Stones Gambling Hall has become one of Citrus Heights’ most recognizable and reliable anchor businesses, elevating the city’s profile along the Interstate 80 corridor and contributing meaningfully to our local economy and community life.

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) – Attorney General Rob Bonta’s newly finalized cardroom regulations impose unnecessary burdens that could destabilize responsible cardrooms, jeopardize local jobs, reduce city revenues and ultimately harm the very communities these policies claim to protect throughout California. These regulations will have major negative impacts on the City of Citrus Heights, which is home to Stones Gambling Hall.

Stones Gambling Hall has become one of Citrus Heights’ most recognizable and reliable anchor businesses, elevating the city’s profile along the Interstate 80 corridor and contributing meaningfully to our local economy and community life. That is why the California Attorney General’s recently finalized cardroom regulations are so concerning, not just for Stones, but for cardrooms and the communities they support across the state.

Like most California cardrooms, Stones Gambling Hall is far more than a place to gamble. It serves as a gathering space for local and regional organizations, hosts community events and fundraisers, supports local nonprofits and offers dining and entertainment options that draw visitors into Citrus Heights. It is also a highly regulated, licensed business that provides substantial tax revenue to the city. That revenue helps fund public safety services and other essential community programs.

Since Citrus Heights was incorporated, the city has worked to define itself as a safe, welcoming place to live, work and explore. When Stones was built, it helped accelerate that progress. Over the past decade, the cardroom has proven itself to be a true community partner, engaged, responsive and invested in the city’s success. Stones has consistently shown a willingness to collaborate with city leaders, law enforcement and local organizations to help make Citrus Heights a better place for everyone.

In 2024, Stones Gambling Hall celebrated its 10-year anniversary, a milestone that reflects both its longevity and its commitment to the community. Over those ten years, the cardroom has created hundreds of local jobs and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to charitable causes throughout the region, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Glass Slipper, the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s K-9 Association and Saint John’s Program for Real Change.

Given this track record, the question becomes clear: why were additional sweeping regulations adopted for businesses that are already highly regulated and demonstrate consistent efforts to give back and support their communities? Citrus Heights has been home to licensed cardrooms for decades. For more than fifty years, these businesses have operated in compliance with the law and, in turn, provided meaningful economic and community benefits.

Cardrooms in California existed long before tribal gaming. Since tribal casinos entered the California market, these businesses have coexisted, each operating under different regulatory frameworks and serving different roles within the state’s gaming landscape. This is not an argument against tribal gaming, which plays an important role in California. It is a concern about regulatory imbalance. Pushing cardrooms out through overregulation risks creating a de facto monopoly, at the expense of cities like Citrus Heights that rely on anchor businesses like Stones for economic vitality, community engagement and public safety support.

As finalized, these regulations increase compliance costs and operational uncertainty in ways that could force responsible cardrooms to reduce jobs, limit services or reconsider long-term investments in the communities they support.

We urge Attorney General Rob Bonta to reconsider and amend these finalized regulations before they cause irreversible harm. Cardrooms deserve a seat at the table and a meaningful dialogue about how to address tribal concerns without dismantling licensed cardroom businesses and the community partners that are doing more than their part.

Citrus Heights knows Stones Gambling Hall not as a problem, but as a partner. Our community values its presence and wants it to remain a part of the city’s future. Thoughtful policy should protect communities, not undermine them.

We encourage Citrus Heights residents to speak out and urge Attorney General Rob Bonta to revisit and revise these regulations to protect cardroom communities. Residents can email Attorney General Rob Bonta at [email protected].

Sue Frost is a Former Sacramento County Supervisor - District 4 and former Mayor of Citrus Heights.

Al Fox is a former Citrus Heights City Councilmember and retired state law enforcement officer.

Bill Van Duker is a longtime Citrus Heights businessman.