Chumash Challenge Alleged Illegal Card-Game Gambling

Stating they have been “forced to challenge this through the courts,” the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians has joined the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians in a suit that seeks to stop illegal card-game gambling. The suit filed in San Diego Superior Court names 11 defendants, including Larry Flynt and the Bicycle Casino, and alleges the cardrooms offer house-banked and percentage card games in violation of California law. A proposition passed in 2000 authorized the governor to negotiate only with federally recognized Indian tribes to allow card players to bet against the house instead of with each other. Rincon Band tribal leader Bo Mazzeti said they were not challenging the cardrooms’ right to operate but their compliance with the law, adding they’d pursued the issue for 13 years before filing suit.