Legal forms of

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

include

cardroom A cardroom or card room is a gaming establishment that exclusively offers card games for play by the public. The term poker room is used to describe a dedicated room in casinos that is dedicated to playing poker and in function is similar to a car ...

s, Indian casinos, the

California State Lottery The California State Lottery began in October 1985 after voters authorized it in Proposition 37, the California State Lottery Act of 1984. It offers a range of games including number draws, scratchcards and a mock horse race. The earnings provi ...

, parimutuel wagering on

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

, and charitable gaming. Commercial casino-style gaming is prohibited.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Unregulated, daily fantasy sports is active in California, though the end of 2023 brought much attention to this by State Senator

Scott Wilk Scott Thomas Wilk Sr. (born March 16, 1959) is an American politician who has served as the California State Senate minority leader since January 20, 2021. He is a Republican representing the 21st district, encompassing Antelope Valley, Victor ...

. He wrote a letter to California Attorney General

Rob Bonta Robert Andres Bonta (born September 22, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Attorney General of California, attorney general of California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he pr ...

asking him to focus on whether gambling laws prohibit paid DFS contests. With other states claiming paid daily fantasy contests should require a sports betting license, the status of DFS in California is up in the air.

Cardrooms

Licensed cardrooms may offer approved card games in which players vie against each other (rather than against the house), such as

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

. As of 2019, there were 66 cardrooms operating in the state (and another 21 licensed but not operating). Since 1995, there has been a moratorium on new cardrooms. The industry generated $850 million in revenue after payouts in 2018. Non-banked card games such as poker have always been legal in the state. The

California Penal Code The Penal Code of California forms the basis for the application of most criminal law, criminal procedure, penal institutions, and the execution of sentences, among other things, in the American state of California. It was originally enacted ...

, enacted in 1872, prohibited several casino games by name, as well as all house-banked games, but did not outlaw poker. Cardrooms also operate non-banked versions of card games such as pai gow poker and

baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...

, where players can take turns playing the dealer hand against the other players. However, in these cardrooms, an independent operator known in state law as a "third party provider of proposition services" usually acts as the "house" and the casino earns revenue on a fee charged to the proposition service provider and fees charged to players to play a hand. Statewide cardroom regulations were enacted in 1984. In 1997, the Gambling Control Act was adopted, which created the

California Gambling Control Commission California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) is the official gambling commission of the state of California. The Commission was proposed in the mid 1990s under the bills AB 2803 and AB 362 to "create a state agency to license card clubs and cas ...

to regulate California cardrooms.

Charitable gaming

Eligible nonprofit organizations may operate

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

games,

raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are chec ...

s, and poker nights. Organizations are limited to one poker night per year. State voters in 1976 approved a constitutional amendment allowing counties and cities to legalize charitable bingo. An amendment to allow charitable raffles passed in 2000, and enabling legislation went into effect in 2001. Legislation allowing poker night fundraisers took effect in 2007.

Parimutuel wagering

Parimutuel wagering on horse racing is permitted at racetracks and satellite wagering facilities, and online through

advance-deposit wagering Advance-deposit wagering (ADW) is a form of gambling on the outcome of horse races in which bettors must fund their account before being allowed to place bets. ADW is often conducted online or by phone. In contrast to ADW, credit shops allow wager ...

providers. Extended racing meets are held throughout the year at five tracks: Cal Expo,

Del Mar Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to: Places in the United States * Del Mar, California * Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California * Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California * Del Mar Fai ...

Golden Gate Fields Golden Gate Fields is an American horse racing track straddling both Albany, California and Berkeley, California along the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Eastshore Freeway in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the closing of t ...

, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita. Four other fairgrounds tracks hold brief meets in the summer and early fall. There are 27 satellite wagering facilities throughout the state, most of them found at county fairgrounds, cardrooms, and tribal casinos. Racing and wagering is regulated by the

California Horse Racing Board The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) was established in 1933 as an independent agency of the State of California, United States. The CHRB has authority over the regulation of horse racing and parimutuel betting at licensed California race trac ...

. As of 2018, the annual amount wagered on California races was $3.2 billion, with $662 million retained after payouts. Horse race wagering was legalized by voter referendum in 1933. Satellite wagering was first legalized at fairgrounds in 1985, and was expanded to private facilities in 2008. Advance-deposit wagering became legal in 2002.

Indian gaming

Federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

can operate casinos under the federal

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (, ''et seq.'') is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the act ...

. As of 2019, there were 63 casinos operated by 61 different tribes. The industry generates approximately $8 billion in annual revenue after payouts. Pursuant to

tribal-state compacts Tribal-state compacts are declared necessary for any Class III gaming on Indian reservations under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA). They were designed to allow tribal and state governments to come to a "business" agreement. A comp ...

negotiated with the state, tribes with larger casinos share a portion of their revenues with non-gaming or limited gaming tribes (those with fewer than 350 slot machines).

Lottery

The

offers

scratchcard A scratchcard (also called a scratch off, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratchum, scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win, instant game, instant lottery, scratchie, lot scrots, or scritchies) is a card designed for competitions, often made of ...

s and draw games, including the multi-state

Powerball Powerball is an American lottery game offered by 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). From its inaugural drawing on April 19, 1992, unti ...

and

Mega Millions Mega Millions (originally known as ''The Big Game'' in 1996 and renamed, temporarily, to ''The Big Game Mega Millions'' six years later) is an American multi-jurisdictional lottery game; as of January 30, 2020, it is offered in 45 states, the Di ...