Office of Administrative Law Approves DOJ Card Room Regulations

SACRAMENTO — Two sets of California Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations governing cardrooms, one concerning Rotation of the Player-Dealer Position and the other concerning Blackjack-Style games, were approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) late on Friday. OAL approved the regulations without substantive comment and without requiring another public comment period or resubmittal of an amended rulemaking package. These regulations will take effect on April 1, 2026, but as specified in the regulations, the deadline for cardrooms to submit plans for compliance with the regulations to DOJ is 60 days later, May 31, 2026.

The proposed regulations were formally introduced by DOJ in the spring of 2025. Prior to their introduction, DOJ held numerous meetings with stakeholders to discuss potential regulation of games. Two public hearings were held on May 28, 2025 and May 29, 2025, and public comments were taken. DOJ received 876 comments on the proposed Player-Dealer regulations, and 888 comments for the Blackjack regulations. After careful review and consideration of the comments, DOJ did not make any substantive changes to the proposed regulations. Responses were written to every comment and as required by law are provided along with the final regulations, which are available here and here.  The regulations were sent to OAL for review on December 23, 2025, which included 1,764 public comments and DOJ's responses to the comments. After the required period of review, on February 6, 2026, OAL approved the regulations. Posted along with the regulations are DOJ's responses to the 1,764 comments submitted by stakeholders.

Please view the regulations here.