Online Poker California
California is a hub for poker, a place where there are more than 100 poker rooms scattered throughout the state. These are in card rooms and tribal casinos, with some – like Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Casino – earning worldwide acclaim for their hosting of prominent poker events like the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker. Others, like Hustler Casino, have become popular for their cash games and livestreams.
Meanwhile, online poker remains untouched by state laws. Years of consideration during the poker boom exposed a thus-far insurmountable set of differences between the views of online poker by card room operators and tribal casino operators. This means that there is no state-regulated online poker in California, and there may not be for many years.
That leaves the multitudes of California poker players with live poker and offshore sites that offer online poker to various states in America. Until California lawmakers take online gambling seriously, players are left with the choices offered to them.
That’s why we’ve assembled this guide to the best sites for playing online poker for real money in California. This guide covers legal issues, history, the latest poker news from the Golden State, and which sites accept CA players.
Top Sites for Online Poker in California
Is Gambling Legal in California?
| Type/Code | Summary |
|---|---|
| State Code Section(s) | PEN.1.9.10330-337; BPC.4-5 |
| Definition of Gambling | Gambling: To deal, operate, carry on, conduct, maintain, or expose for play any controlled game. |
| Definition of Banking Game or Banked Game | Banking game or banked game: Does not include a controlled game if the published rules of the game feature a player-dealer position and provide that this position must be continuously and systematically rotated amongst each of the participants during the play of the game, ensure that the player-dealer is able to win or lose only a fixed and limited wager during the play of the game, and preclude the house, another entity, a player, or an observer from maintaining or operating as a bank during the course of the game. |
| Online Poker/Gambling | For 10 years (2006-2016), lawmakers considered variations of online poker legislation but failed to pass one through both houses. Some special interests were placated through the years, but the tribes and card rooms could not find agreement on “bad actor” language. Lawmakers finally gave up after finding no compromises in 2016 and have yet to revisit the issue. |
| Live Poker | Live cash games and tournaments are permitted in more than 100 licensed card rooms throughout the state and casinos on Indian reservations. There are special rules pertaining to draw poker, which must be approved by voters in counties with large populations. |
| Casinos | In addition to card rooms that offer non-house-banked games like poker and California blackjack, casinos are located throughout the state on various Indian reservations. Most of those casinos are complete with table games, slot machines, and other games like keno and bingo. |
| Sports Betting | A bill introduced in 2017 to legalize sports betting was still in action in 2018 but had yet to pass as of the summer session. |
| DFS | California considered daily fantasy sports in 2016, but no bill passed, and there have been no proposals since. |
| Other Forms of Gambling | Lottery, pari-mutuel horse wagering, charitable gambling. |
Recent California Headlines for 2024
Unfortunately, California has not managed to pass any statewide regulation of online poker or any form of online gambling. Every time a bill comes up for negotiation, it appears that established powers engage in conflict and successfully defeat it. Whether it’s politicians seeking more kickbacks or Native American tribes vying for carve-outs, there’s discord. Special interest lobbying by poker sites also seeks “bad actor” clauses to deter competition, further eroding consensus.
Fortunately, however, California online poker is not expressly illegal but simply not yet regulated by the state. California’s gaming regulator does not issue online poker licenses, but neither federal or state law prohibits citizens from playing in real-money online poker games.
The last time that any lawmakers seriously considered online poker legislation was in 2017 when California Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer introduced AB.1677. He aimed to regulate online poker in California, but the distance between Native American tribes and card room operators had grown wider through years instead of diminished. Jones-Sawyer’s bill quickly died and left him and other legislators too frustrated with the negotiation process to try again after 2017.
Since the last efforts, online poker in America has gone through numerous changes, specifically court cases and Department of Justice opinions that solidified states’ rights to legalize online poker and other forms of online gambling, including sports betting. States like Michigan joined Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in legalizing online poker and launching sites to people located in their states.
Michigan even went so far as to sign the multi-state liquidity sharing agreement, which led to PokerStars linking its New Jersey and Michigan poker sites for bigger prize pools and game variety. And in the summer of 2024, the WSOP online site linked its Nevada and New Jersey offerings with Michigan to create the largest regulated poker site in scope in the US market thus far.
Michigan, specifically, found a way to merge the interests of its commercial casino operators and tribal casino owners to lay out a framework appealing to everyone. California has yet to find such a consensus. And after years of proposal failures, no lawmakers in California are willing to try anymore.
It is unclear if California lawmakers will try again to legalize online poker in the coming years.
