After the success of Never Do Harm (2011), its director Chris Jayawardena wanted to spin off more stories from Downcast's supporting or minor characters. He asked one of his co-writers for a recommendation and she thought of the Card Dealer character. Bringing the idea again to Andrew Wakefield, who wrote Never Do Harm, some brainstorming conjured the idea that the Card Dealer was once a judge, who had fallen on hard times and taken to adjudicating situations among criminal organizations as a freelancer. Wakefield wrote the main script, with Jayawardena changing the ending to give it a more Dark and Moody tone.
The Judge's robes featured in the film belonged to actress Julie Marie Howard's father, who served in the Circuit Court of Oregon from 1953 to 1984. This is credited at the end.
One of the few independent films to use the now-closed bar The Matador on West Burnside in Portland, Oregon. When filming the pool game scene, one of the staff at the venue informed the film crew that the place had a history of local criminals being common patrons in the 1940s, along with some cavernous rooms in the building's underbelly that were offered as filming locations for later productions. Unfortunately, the offer was not taken before the bar closed in September 2014.