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- Legal Age For Gambling
Very few states carry legal gambling ages as easy as the Arizona Legal Gambling Ages.In Arizona, there is one age that governs every form of gambling in the state. In the state of Arizona, the legislature has solidified the gambling age, regardless of what form of gambling you are attempt to play, at 21. California, a state very rich in gambling options, has very a diverse set of California Legal Gambling Ages. The state laws have been written straight forward, but adapted in different ways by a variety of different gambling locations. Every individual casino, bingo hall, racetrack, or online gambling site has the ability to set the legal.
Home» US Poker Laws » State Laws » California Poker Laws
Relevant state code: Penal code 330 et seq.; Bus and Prof Code 19400 et seq., Gov't Code 98001 et seq.
California Quick Links
- 1.State of California & Gambling Laws
- 1.2Sec. 330 of the California Penal Code
- 2.California Online Poker Laws Explained
- 3.Is It Legal to Play Poker?
- 4.Will California Regulate Online Poker?
- 5.California's Gambling History
California is the land of sun, surf, Hollywood stars, and… gambling? It’s true – amongst gambling enthusiasts, the Sunshine State has quite a reputation for tournament play and high-stakes poker. Considering the liberal nature of the state, it’s not terribly surprising that gambling has a strong foothold there but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t rules.
California Gambling Laws
California is rife with licensed card rooms, also known as “card clubs” or “California Casinos”, boasting more than any other state in the union. At one time, there were as many as 150 statewide but by 2013 that number had whittled down to a more modest 88. Though some places call themselves casinos, they don’t operate as true casinos nor are they licensed as such. Players play against each other, rather than the house, and pay for the privilege of entry into the house and the game itself. Rather than bankers or dealers, players take turns dealing just as they would in a home game amongst friends.
There are more than 50 Indian casinos in California and casinos are only legal on tribal land. Some are small operations with limited amenities but others are as glitzy and glamorous as anything you’d find in Las Vegas. They’re allowed to offer everything from table games such as poker and blackjack to run-of-the-mill bingo as well as all kinds of slot machines however craps and roulette are legal. Some casinos get around the laws regarding craps and roulette by offering hybrid games that use cards in place of dice and a roulette ball.
Other types of casino games are illegal, as established by the Sec. 330 of the California Penal Code:
“Every person who deals, plays, or carries on, opens, or causes to be opened, or who conducts, either as owner or employee, whether for hire or not, any game of faro, monte, roulette, lansquenet, rouge et noire, rondo, tan, fan-tan, seven-and-a-half, twenty-one, hokey-pokey, or any banking or percentage game played with cards, dice, or any device, for money, checks, credit, or other representative of value, and every person who plays or bets at or against any of those prohibited games, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punishable by a fine not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.”
Possession of a gambling device is also illegal. The definition of what constitutes a gambling device is lengthy and meandering, but basically anything from a slot machine to a “thing of value” could be interpreted as such. Those convicted under the statute (Penal Code Sec. 330b) are subject to an escalating scale of misdemeanor charges and penalties:
A first violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(2) A second offense shall be punishable by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(3) A third or subsequent offense shall be punishable by a fine of not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) nor more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(4) If the offense involved more than one machine or more than one location, an additional fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) shall be imposed per machine and per location.
California allows pari-mutuel betting, in which bets are pooled and taxed by the house before being divided up between winners, however this type of gambling is limited to horse racing. The sport is popular in California and opening day is typically a celebratory affair, especially at famed parks like Del Mar Racetrack which is affiliated with the nearby Surfside Race Place, the largest off-track betting facility in the country.
Charitable gaming in California is limited to bingo and raffles and there are some very specific restrictions:
“(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the Legislature may authorize private, nonprofit, eligible organizations, as defined by the Legislature, to conduct raffles as a funding mechanism to provide support for their own or another private, nonprofit, eligible organization’s beneficial and charitable works, provided that (1) at least 90 percent of the gross receipts from the raffle go directly to beneficial or charitable purposes in California, and (2) any person who receives compensation in connection with the operation of a raffle is an employee of the private nonprofit organization that is conducting the raffle.”
There are also a number of bingo halls that are supervised by that state as part of the charitable gambling allowance.
