When it comes to gambling and interactive live dealer casinos, the state of California is fairly liberal. It allows players to enjoy a variety of betting activities offline, and the state law does not have clear wording regarding virtual casino lobbies.
The body in charge of regulating gambling in this state is the California Gambling Control Commission and the Bureau of Gambling Control. Under the local laws, the following forms of gambling are allowed:
- Tribal land-based casinos
- Card rooms
- State-regulated lottery (commercial is prohibited)
- Race tracks
- Commercially-operated bingo
- Pari-mutuel horse wagering
Gambling machines and commercially operated lotteries fall under strict prohibition, as does interactive poker. In 2015, the local judiciaries went as far as to banning sweepstakes games from Internet cafes by recognizing them as games of chance.
The official age for gambling in California is 18 years for lotteries, bingo, and pari-mutuel horse wagering; 18 to 21 years for casino games, and 21 years for interactive gambling.
The speculations about California becoming the next state in America to fully legalize and regulate interactive gambling have been circulating in the media for the past few months. Based on the states that we have, the total gross win for Californian players gambling online reached 455 million USD in 2020, as opposed to 122 million USD that same year.
One would argue that the year 2020 was hardly the best year to look at the stats of land-based casinos. However, the prognosis for the next five years shows the online industry would still beat the land-based one by at least 100 million USD in gross wins.
If we’re looking at the Californian gross gambling turnover, it reached 60,502 million in 2020 and is estimated to grow to 125 million USD by 2025.
