It might seem that the above-discussed laws leave Californians little to no choice for playing poker in the state. Make sure you’re familiar with all of them before you play poker in California. However, Californians can play poker using digital coins in sweepstakes and social casinos in this state.īelow you’ll find a list of the laws we’ve referenced. So, you won’t find any online casinos licensed in this state to play real money poker either. However, they have to adhere to the law that stipulates the legal age for poker in California, that is, be at least 18 years old to play.Īs we’ve already mentioned, online gambling is not regulated in California. So, tribal casinos allow Californias to play regular real money poker on their premises. This act’s established an individual regulatory body in charge of all gaming occurring on Indian land. Tribal casinos are regulated by the CA’s Indian Gambling Regulatory Act issued in 1988. So, Californians cannot bet real money in a game of poker anywhere in CA’s land-based gambling venues, with one exception - tribal casinos. Poker is not one of the 11 games California bans explicitly, but it is considered a Class III game. In addition, the same regulation outlaws 11 casino games by name. These games are known as Class III or Nevada-style games. Poker LawsĬalifornia’s Penal Code 330 PC, initially introduced in 1873, prohibits that its residents carry, deal, or play any house-banked and percentage games. We’ll do that by covering the California gambling regulations in more detail below. To answer this question, we’ll have to discuss two concepts - the legality of poker and the legality of online gambling in California.

Keep reading to learn more on this topic. That leads us to a limited number of places where the Golden State’s residents can play both land-based and online poker in California. On top of that, the state doesn’t regulate online gambling at all. As a result, California deems a small number of gambling venues and casino games legal. Unfortunately, most CA gambling laws and regulations haven’t been updated since 1873 and target very specific forms of gambling.

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