California Gambling Laws: A Comprehensive Guide to What’s Legal

Online gambling isn’t regulated in California, but not for lack of trying. Six different lawmakers have sponsored 12 different online poker bills in the past 11 years.

Currently, nothing prohibits California residents from gambling online for real money. California doesn’t fine, charge, or prosecute individuals for their online gaming habits.

California State Sen. Roderick Wright sponsored Senate Bill 1485, the first bill that would have legalized online poker in California. The US federal government banned online poker under the UIGEA from 2006 to 2011, so this bill went nowhere.

Roderick Wright sponsored his second online poker bill in three years. This was the closest California came to regulated iPoker, because the California Poker Association (COPA) — a broad alliance of Native American tribal gaming operators — supported the bill. SB 1463 still came up short by the end of 2012.

Sen. Wright next sponsored Senate Bill 51, also known as “Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2013”. Wright introduced the bill at a time when Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey were passing similar online gambling bills. Support for SB 51 crumbled when the COPA alliance fractured over gambling enforcement.

With Roderick Wright facing an ethics scandal, California Sen. Lou Correa became the champion for the next online poker bill. Senate Bill 678 had the support of the Sam Manuel Band of Mission Indians and the Morongo Tribe, but failed to gain traction when the Pechanga Tribe’s coalition opposed it.

In 2014, Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer proposed Assembly Bill 2291, also known as The California Online Poker Bill 2014. AB 2291 also would have legalized online poker, but failed because the Morongo Tribe/San Manuel Band had an online poker deal with PokerStars.

Around the same time, Sen. Lou Correa introduced a modified poker bill called Senate Bill 1366. Correa sought a compromise between the Pechanga and Morongo California casino factions, but neither side would talk compromise and the bill died.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto introduced an online poker bill. Though Gatto added special language that he hoped would solve the political rift over PokerStars, the bill failed to gain traction.

Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer sponsors the Internet Poker Consumer Act of 2015, which also would have legalized and regulated online poker. Like all others, AB 167 failed to gain support.

Taking a third shot at his own California online poker bill, Jones-Sawyer introduces Assembly Bill 2863. Despite tweaks to make the bill palatable to both sides, the tribal casino operators cannot agree on the plan.

Jones-Sawyer backs the Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act of 2017, which again sought to bridge the gap between the Morongo and Pechanga tribes. The bill failed, so Jones-Sawyer suggested a “cooling off period” in 2018 and 2019.

California Sen. Bill Dodd and Assemblyman Adam Gray co-sponsored ACA 16, which would have made sports betting legal in California. The bill included online poker, with proponents hoping the popularity of sports betting would lure both sides to compromise. Again, online poker failed to gain traction.