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

The Implementing Zoning Ordinance devotes Chapter 9 to cardroom establishments and treats them as a tightly capped use rather than a by-right business. 020 confines cardrooms to the commercial C1, C2, MU1A, MU1B, MU2 and BP zones and bars them everywhere else in the city. 070 sets the citywide ceiling: one cardroom for every 15,000 residents, based on the latest Department of Finance population estimate, or four cardrooms total, whichever number is smaller, and no new conditional use permit application can even be filed once that ceiling is reached, with no waiting list allowed.

080 freezes table counts as of the ordinance's effective date and sets an absolute maximum of 18 tables per room, each table defined as a single game area seating up to ten players plus a dealer. 090 adds distance buffers: no cardroom within 250 feet of any public or private elementary, junior high or high school, and none within 1,000 feet of another cardroom, a massage establishment or an adult entertainment establishment, measured in a straight line between exterior walls. 20, and must file a Patron Safety and Security Plan approved by the Police Department.

052 lets the Planning Director attach conditions to the permit, and permits face annual review by the Planning Commission. 110 require tables to be visible from the main doorway, admission limited to those 21 and older, and the premises open to police inspection at all times. 120 makes clear the chapter never authorizes games banned by state law, including the banking and percentage games listed in Penal Code Section 330.