California casinos and card rooms in big-money battle

It’s a battle over millions in gamblers’ money that pits some of the most influential Native American tribes in California against card rooms that also spend lavishly to curry favor with politicians. 

With neither side going down without a fight, millions of dollars are being spent campaigning for and against a bipartisan bill backed by the tribes that would allow them to sue their card room competitors, writes CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow.

Introduced by Sen. Josh Newman, a Fullerton Democrat, Senate Bill 549 would enable tribes that run major casinos to sue private card clubs over claims that they are violating the tribes’ exclusive rights to Las Vegas-style gambling by illegally offering blackjack, baccarat and pai gow poker games — and stealing revenue from tribal communities.

• Tuari Bigknife, attorney general for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians: “It’s not about killing card rooms. It’s not about killing cities. It’s about protecting what’s ours.”

Card rooms are fighting back, however, despite historically spending way less than the tribes to influence lawmakers. Since 2014, the industry has donated about $3.8 million to candidates for statewide public office — compared to about $23.5 million donated from tribes. (Annual earnings from California’s card rooms also rake in barely 10% of what tribes make from gambling.)

Still, card rooms are going on a lobbying blitz. Last year, Los Angeles County-based Hawaiian Gardens Casino spent $9.1 million, coming in second only to Chevron as the top lobbying spender in the Legislature and state agencies. Card rooms have backing from some cities, including the cities of Hawaiian Gardens and Commerce (both in L.A. County), which depend on card rooms for a portion of their budgets.

• Keith Sharp, Hawaiian Gardens’ general counsel.“If you’re going to attack us and try to take away what we’ve had for decades, then we’ve got to fight back. And so we’re going to spend the money that we need to spend. I mean it’s about survival at this point.”

The Assembly Governmental Organization Committee is expected to hear the measure in April or May.

A reminder of California’s gambling landscape: Besides casinos and card rooms, we have a state lottery that is part of the multi-state Powerball and Mega Millions, which boosts the jackpots. (Powerball was $865 million for Wednesday night’s drawing). The California Lottery says it has raised nearly $44 billion for public schools since 1985.

But sports betting is still illegal in California — a fact stressed again with the ongoing investigation involving the former interpreter to baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani. In 2022, voters decisively rejected two competing ballot measures — one sponsored by a dozen tribes and the other by gaming companies including DraftKings and FanDuel — to legalize sports betting. Two online gaming entrepreneurs wanted to try again this year, but pulled back in January after tribal opposition.

For more on the card room fight, read Ryan’s story.

California is in a maternity health care crisis: In 2020, the state reached a 10-year high of pregnancy-related deaths. But maternity wards across the state are shuttering at an alarming rate, disproportionately impacting low-income and Latino communities, and forcing women to drive hours to give birth.

What’s to be done?

That question was the focus of a CalMatters panel on Wednesday, moderated by CalMatters health reporter Kristen Hwang, who has been writing about the crisis. The most direct solution panelists proposed was providing more money — specifically, increasing the reimbursement rate for doctors and midwives who deliver babies under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid for low-income residents.

• Peggy Broussard Wheeler, California Hospital Association’s vice president of policy: “There’s such disparity between what a commercial insurance company will pay for a birth and what Medi-Cal pays for that birth.” 

Robert Moore, chief medical officer for Partnership HealthPlan of California, suggested making it easier for hospitals to establish flexible birthing centers, which would work similar to standby emergency services, as well as promoting broader nursing education.

• Moore: “Nursing school has become very, very specialized…. Rural hospitals… need nurses that can jump to the operating room, go see patients in the emergency room in another shift, jump over to labor and delivery.”

Turning to the “midwifery workforce” could also help with maternal care inequities, said Paris Maloof-Bury, president of the California Nurse-Midwives Association. But some midwives are struggling to keep their businesses afloat, and UC San Francisco — one of the few remaining midwifery programs in the state — is raising its requirements.

• Maloof-Bury: “We just need more of us. We don’t need to make it harder to become a midwife. And we certainly don’t need to make it harder for people who can’t afford a doctorate.”