California Sports Betting Laws 2024
After the failed online poker efforts in California, sports betting began to flourish across the United States. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled on PASPA (the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) via the case of Murphy versus the National Collegiate Athletic Association from New Jersey. The ruling overturned PASPA, allowing states across America to legalize sports betting within their borders per state laws.
There were proposals put forward in California to legalize sports betting in 2017, 2019, and 2020, In 2022, the issue of sports betting made it all the way to the November ballot for California voters to decide. Proposition 26 and Proposition 27 gave voters ways to legalize sports betting, but the issue became extremely cluttered with political ads and various sides paying millions upon millions of dollars to sway votes. The final result was a failure for both bills.
Ultimately, the core problem is the same as for online poker: various factions compromising on market participation and profit. Native American tribes, land-based card room operators, and race track operators all want shares of the market, but they also each want to exclude others from said market.
Analysts expect lawmakers in California to try again for sports betting legislation – in the form of a constitutional amendment for voters – in 2026.
Online Poker California Legislation
The path to legalized poker in California has been fraught with frustration and disappointments, failed negotiations and an unwillingness for tribes and card rooms to compromise in any meaningful fashion.
California lawmakers actually started discussing online poker bills during the poker boom, with the first bills proposed in 2008. Assemblyman Mike Gatto once claimed that ever year from 2008 to 2016 saw two to six gambling bills each year go from proposal to failure in various forms.
The most prolific year of California online poker bills was 2015, when Assemblymen Jones-Sawyer, Gatto, Adam Gray, and Isadore Hall proposed bills, some of which made it through committee approvals but failed to go further. Gray found similar committee success in 2016, even prompting race track entities to accept a subsidy to stay out of online poker. However, the broader California Assembly did not find the issue compelling enough to move forward.
That led to Jones-Sawyer introducing a bill in 2017 simply out of a dedication to the issue, but it expectedly failed to gain any traction. That was the last effort for any frustrated lawmakers.
The Basics of Playing Online Poker in California
You don’t need to know much about California to know that poker is massively popular in the state. Whether it’s the constant action at the state’s card rooms, the regular presence of California-based players on poker’s world stage, or the steady stream of online poker news coming from the state, everything points to one conclusion: Californians are playing Internet poker in numbers that far outstrip any other state in the US (and probably quite a few countries as well).
Like most, poker players want to know that they’re playing at a reputable site which will offer a fair game. We recommend exclusively licensed and regulated sites in their respective jurisdictions, ensuring Californians play solely on legal online poker platforms. Find the best online poker sites for your state.
Choosing the Right Poker Site
It’s not difficult to locate an online poker room that caters to Californian players as there are plenty! However, not all of them cater to the market on a good and safe enough level. That’s why we have gone through the full range of them and singled out the platforms that provide gamers within California with a great, safe experience.
Selecting a good online California poker room isn’t something that should just be done with little thought and consideration. After all, these are the sites that you will be depositing your money and personal information into. Online gambling shouldn’t be taken lightly by anyone. Find a site that you feel comfortable with.
All Poker and Gambling Laws by State
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
California in the News
New California Law Enables Tribes to Sue Card Rooms
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law this month that could change the entire poker ecosystem in the
California Lawmakers Mull Cardroom Expansion
In the poker world, California is known for two things. One is the plethora of cardrooms for poker players throughout
California Cardroom Licenses Open for Applications Again
California has unique gambling laws. The only full-fledged casinos in the state are a part of a tribal compact for
FAQs
Players looking to play in online poker rooms in California must be 18 or older.
California doesn’t have a regulated online poker scene and that the best options are offshore international poker platforms, players don’t necessarily have to be within state borders. However, if California legalizes online poker and regulates the market, they’ll need to be in the state.
There are longstanding disagreements between Native American tribes, card room operators, and horse racing track operators as to who should operate online poker in California. Because of the unwillingness of many to compromise on the issue, California lawmakers will no longer attempt negotiations. The frustrations of years of failed attempts to legalize online poker left the issue on the table for the foreseeable future.
Since you’ll be playing in offshore online poker sites, you need to be 18 or older.
No – online poker rooms provide software free without the need to invest in purchasing the software.
Helpful Gambling Resources & Links
- The State Bar of California
- California’s online poker problem – Los Angeles Times
- California Penal Code: Section 330
- State of California Office of Problem Gambling
- California Council on Problem Gambling
- National Council on Problem Gambling (California)
- Official State Website
- Laws/Code of California
- California Legal Guide
- California Gambling Control Commission
- California Bureau of Gambling Control
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