In the western American state of California and a non-profit organization has announced the launch of a special campaign it claims will expose ‘the special interests’ that are attempting to decrease competition in the local gambling market.

The Communities for California Cardrooms group used an official Monday press release to declare that these allegedly nefarious parties are seeking ‘to abuse the legislative process to diminish competition in the marketplace’ by getting a range of unfair policies passed before the state’s current law-making session ends on September 30. This body additionally proclaimed that it is made up of a range of small and medium-sized card rooms fighting against ‘big gaming’ while simultaneously endeavoring ‘to uncover the truth and allow legal businesses to thrive in California under fair competition.’

Inconvenient interruption:

Clarke Rosa serves as the President for the Communities for California Cardrooms organization and he disclosed that ‘The Golden State’ has had a moratorium on the number of card rooms and commercial gaming tables since 1995. However, the man who also serves as the President for Sacramento’s Capitol Casino enterprise proclaimed that this suspension is set to expire at the end of the year even though stakeholders have been assiduously working since at least 1997 to establish a fresh policy ‘that would allow licensed card rooms to expand the number of tables with local government approvals.’

Partisan players:

The Communities for California Cardrooms stated that it is moreover upset that the local card room freeze has not stopped California from embarking on ‘an unprecedented expansion of gambling with respect to tribal casinos’ via the inking of new compacts with 79 tribes running a collection of 76 gambling-friendly facilities. The organization contended that these deals have not placed limits on the hours of operation or the maximum number of permitted gaming tables and seen such properties grow their aggregated complement of wagering devices to well beyond 80,000 units.

Bountiful benefits:

Rosa asserted that the card room industry in California supports 32,000 jobs that are mainly held by minorities in underserved communities and contributes roughly $500 million in state and local taxes every year. As such and he went on to pronounce that ‘any conversation centered around extending the moratorium on the expansion of gambling’ should be flexibly designed so as to permit local authorities to ‘amend their ordinances to add additional tables.’

Read a statement from Rosa…

“A moratorium without reasonable table expansion creates a great inequity among local governments who have active gaming ordinances. A continuation of the status quo is unacceptable as local governments need the flexibility to amend their ordinances so as to add additional tables as each table can generate a tremendous amount of living wage jobs and tax revenues.”

Progressing plebiscites:

The launch of the campaign from the Communities for California Cardrooms organization comes as the state’s voters are preparing to decide whether to authorize online and retail sportsbetting via a pair of November referendums. The passage of Proposition 26 would permit local tribal casinos and four horseracing tracks to feature land-based sportsbooks while ratification of the companion Proposition 27 could see aboriginal groups launch statewide mobile-friendly online sports wagering services in partnership with firms such as FanDuel Group and DraftKings Incorporated.