Despite being the United States’ most populous state with nearly 40 million residents, sports betting in California has yet to be approved since PASPA was overturned two years ago.

The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was overturned on May 14, 2018. As a result, each US state is permitted to propose and create their own laws and regulations for sports betting.

Currently, gambling in California is limited to tribal casinos, card rooms, the state lottery, charitable gaming, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, and daily fantasy sports. Luckily for Californian sports bettors, their neighboring states, Nevada and Oregon, offer legal sports betting.

As of right now, there are no legal sports betting options, online or live, available in California. Some offshore online bookmakers do offer no deposit sports betting but our best advice is to avoid this legal grey area and wait for 100% legal and safe sports betting to arrive in California. Sports Betting in California is not yet legal and licensed but there is good news ahead. The Golden State, has tried to regulate online betting multiple times in the past and are likely to try again soon. As the biggest state in the US by far, it’s inclusion in authorizing regulated sports wagering in California would mean an approximate $2.5.

Right now, even legalizing online poker has faced pushback with multiple failed bills and no agreement between California gaming stakeholders.

That being said, efforts to regulate sports wagering in California are active. Tribes in California have expressed their desire to be the sole sports betting provider. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, they had gathered nearly 1 million signatures in an effort to make the ballot in November 2020.

As an advocate of sports betting at both tribal casinos and commercial sportsbooks, state senator Bill Dodd sponsored a bill to regulate online and mobile sports gambling in 2020. However, it too has been stalled because of coronavirus.

Though there is adamant support of regulated sports betting in California, online and mobile gambling continues to be the root issue; tribal casinos insist online gambling can act as a gateway for underage gambling.

When Will Online Sports Betting Be Legal in California?

It’s estimated that Californians currently gamble $10 million per year illegally already. With the state facing an estimated $54 billion deficit and sports wagering anticipated to bring in between $500-700 million in state taxes annually, there is a considerable push to see sports betting legalized in the Golden State.

Should the current joint bill between the House Assembly and Senate pass, it would allow horse racing tracks as well as tribal casinos to offer sports betting. Tribal casinos would also be able to offer table games like craps and roulette, though California card rooms would not be allowed to offer sports wagering.

And herein lies a problem. Tribal casinos believe the player-banked card rooms (think blackjack, three-card poker, baccarat, and pai gow) should be illegal, as the games violate their exclusive rights to host such games.

However, card rooms have evaded these laws by hiring third-party dealers to run the games, a move that has proved acceptable in California. The Yocha Dehe tribe in particular has taken great exception to this and even filed a lawsuit in 2019, which was later dismissed.

The passing of this new bill would give tribal casinos the right to offer sports betting and table games, but also take away their right to sue card rooms.

As recently as June 9, amendments were made to the bill SCA 6 by Dodd to try to appease the tribes by putting some limits and restrictions on the cardrooms going forward. The amendments were not greeted with enthusiasm by the cardrooms, though they were open to further discussion in order to push the bill forward. The tribes, however, did not feel amendments were nearly enough.

Tribes were also concerned that mobile wagering would infringe on their current brick-and-mortar casinos. As such, an amendment was put forth to gradually roll out online sports betting all the way into 2023. Not great news for Californians hoping to have online sports betting from the phones anytime soon.

The other hurdle is that should the bill pass, it is still a constitutional amendment which will need to win a two-thirds majority vote in the House Assembly and Senate. From there, it will need to go to the voters and pass as a proposition on the ballet, which would likely be in November.

While legalized wagering in California still has many steps ahead of it, the possible tax windfall is likely too large to pass up for much longer. With 19 professional sports teams in the state, the appetite for sports betting would likely be large. While it’s unlike to happen in 2020, don’t be surprised to see a form of at least in-person sports betting legalized sometime in 2021.

California Sports Betting FAQs

Can you bet on sports in California?

Despite being the most populous state in California, sports betting is still currently illegal in California.

Is California still in a deficit?

California is suffering with a $54.3 billion deficit with the coronavirus devastating the nation’s economy. The deficit is the worst California has faced since the Great Recession.

Is DraftKings Sportsbook legal in California?

DraftKings’ daily fantasy sports games are legal for Californians to participate in.

Sports Betting in California is not yet legal and licensed but there is good news ahead. The Golden State, has tried to regulate online betting multiple times in the past and are likely to try again soon.

As the biggest state in the US by far, it’s inclusion in authorizing regulated sports wagering in California would mean an approximate $2.5 billion market.

However, the state is heavily dominated by tribal casinos and the political landscape is complicated, which means that the efforts to legalize online sports betting have met great opposition.

For now, all online betting is made on offshore casinos or on Daily Fantasy Sports, which is legal since it hasn’t been classified as real money gambling.

To bet on sports in California isn’t prohibited, it is not expressly regulated either, which makes it a grey area at best.

Online Sports Betting California Updates

While industry experts say that there won’t be any change in California sports betting legislation soon, there has been some developments recently.

When and if online will become legalized in the Golden State sportsbook operators such as BetMGM, DraftKings and William Hill, together with all the other major online sportsbooks, are likely to apply for CA online sports betting licenses.