Citing the high maternal mortality rates among Black women, and the case of a 31-year-old Black woman who died during childbirth last year at an Inglewood hospital, Kimberly Robinson, a health equity advocate at Black Women for Wellness, said listening to patients is fundamental to any solution.

• Robinson: “The outcomes are not pretty for Black women and Black birthing people. Becoming pregnant should not be a death sentence, and that’s what it’s turning into.”

If you missed this discussion, you can watch it here.

CalMatters events: Catch up on coverage of previous events, including ones last month on farmworker health and classroom culture wars. Our events page also has videos. And it’s not too early to put our first Ideas Festival on your calendar, for June 5-6.

While we still haven’t finished counting votes from the March primary, ambitious politicians are already eyeing the 2026 election for statewide offices, especially governor. 

Wednesday, former state Controller Betty Yee, who said almost a year ago she plans to run, made it official with a video on social media — and a fundraising appeal.

The two-minute launch video is autobiographical, showing voters where she grew up in an immigrant family — and started working with numbers at their dry cleaning business. It also touts her record in office, taking on big corporations, rooting out discrimination in the tax code and targeting wasteful spending. And she pledges to help Californians struggling with the cost of food, child care and other essentials.

• Yee, in the video: “We have the grit and power to make California add up for all of us again. I want to build a California focused on care — care for our youth, families, communities, our democracy and our planet.” 

Yee is in a crowded field that also includes several other Democrats: state Sen. Toni Atkins, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state Schools Supt.Tony Thurmond and, possibly, Attorney General Rob Bonta. They all hope to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is in his second four-year term. 

The action more than two years before the first votes are cast is a function of how closely contested the governor’s race will likely be, and the importance of lining up endorsements and money early. While a Republican hasn’t won statewide since 2006, it’s still possible that one could finish in the top two (Steve Garvey in this year’s U.S. Senate race is the latest example), meaning that all the Democrats could be fighting for one spot.

From CalMatters higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn:

More than 30 California lawmakers are imploring the state’s public universities to postpone their enrollment deadlines by at least two weeks, from May 15 to no sooner than June 1.

But hours after their Wednesday letter went public, the University of California indicated to CalMatters that it has no plans to push back its registration deadline.

“A May 15 commitment deadline for first-year students ensures that students have ample time to secure housing, visit campuses, and prepare for a successful college transition in the fall,” Ryan King, a UC spokesperson, wrote in an email to CalMatters. “It further supports core campus operations including managing orientation schedules, processing of visa, and contacting and enrolling waitlisted students.”

The UC in February shifted its deadline from May 1 to May 15. The system’s financial aid director told lawmakers this month that the UC would move back its deadline further if necessary. King, the spokesperson, wrote that the system will “immediately” inform new students and their families if the deadlines change again.

A spokesperson for the California State University wouldn’t say whether the system will alter the registration due date for all its campuses, instead noting that its decision in February to extend its intent-to-enroll deadline to no sooner than May 15 “was intended to give our universities maximum flexibility to extend that deadline further, including to June 1, which some have already done,” wrote Amy Bentley-Smith. 

The letter from lawmakers, which was signed only by Democrats, is a continuation of the Legislature’s rapid response to a major federal mishap that has blocked eligible students from applying for financial aid because their parents lack a Social Security number.

Only the U.S. Department of Education can address the broader issues that have hamstrung the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. But that application is used by almost all California students to acquire state aid, including tuition waivers and several thousand dollars in cash to afford other college-going expenses.

Last week the Legislature unanimously approved a bill to extend the deadline for state financial aid from April 2 to May 2. On Monday, Gov. Newsom signed the bill, which immediately went into effect.

Lawmakers worked at lighting speed to clear the legislation, which was only proposed March 13.

• The letter: “As members of the Legislature, we have done our part. Now it is time for your institutions to do theirs and ensure that all students applying to your campuses — including students from mixed-status families — have both the time and financial aid information necessary to make life-determining choices about where to begin their college careers.”