Gambling & Gaming in California (2026)

California's Gambling Control Act bars any city or county from issuing a gambling license to a cardroom unless a local…

Alameda's Municipal Code doesn't license card rooms; it bans card games played for money outright under Sec. 4-48.5…

Baldwin Park bans card rooms outright. Section 132.03 makes it unlawful for anyone to deal, play, carry on, open or…

Camarillo bans operating or maintaining any property for card, dice, or billiard gambling within the city, and bans…

Carlsbad bans cardrooms outright. Municipal Code § 5.12.020 makes it unlawful to operate any cardroom where cards are…

Clovis Municipal Code § 5.6.03 bans gaming clubs, card rooms and gaming tables citywide, with a narrow exception for…

Corona bans card rooms and cash poker outright. Section 9.12.010 makes it unlawful for anyone to run or allow draw…

Costa Mesa Municipal Code section 11-31 bans operating any gaming table, gaming establishment or room for playing…

Escondido bans card rooms outright. Municipal Code § 16-130 makes it unlawful to operate a card room, a coin-operated…

Fontana requires every public pool or billiard hall to hold a city council permit, and the permit application must…

Fremont outlaws card rooms rather than licensing them. Municipal Code Section 9.05.020 makes it unlawful to collect…

Fullerton outlaws commercial card rooms outright. FMC § 7.130.010 makes it a misdemeanor to keep, operate or maintain…

Garden Grove Municipal Code Section 8.20.010 outright prohibits operating any public card room, poker room, or game…

Glendale bans playing, operating or hosting any game for money or valuables anywhere in the city, with no local…

Hercules Municipal Code Section 4-8.01 makes it unlawful to play poker or any other card game for money or anything of…

Huntington Beach bans commercial card rooms outright: Section 9.24.020 makes it unlawful to keep any place where…

Lakewood has never adopted the local authorizing ordinance California's Gambling Control Act requires before a card…

Mission Viejo has adopted no ordinance authorizing a licensed card room. Instead, Municipal Code § 11.14.010 makes it a…

Mountain View bans new cardrooms outright: Sec. 9.2 makes it unlawful for any person or business entity to open…

Murrieta bans gaming clubs, the local term for card rooms, outright in every zoning district, and separately…

Newport Beach bans card rooms outright: Municipal Code Section 10.16.020 makes it unlawful to let any building or room…

Ontario Municipal Code Sec. 5-5.01 makes it unlawful to play, maintain, or operate draw poker or any other card game…

Orange bans card rooms outright. Municipal Code Section 9.12.010 makes it a crime to deal, play, open or operate any…

Oxnard outlaws keeping, operating, or playing in any card room, gambling house, or similar place citywide under Chapter…

Redondo Beach makes it unlawful to operate any card room, including legal poker games, where players pay a fee or…

Redwood City's own Municipal Code, not just state law, declares it unlawful for anyone in the city to play or engage in…

Riverside's Zoning Code doesn't just decline to authorize card rooms -- it affirmatively zones gambling out of the…

Card rooms are flatly illegal in Roseville. City code makes it unlawful to operate, conduct or maintain any cardroom…

San Bernardino County Code § 26.0101 makes it unlawful, in the unincorporated area, to keep, maintain, conduct…

San Clemente outlaws keeping any house, room, or dwelling where card or dice games are played for money, checks…

Card rooms and other for-stakes card games are banned across unincorporated San Diego County. County policy prohibits…

San Leandro has no card-room licensing scheme: SLMC § 4-1-200 makes it unlawful for anyone to deal, play, open, or…

San Marcos has never adopted the authorizing ordinance California cities need to license card rooms, and its own code…

Santa Ana outlaws running any house, room, apartment or place used as a gambling house, or where cards, dice or similar…

Santa Barbara County bans the card-room business outright: no one may operate or engage in the business of running card…

Card rooms are banned in Santa Clara. City Code Chapter 5.70 (Card Rooms) exists in name only: a reviser's note…

Santa Clarita bans card rooms and poker games outright: Municipal Code Section 11.20.030 makes it unlawful for anyone…

Santa Maria Municipal Code Section 4-3.342 flatly bars the City from issuing any license for a commercial cardroom or…

Santa Rosa Municipal Code Chapter 10-10 outlaws playing poker, low ball or similar card games for money in any…

Card rooms are flatly illegal in Simi Valley. Municipal Code Section 5-6.02 makes it unlawful to keep, conduct, or…

Solano County has no authorizing ordinance for card rooms: Section 21-12 bans dealing, playing, or conducting any card…

The City of Sonoma bans operating or using premises as a gambling house under Sonoma Municipal Code § 9.32.010, but…

Sunnyvale's zoning code defines a "cardroom" as any establishment where a card game is played for currency, check…

Thousand Oaks outlaws card rooms outright. Municipal Code Section 3-3.02 makes it unlawful to keep, conduct, or…

Vallejo Municipal Code Section 7.72.010 bans dealing, playing, or betting at any card, dice, or dominoes game where…

Operating or maintaining a card room in the City of Ventura is a misdemeanor under San Buenaventura Municipal Code…

Victorville has no licensed card rooms: Municipal Code Section 13.12.010 makes it a crime to keep, maintain, run, or…

Alhambra requires a city permit before anyone may operate a card room, and the Chief of Police can deny it for bad…

