The lawsuit was filed by a group of card clubs and bingo-parlor owners, who say it's unconstitutional for the government to make them follow one set of rules while casinos owned by the state's Indian tribes are allowed to follow another. Non-Indian owners are essentially being discriminated against, they claim, and it's costing them millions of dollars in lost profits.

Construction of Indian-owned casino-hotels in California has skyrocketed since a law was passed about two years ago allowing tribes to offer Nevada-style gambling that includes slot machines and other popular games. Casinos that aren't owned by Indians can offer only poker and a handful of other card games, which limits their appeal to gamblers.

In a written brief, card-club attorney James Hamilton says that allowing Nevada-style gaming only at Indian-owned properties is an illegal "classification grounded on race or ethnic origin that violates the equal protection guarantees of the 5th and 14th amendments." Hamilton says his card-club clients should be allowed to offer slots and other games too; if not, then the machines should be removed from the Indian-owned casinos so everyone will be on equal footing.