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

Section 9.16.010, dating to Ord. 95 in 1941, states the chapter's purpose is to prohibit all forms of gambling or securing anything by chance that is not already prohibited by state law, and § 9.16.020 carries that intent into an operative ban reaching anyone who plays, participates in, conducts, allows to be conducted, or bets on any game, device or contrivance used as a means of gambling or winning something of value by chance within the City of La Habra. That language covers card and poker games as squarely as slot machines or dice games: nothing in Chapter 9.16 creates a license, permit or registration category for a card room, and the code contains no separate card-room chapter authorizing one under the state Gambling Control Act (Business and Professions Code § 19960 et seq.).

Because California law lets a city permit card rooms only by adopting its own authorizing ordinance, La Habra's decision not to enact one, combined with the flat prohibition in § 9.16.020, means a card room or poker room cannot lawfully operate anywhere in the city regardless of any state gambling license held elsewhere. The chapter is two sections long and sits between Chapter 9.12 (Indecent Exposure) and Chapter 9.20 (Firearms) in Title 9's public peace and welfare provisions.