California does have a state lottery which was created via the California State Lottery Act in 1984. Residents can also participate in other lottery-style games including the keno-esque Hot Spot and the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball. At least 34% of the money generated from the sale of lottery tickets goes to support public education in the state.
California Online Poker Laws
There is a seemingly constant movement towards legalizing online poker in California, however that doesn’t mean that it’s currently illegal. Instead, internet gambling is a bit of gray area in the state; there is some enforcement against bankers and operators but little if any movement against individual players. For that reason, many California residents happily play poker online and internet-based sites have no qualms about taking those players’ money.
New regulations, which have been consistently introduced (but voted down each time) over the last decade or so, are discussed below.
Is it Legal to Play Poker in California?
Poker has pretty much always been legal in California – or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it has never been outlawed – but some regulations, including state-run licensing, were introduced in the mid-1980s. That said, there are licensed poker rooms everywhere. Low- and medium-stakes tables are especially prevalent but there are also high-stakes games with pots that hit insanely big amounts.
Will California Regulate Online Poker?
While there’s currently a ban a new casino openings until at least 2020, it’s very likely that we’ll soon see big changes to California law in terms of online poker regulations. In fact, there have been numerous online gambling bills introduced to the California legislature every year since 2008. Though none of those bills have been successful to date, proponents haven’t given up.
The biggest issue seems to be legitimization. Officially legalizing online poker in California would make it easier for people to move money, claim winnings, and gamble safely with some kind of recourse against unscrupulous sites. That said, tribal casinos have a significant interest in preventing all of this from happening (after all, the easier it is to gamble online the less often people will leave their homes and head to real-world casinos, at least in theory) and sheer numbers make the tribal coalition a formidable force.
To combat the tribal opposition, a bill has been introduced that would allow tribal casinos to be among the first to extend their operations onto the internet. The first change would be allowing approved card rooms and tribal casinos to take their operations online. Racetracks wouldn’t eligible but would instead receive a sizable yearly stipend and be allowed to act as internet gambling service providers. Licenses under the bill would cost $12.5 million for a seven-year permit with fees acting as a credit against future taxes on house gaming revenue.
History of Gambling in California
The gold rush in the 1840s brought a flood of people to CA. As people struck it rich, gambling organizers waited in the wings, ready to help the newly rich divest themselves of their money. Since then, gambling has thrived in many forms throughout the state and plenty of regulations have followed.
The first major gambling regulation came as part of the California Penal Code in 1872. The new code prohibited several specific types of casino games, all house-baked games, but did not mention poker.
Betting on horse racing became legal in 1933, spawning a huge wave of race tracks and gambling opportunities. California currently has six major race tracks and around 30 legal off-track betting facilities.
Statewide legislation of the CA card rooms passed in 1984. The Gaming Registration Act gave the Attorney General’s office the right to regulate and license card rooms. That legislation was broadened via the 1997 Gambling Control Act which gave the Attorney General more control as well as increased funding.
Also in 1984, California voters legalized the state lottery via the Proposition 37, also known as the California State Lottery Act of 1984. Tickets went up for sale in October 1985. More games followed including access to Mega Millions in June 2005 and Powerball in 2012.
Native American tribal casinos were legalized in 2000 thanks to that year’s Proposition 1A. After that, each tribe had to negotiate their own individual “compact”, which is essentially a license offered by the state of California. The compacts dictate everything from the amount of taxation to money allocated for tribal services such as education and police.
In 2017, State Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer introduced the Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act which would both legalize and regulate online poker activity in California. (More on that above.) As of the time of writing, that legislation is still pending.
On this page, we’ve compiled an in-depth summary of the current state of online gambling in CA, touching on various topics from the legality of gambling in the state to current regulatory debates. We’ve also compiled a list of safe and secure online casinos for California residents that you can view below, which have all been in business for 10+ years with no issues. If you’re looking for a legal, safe, and trusted California online casinos, you’re in luck!
What Are the Top Real Money Online Casinos in California?
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California is known for being a trendsetter when it comes to most industries in the United States. It’s no surprise that legalized online gambling in California has grown far ahead of many other locations in the United States.
