San Bernardino County, CA Gambling & Gaming: Card Room Licensing (2026)

§ 26.0101, in Division 6 (Gambling), Chapter 1 (Cards, Dice and Similar Games), forecloses card rooms and poker rooms in the unincorporated County rather than licensing them. It is unlawful for any person within the County of San Bernardino, outside of any municipal corporation, to keep, maintain, conduct, control, have charge of, be present at or visit any house, room, place or apartment where any game is played, conducted, dealt or carried on with cards, dice, or other device or contrivance for money, checks, chips, credit or any other representative or thing of value.

The phrase 'outside of any municipal corporation' limits the ban to the unincorporated area; San Bernardino, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga and the County's other incorporated cities each administer their own gambling ordinances under their own municipal codes, separate from this chapter. § 26.0102 adds a mirror-image participant offense: it is unlawful for any person, again outside any municipal corporation, to deal, play, carry on, participate in or bet at or against any such card or dice game for value. Together the two sections reach everyone from a landlord who rents out a back room for a cash poker game to a player who simply sits in on one; even being present at such a game, without playing, is enough to violate § 26.0101.

The chapter, adopted by Ordinance 3653 in 1996, sets no separate penalty schedule, so a violation defaults to the County's general misdemeanor provision at § 11.0206(a)(1): a base fine of $500 to $1,000, up to six months in County jail, or both.