National City, CA Gambling & Gaming: Card Room Licensing (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Section 10.26.070, Cardrooms prohibited
- Banned activity
- Keeping a card table or card place for hire
- For hire test
- Payment of anything of value to play cards
- Penalty
- Misdemeanor, each day a separate misdemeanor
- Misdemeanor ceiling
- One thousand dollars or six months, or both
- Licensed exception
- Bingo only, fifty dollar annual license
Summary
National City prohibits cardrooms outright. Section 10.26.070 makes it unlawful to establish, open, keep, carry on, maintain or assist in maintaining any place where a card table or other apparatus for card games is kept for hire, and each day of continuance is a separate misdemeanor. The city's code offers no licensing path for a cardroom.
A.It is unlawful for any person to establish, open, keep, carry on, maintain, or assist in carry on or maintaining any cardroom, premises or place in the city where any card table or other apparatus or place intended, designed, used or designated to be used for the playing of card games is kept for hire. Any person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every act in violation of this section is, for each day of its continuance, a separate misdemeanor.B.As used in Section 10.26.070(A), the term "for hire" means the payment or transfer of money or thing of any value to the owner, lessee or an employee or any other person in actual or apparent control of a premises for the purpose of the payor, transferor or a third party on behalf of the payor or transferor being allowed to play cards.
Full Breakdown
Section 10.26.070 of the National City Municipal Code, titled Cardrooms prohibited, applies to anyone who establishes, opens, keeps, carries on, maintains or assists in carrying on or maintaining any cardroom, premises or place in the city where any card table or other apparatus or place intended, designed, used or designated for the playing of card games is kept for hire. The section covers the operator, the person who assists the operator and the premises itself.
Subsection B defines the key term. "For hire" means the payment or transfer of money or thing of any value to the owner, lessee, an employee or any other person in actual or apparent control of a premises so that the payor, or a third party on the payor's behalf, is allowed to play cards. A seat fee, a table charge or a cover paid to whoever controls the premises fits that definition as printed.
The section sits in Chapter 10.26, Gambling, under the heading Offenses Against Public Decency, and the rest of the chapter reinforces it. Section 10.26.010 makes it unlawful to deal, play, carry on, open or conduct, as owner or employee, whether for hire or not, any game of poker, stud horse poker, tan, fan-tan, faro, monte, roulette or any other game played with cards, dice or any other device for money, checks, notes or any other representation of value, or to permit a house or building to be used for it. Section 10.26.020 makes it unlawful to be knowingly present at such a game, with an exception for an officer in the discharge of duty. Section 10.26.030 bars possessing a table, mat, cloth, wheel, ball or cup to be used in roulette, rouge et noire, rondo, tan or fan-tan, and section 10.26.040 bars acting as a lookout or doorkeeper.
The only gambling the code licenses is bingo. Chapter 10.27 lets an eligible organization, meaning certain tax-exempt organizations, mobile home park associations and senior citizens organizations, run bingo under an annual license from the city finance officer, with a fee of fifty dollars for each annual license and renewal.
Violations & Fines
Under section 10.26.070(A), any person violating the section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and every act in violation is, for each day of its continuance, a separate misdemeanor. Section 1.20.010 sets the misdemeanor ceiling at a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment not to exceed six months, or both. Section 1.20.020 also treats a condition in violation of the code as a public nuisance that the city can summarily abate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are cardrooms allowed in National City?
What does for hire mean in National City's cardroom ban?
How is a National City cardroom violation punished?
Is any gambling allowed in National City?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in National City
California rules heatmap·Compare National City to another location·View the California gambling & gaming overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.
Card Room Licensing in Nearby Cities
How other cities in San Diego County handle card room licensing.