Why These CA Online Casinos Are The Best
They Offer Legal, Trusted Gambling Games to Residents and Visitors
The entire reason you’re probably here is to figure out which online casinos offer services to California residents. You’ve probably heard mixed answers about the legality of online gambling in California and, therefore, are not sure where you can and cannot play.
Because of that, the number one trait that makes California online casinos great is simply the fact that they offer services to California residents and visitors!
They Offer Games Californians Love to Play
What good is an online casino if it doesn’t have the games that Californians love to play? We’ll answer that question for you—it’s no good at all. The California online casinos that we’ve recommended offer an extremely wide variety of games, including favorites like blackjack, craps, roulette, three card poker, keno, slot machines, pai gow, sic bo, and more! If you’re looking for an easy way to play your favorite gambling games for real money in California, check out one of the recommended online casinos from the up-to-date list at the top of the page.
They Have Banking Options That Work Fast
Not every banking option works everywhere in the world. There are specific banking options that work better and faster for California residents. When we’re analyzing the quality of California online casinos, we ensure that they have several high-quality online casino banking options that work great for Californians.
While we don’t need tons of options, we do want to see at least a couple of great deposit options and a couple of great withdrawal options. You’re only going to need one, but we want options just so you have a better chance of seeing an option that is a great fit for you.
The Ultimate in Convenience
The entire point of using online casino sites is to provide convenience. California is an extremely spread out state in some areas, which means you may be hundreds of miles from the closest land-based casino. Additionally, that land-based casino might not offer the games you want to play. This is where online casinos come in. The idea of an online casino is to solve these problems and bring convenience to players across the state.
But this convenience goes away if the online gambling site doesn’t set things up properly. It should be super simple for you to create an account, make a deposit, find the games you like, play, and withdraw your winnings. If any of these things aren’t super simple, we’re not interested in the site and you won’t see those California online casinos recommended on this page.
Is Online Gambling Legal in California?
These days, the United States is one of the more confusing countries in the world when it comes to online gambling laws, with dozens of states having different rules and nuances of how they treat the topic. When it comes to California, it is perhaps the unique exception. There are currently no specific regulations that explicitly prohibit online gambling for residents of the state.
Because of this, Californians have little worry when it comes to playing online casino games, and currently, there are a number of trustworthy sites offering online casino games, sports betting, and poker across the state.
Unlike the state lottery, casinos that operate online are not subject to any sort of government scrutiny and, in many ways, can operate without fear of legal ramifications. For this reason, many bills have been proposed with the end goal of legalizing and regulating the online casino industry in the state.
Up to this point, however, any and all legislation aimed at legalizing and regulating online casinos has either stalled or has been flat-out rejected.
What Does This Mean for You?
There are two important takeaways you should get from this. One, it is not illegal for you to gamble online in California. You are free to play the games you want for real money without fear of negative repercussions. Two, the market is unregulated, which means that you will not have some of the added protections and oversight you would get in a regulated market.
This makes it that much more important that you choose to gamble online in California. The good news for you is that casinos make a lot of money. For them to continue making money, they have to continue having happy customers that are getting the entertainment value they desire. If they are not operating reputably and taking care of their customers, word will get out, and their cash cow is going to dry up. This places a huge incentive for online casinos in California to do things the right way as if they were being regulated.
Still, not every online casino follows that mindset. There are some California online casinos that only look at the short term and don’t care about their long-term sustainability. Because of this, it is also important that you take advantage of resources like this site to help you determine where the best casinos online are. If you want to ensure you’re betting with one of these reputable sites, stick to the recommended list we’ve provided at the top of the page.
The Future of Online Gambling in California
Despite what has been a mostly fruitless endeavor up to this point, experts believe that California is one of the next states that will establish legalized intrastate online casinos. Each year, it seems as though a larger number of bills for the complete and total legalization and regulation of online casinos gets put into circulation.
It is only a matter of time until one of them is signed into law. With that being said, online gambling sites are what many would consider to be the least of California’s governmental problems. With almost constant drought, severe debt, and many other issues on hand, it becomes difficult for activists to convince politicians and voters alike that establishing an online casino network is something that should be done soon. Many efforts have been made, and only few have succeeded.