BetMGM is one the fastest growing sportsbooks in the US and likely to enter California once there is a licensing process in place for sports gambling. Read our BetMGM California review.

FanDuel needs no further introduction. The kings of DFS and sportsbook (where legalized) are just like DraftKings almost guaranteed to enter the market once regulators authorize sports online.

DraftKings is widely known in California through their DFS product. Their sportsbook will most certainly be one of the first to open up for CA customers. Read our DraftKings California review.

William Hill is one of the most active sportsbook brands in the US with casino sportsbook partnerships all across the US. William Hill is one of the UKs oldest and most well established sportsbooks with over 100 years of history of sports betting. Read our William Hill California review.

California Sports Betting Hearing – January 8th, 2020

On January 8th, California took a great leap towards opening up the discussion about legal sports wagering in the Golden State. The Joint Assembly and Senate Governmental Organization Committees held a meeting in the state capital, where they invited industry experts to discuss what a legal California sports betting market could look like.

Research expert Chris Grove said that the California market could be worth $2.5 billion per year given that mobile sports betting would be included. However, Grove tweeted after the hearing that he could “feel” the obstruction in the room, and that he didn’t believe that California would legalize online betting in the near future.

Tribal Casinos File Sports Betting Authorisation Ballot Measure – November 2019

A coalition of 18 tribes put in a ballot measure that would legalize sports betting subject to state-wide approval. The measure would authorize sports betting and horse wagering at tribal casinos with a 10% tax rate on gross win. This measure would not include mobile betting.

Bill Dodd Sports Betting Bill Introduction – June, 2019

Senator Bill Dodd and Assemblyman Adam Gray introduced the constitutional amendment bill ACA 16, to the legislature. The bill would authorize sports betting subject to state-wide voter approval. The California Nations Indian Gaming Association opposed the regulation of sports wagering until their monopoly on card games was restored.

California Online Sportsbooks Amendment Proposal – July, 2017

Gray proposed an amendment to authorize betting in California provided that PASPA would be repealed. The amendment would be accepted subject to a two-thirds majority vote before it could be placed on a ballot for the next referendum.

Daily Fantasy Sports Authorization – January 2016

Adam Gray introduced the AB 1437 bill that regulated and authorized Daily Fantasy Sports. The bill passed unanimously in January 2016 and have regulated DFS since.

What Kind of Gambling is Legal in California?

As of now, there are a few options available for gambling in California:

• Cardrooms
• Charitable Gambling
• Pari-mutuel Horse Wagering
• Daily Fantasy Sports (contested wether legal or not)
• Indian Gaming
• Lottery

Cardrooms

Card rooms are very popular and within California state borders there are close to 70 card rooms venues (the number of card rooms vary over time but is stable between 60-70). These card rooms offer non-banked poker, Pai gow, Blackjack, Baccarat and Chinese poker and Panguingue.

Charitable Gambling

Non profit organizations can offer raffles, bingo games and poker nights.

Pari-mutuel Horse Wagering

Pari-mutuel wagering pools all bets made on a race and distributes winnings from the pool. This is currently the only way of real money sports betting in California.

Daily Fantasy Sports

DFS is not regulated as interactive gaming, and is therefore not prohibited in California. This makes it possible to bet on sports, without the element of real money. This is a good choice for players that are interested in other sports than horse racing.

Indian Gaming

Native American tribes can offer casino gambling and there are currently over 60 casino venues operated by California tribes which means that all casino gambling is operated by native American tribes.

California State Lottery

The lottery offers scratchcard and draw games. You can buy tickets to interstate Mega Millions and Powerball draws through the California state lottery.

Travel to Vegas

A more serious, betting alternative is to actually drive to Las Vegas which is a fairly close destination. As the gambling capital in the world, Vegas offers wagering on casino slots and table games and sports in their casino venues, and it is a simple weekend destination if you are interested in betting on sports in California.

The Future of Betting on Sports in California

There is an interesting battle going on for the sports betting legalization in California.

Both the state and the native tribes in the state are keen to get exclusive rights to sports betting, and the coalition of tribes that proposed a measure in November 2019 might be the closest option at the moment.

However, since they didn’t include mobile betting in their bill, the market size would not reach the $2.5 billion that is up for grabs. The question remains unanswered until further proceedings from the legislature.

As any bill would need a supermajority of two-thirds, there will be a lot of legislative work to form a consensus before we will see any real progress.

FAQ

Yes, gambling is legal at Tribal Casinos, card establishments and horse tracks. There is also a legal state lottery in California.

No. Pari-mutuel horse wagering and Daily Fantasy Sports are the only legal betting options in California.

As more US states are opening up for legal sports betting, land-based and online, California is likely to follow suit. A reasonable guesstimate is sometime in 2022 but could be earlier or later.

$2.5 billion

Yes, at tribal casinos

Yes

Legal Online Sports Betting California

Online Sports Betting For California

No

Is Online Sports Betting Legal In California

Can I Do Online Sports Betting In California

Yes, there is no legislation prohibiting DFS