Antioch caps licensed card rooms at those operating on September 1, 2015, allows only one downtown license, requires a…

Bakersfield caps cardrooms at one permit per 20,000 city residents, limits any single cardroom to eight tables and ten…

Brentwood licenses cardrooms under Municipal Code Chapter 5.56, charging $100 per card table per year and capping…

Running a card room anywhere in Butte County requires a sheriff-issued license under Sec. 15-72, with fingerprinting, a…

Chula Vista requires a City-issued license before anyone may operate a cardroom, caps the number of licenses at one per…

Compton allows card clubs only with a City Council-issued license, restricted to commercial or industrial zones, backed…

Unincorporated Contra Costa County allows licensed cardrooms but caps the total number countywide by population, one…

Davis requires a police-chief-issued license before anyone may run a cardroom, caps every cardroom at five card tables…

Downey requires anyone running a card room or card school to hold a City permit under Municipal Code §6576, and bars…

Dublin, California zones card rooms as their own use type under the Alameda County city's Land Use Matrix. A…

El Cajon caps card rooms at eight citywide and only allows them as an accessory use to a restaurant or a bona fide…

El Dorado County allows cardrooms only under a County Sheriff-issued license, capped at ten gaming tables per cardroom…

Elk Grove permits cardrooms only under a special business license capped at one for every 75,000 residents. Owners must…

Folsom permits exactly one cardroom citywide, limited to 13 card tables and a city council license granted only after…

Fresno permits card rooms only under the City of Fresno Card Room Ordinance, capping the city at no more than 51 card…

Hayward requires a City-issued card club permit before any poker or card room can operate, on top of a conditional use…

Inglewood authorizes card clubs only under a City Council license, per Article 7 of Chapter 8, with a $25,000 annual…

Anyone running a cardroom in unincorporated Kern County must hold a sheriff's vice-division license under Chapter 5.20…

Lancaster does not license card rooms directly, but its zoning code requires a conditional use permit before one can…

Livermore caps card-club gambling under LMC Chapter 5.20: no cardroom may open without a City cardroom license layered…

Lodi allows cardrooms only under a Chief of Police license, capping every licensed room at fifteen tables and the whole…

Long Beach permits public cardrooms only as amusement uses. Municipal Code § 5.69.010(D) defines a "public cardroom" as…

Los Angeles requires a written permit from the Board of Police Commissioners before anyone may run a card club, social…

Los Banos allows card rooms but only under a City license, and Municipal Code Section 11-10.17 caps every licensed card…

Madera caps its card rooms at 24 tables citywide, all already assigned to two existing businesses, and runs them under…

Card rooms are one of 21 licensed 'special business types' under Menifee Code of Ordinances Section 5.01.090, meaning…

Merced Municipal Code Section 9.08.020 confines cardrooms to Central Commercial, Commercial Thoroughfare, and General…

Anyone furnishing card tables to the public in unincorporated Merced County needs a Sheriff's permit before opening…

Card rooms in unincorporated Monterey County need a Sheriff-issued license under County Code Section 11.24.040. The…

Oakland Municipal Code § 9.24.040 bars anyone, including a social club, from conducting or participating in a card game…

Oceanside caps the city at just two cardroom licenses, requires city council approval of every application after a…

Palm Springs bans card and dice games for money citywide except inside a licensed gaming club, adopted by voters as…

Petaluma caps cardrooms citywide at one per 15,000 residents or four total, whichever is fewer, and limits every…

Placer County caps card rooms at one countywide location with no more than five gambling tables, licensed and…

Rancho Cordova caps cardrooms at two citywide and requires a special business license under RCMC Chapter 4.22 before…

Redding allows card rooms only under a city council-issued license and caps how many gambling tables can run in town…

Sacramento limits commercial cardrooms to one license per 100,000 residents, capped at four citywide, under City Code §…

Salinas caps the city at one card room with eleven tables total, and operators need both a state Gambling Control Act…

San Luis Obispo County caps card rooms at ten countywide and four tables per room under Code Chapter 6.36. The sheriff…

San Ramon caps the number of licensed cardrooms by city population and requires a city-issued license on top of the…

Santa Cruz County caps unincorporated cardrooms at one and reserves eligibility for whoever already held the county…

A card room can only operate in Shasta County's Community Commercial (C-2) zone district, and even there it needs a…

Stockton caps card rooms at four citywide and licenses each one through the Chief of Police under SMC Chapter 5.32…

Tracy licenses card rooms under the Gambling Control Act through Chapter 4.04: operators need a City license, employees…

In unincorporated Tulare County, no card room or gaming club can open without both a State of California gambling…

Vista does not write its own card room ordinance. Vista Municipal Code Section 5.20.010 adopts the San Diego County…

Yolo County allows card rooms in the unincorporated area only under a Sheriff-Coroner license approved by the Board of…

Card rooms in Yuba City need a Police Department license under Municipal Code Chapter 15, capped at one license per…

California Penal Code § 326.5 lets only tax-exempt nonprofits, mobilehome park associations, senior groups, and…

California law exempts private home card games from gambling regulation entirely. Penal Code § 337j(e)(2)(D) excludes…

California has no legal sports betting, in stores or online. Penal Code section 337a criminalizes bookmaking…