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

Chapter 11.20 (Gambling and Related Activities) of the Santa Clarita Municipal Code is a blanket local gambling prohibition, not a licensing scheme, so the city has never adopted the kind of local card-room authorization the state Gambling Control Act (Business and Professions Code Section 19960 et seq.) would otherwise let a city enact. Section 11.20.030 bars a person from dealing, playing, carrying on, or conducting either "any game where players bet or wager money, checks, credits or other things of value against each other" or "any game of chance for money, checks, credits or other things of value," language that squarely covers a poker or card room operating on a player-versus-player basis.

Section 11.20.040 separately bars betting or wagering on any game, and Section 11.20.050 makes it unlawful to knowingly permit prohibited gambling on premises a person owns, rents, or controls, reaching landlords and business operators who host a card game. Section 11.20.060 also bars attending or being present at any house, room or other place in the city where gambling occurs. Section 11.20.020 clarifies the chapter does not reach conduct state law separately permits or prohibits, but California's Gambling Control Act requires an affirmative city ordinance to authorize card rooms, and Santa Clarita has adopted no such authorizing ordinance; Chapter 11.20 runs the opposite direction.

The sheriff, who provides contract law enforcement for the city, is directed under Section 11.20.070 to destroy seized gambling paraphernalia and under Section 11.20.080 to deposit any money seized in enforcement into the city's general fund once a conviction or guilty plea becomes final. Any premises used for illegal gambling is declared a public nuisance abatable by the City Attorney under Section 11.20.100.