The fact that the California government does not oversee them does not mean that the California online casinos which offer their games are not trustworthy. These casinos are regulated abroad and most are very reliable; you just have to sign up with time-tested ones with stellar reputations. To help you with choosing a legal CA online casino to play at, we have reviewed and researched dozens and recommend the best online casinos for California residents at the top of the page.
Legal Status of Brick and Mortar Casinos — California
In California, there are plenty of brick-and-mortar locations all over the state. One thing that all of these casinos have in common, however, is that they are all Native American-run and almost always located on Native American land. This sounds like a rather conservative policy for an otherwise liberal state, but the wider scope of gambling and casinos in California is not as restrictive as it may first appear. Of course, this all depends on where you reside in the United States.
Poker Gambling Sites
The land-based casinos in California usually offer all the classic favorites such as slots, roulette, keno, baccarat, blackjack and the like.
Card rooms—as they are known in California—number in the tens of dozens and seem to be growing in number all the time. Poker is the dominant offering of California’s card rooms, however, blackjack variants and other more obscure games can be found being played as well. Basically, so long as the game is centered around playing cards, the rule of thumb is that it can likely be found at a card room. Naturally, some card rooms are better than others, and thus, the offering of one card room is never equal to that of another.
Additionally, if you play non-poker, gambling-type games in one of these card rooms, you’ll notice that the “bank” or who you are playing against will actually be another player at the table who is being paid to be there. It’s a confusing system and clearly a workaround for the state laws, but the outcome is the same. You are able to play your favorite games without fear of negative repercussions.
There are brick and mortar, Native American-run casinos all over the state, however, online gambling is still the easiest way to play any and all casino games at any time of day. When it comes down to it, someone who is looking to play casino games in California will either have to do so at CA online casinos or on Native American land. As you might have guessed, this predicament means that online casino play in California is quite widespread. It’s this common knowledge that is driving the push to legalize and regulate real money online casinos.
In recent years, pro-casino activists have lobbied politicians to promote and/or vote for bills to expand the way in which Californians can gamble at brick-and-mortar sites, but most of those efforts have so far been for naught. This is interesting, too, because California is historically one of the more liberal states in the country. Some of the largest land-based casinos currently operating in California include the following:
Local California Land Based Casinos
| Casino | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Pechanga Resort & Casino | 45000 Pechanga Parkway | (877) 7112-WIN |
| Cache Creek Casino | 14455 CA-16 | (800) 452-8181 |
| San Manuel Casino | 777 San Manuel Blvd | (800) 359-2464 |
| Thunder Valley Casino | 1200 Athens Avenue | (916) 408-7777 |
| Viejas Casino & Turf Club | 5000 Willows Road | (800) 847-6537 |
| Morongo Casino Resort | 49750 Seminole Drive | (800) 252-4499 |
| Pala Casino Resort | 11154 Highway 76 | (877) 946-7252 |
| Red Hawk Casino | 1 Red Hawk Boulevard | (888) 573-3495 |
| Barona Casino & Resort | 1932 Wildcat Canyon Rd | (888) 722-7662 |
| Table Mountain Casino | 8184 Table Mountain Rd | (800) 541-3637 |
California Online Casinos and Gambling FAQ
Online Gambling Poker Real Money
- Abbreviation: CA
- State Motto: Eureka
- Capital City: Sacramento
- Population Estimate: 39.5 million (1st)
- Website: https://www.ca.gov/
Online Gambling Poker Sites
If you know that there exists no framework for regulated and legalized online casino play in California, you might be wondering how anyone is able to trust the many sites that offer their services in the state. The fact of the matter is that, while you may not be able to take an online casino to court in California, a small bit of due diligence will lead you to trustworthy, reputable online casinos in California. Plenty of well-respected names in the online casino industry operate in CA, and these are names that can be trusted.Legal Age For Gambling
Most notably, the online casinos we recommend for California residents have all been operating for many years and have strong reputations to defend. In case of issues, they will resolve them immediately so that their stellar reputations are not sullied. These online casinos also use time-tested technology and reputable casino games, therefore, you can be sure that if you decide to make a deposit in one of these casinos, your depositing process will be safe and secure and the games you will play will be fair and give you an honest chance to win money!