Glendale, CA Gambling & Gaming: Card Room Licensing (2026)

Glendale Municipal Code Chapter 9.12 (Gambling) makes it unlawful under Sec. 9.12.010 for any person to 'play at or conduct, operate, open or carry on any game whatsoever for money, property or any article of value' within city limits, carving out only acts already prohibited by Penal Code Sections 330 to 337h and acts affirmatively permitted by Glendale's own Chapter 5.28 and Penal Code Section 326.5, which govern licensed charitable bingo. Sec. 9.12.020 extends liability to anyone who owns, rents or controls a house or room and permits a prohibited game to be played, conducted, dealt or carried on there, again subject to the same bingo carve-out.

Sec. 9.12.030 goes further than most local gambling ordinances by criminalizing mere presence: no person may visit or remain in any room or place in the city where a prohibited game is being carried on, regardless of whether they are playing. Because the chapter contains no licensing, registration or permitting mechanism for card rooms or any other for-profit gaming establishment, and because Glendale has not adopted an authorizing ordinance under the state Gambling Control Act (Business and Professions Code Section 19960 et seq.) that would let a card room operate under state oversight, there is no lawful path to run a poker or card room in the city.

The only carved-out gaming activity is licensed bingo conducted under Chapter 5.28 for eligible nonprofit organizations, a narrow charitable exception that does not extend to any commercial card room, cardroom-style business or house-banked game.