California cardrooms anticipate thousands of layoffs as gambling rules change

California’s $5.6 billion cardroom industry may be holding a losing hand.

A few days before Christmas, California Attorney General Rob Bonta proposed new rules that would drastically alter how casinos run blackjack, baccarat, pai gow and other card games.

The changes are so disruptive that the cardroom industry says it will be forced to close down all blackjack-style games in California, pull back on card game tables generally, and target layoffs of nearly 13,000 to its statewide workforce.