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

Chapter 5.16 of the Pismo Beach Municipal Code, titled Card Games and Tables, has two sections. Section 5.16.010 supplies the definitions and § 5.16.020 imposes the ban. A controlled game has the same meaning as in Section 337j of the California Penal Code, as amended from time to time. A card room is any building or structure, any portion of a building or structure, or any premises or place, wherein controlled games are conducted. The city text states that card room is synonymous with the term gambling establishment as used in the Gambling Control Act, which begins at Section 19800 of the California Business and Professions Code.

The prohibition is one sentence: controlled games and card rooms are prohibited throughout the city. The chapter prints no licensing procedure, no exemption, no distance rule and no zone where a card room could operate. Because the definition reaches any portion of a building and any premises or place, the ban applies whether the games are held in a purpose-built card club or in a single room of another building in the City of Pismo Beach.

Both sections carry the history note Ord. O-2025-002 § 19 (part), 2025, which places the current text in the 2025 ordinance. Anyone planning a poker room, card club or similar operation should read the definition of controlled game as it stands in the Penal Code section the city cites, because the city ties the ban to that term rather than listing games itself.