Is FPGA the right way to go for recognizing cards from a desk?
For this kind of application I would rather think of a DSP solution. You'll probably find image processing code easier for DSP than for FPGA. Sure, you can run a soft DSP on the FPGA, but I wonder what the FPGA's added value would be. It seems you don't need extensive peripherals around the DSP which would justify a great amount of gates.
Just connect your camera to an A-to-D converter and let the DSP do the rest.  

Analog Devices has this image processing toolbox for its Blackfin DSP. Analog has several DSP lines. I would look for a DSP development kit targeted at image processing.