20,000 on the first $240,000 of monthly gross revenue, and then an additional 4.5% on monthly revenue that exceeds that $240,000, city spokeswoman Nancy Sarieh said.
The amount of annual revenue Parkwest Casino generates for the city was not available Friday.
The seven tribes — the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Barona Band of Mission Indians, the Pechanga Band of Indians, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation — opposed Proposition 27 in the 2022 General Election.
Proposition 27 would have allowed online and mobile sports wagering outside tribal lands, but was defeated by a resounding 82% of the vote.
The tribes said, and maintain, that California voters gave them the exclusive rights to gambling operations and revenues several years ago.
The revenues benefit historically disenfranchised tribal communities, the tribes have said.