Roseville, CA Gambling & Gaming: Card Room Licensing (2026)
Key Facts
- Cardrooms
- Prohibited citywide, no exceptions since 1998
- Definition
- Any table furnished for cards open to the public
- Grandfather clause
- Pre-1993 rooms allowed only until 1998
- State law cross-reference
- Penal Code § 330 bars banking/percentage games
- Governing chapter
- Roseville Municipal Code Chapter 10.68
Summary
Card rooms are flatly illegal in Roseville. City code makes it unlawful to operate, conduct or maintain any cardroom, defined broadly as any space with a table furnished for card games open to the public. A narrow 1993 grandfather clause let existing rooms continue for five years, a window that closed in 1998, leaving zero licensed cardrooms permitted today.
For the purpose of this chapter, a "cardroom" is any space, room, or enclosure furnished or equipped with a table used or intended to be used as a card table for the playing of cards and similar games, the use of which is available to the public or any portion of the public. ... It is unlawful for any person, for himself, or for any other person to engage in, carry on, maintain or to conduct any cardroom in the City of Roseville. ... Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, cardrooms existing on January 1, 1993 may remain in existence for five years from the date of adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter.
Full Breakdown
010). 020 then bans the activity outright: it is unlawful for any person to engage in, carry on, maintain or conduct any cardroom in the city. 030 amortization clause, but that grace period ran only five years from the 1993 ordinance, meaning any legacy room had to close by 1998. 040 imposed tight limits, capping tables at two per room, seven players plus a dealer per table, and restricting play to five-card draw, lo-ball poker, and Panquinque ("Pan"), while barring the transfer, sale or inheritance of a cardroom permit and forbidding chip purchases mid-hand.
050 makes clear the chapter is not meant to authorize any game already prohibited by state law, expressly cross-referencing Penal Code §330's ban on banking and percentage games. Because the amortization period expired decades ago, no legally operating cardroom currently exists anywhere in the city, and the police department treats any card room open to the public as a straight code violation rather than a licensing matter.
Violations & Fines
Operating, maintaining or conducting a cardroom in Roseville is a code violation citable by the police department; because Chapter 10.68 carries no independent penalty section, enforcement runs through the city's general nuisance and misdemeanor provisions, and any game found to violate Penal Code §330's banking-game or percentage-game prohibition compounds the exposure to state prosecution as well as a city citation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I open a poker room in Roseville?
Were any card games ever allowed under the old rules?
Does state law also ban cardrooms in Roseville?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Roseville
California rules heatmap·Compare Roseville to another location·View the California gambling & gaming overview
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