Casinos & Gambling Industry in California
The USA has several states where it has a thriving casino industry. Unfortunately, not all states legalize any form of gambling. Some states are only limited to sports betting and lotteries. On the other hand, some states allow gambling in tribal casinos. One of these states is California.
California is one of the states in the USA where commercial casino-style gambling isn’t allowed. However, they are also one of the states where they allow lotteries, horse racing, card rooms, and tribal casinos to operate. The most popular form of gambling in this state is tribal casinos. There are over 69 tribal casinos that are licensed to operate in the state. In those casinos, you can play card games, lottery games, slots, and poker. They are pretty similar to your regular commercial casinos. The only difference is that tribal casinos sit on native land and are more extensive than commercial casinos.
Apart from tribal casinos, horse race betting is also allowed in the state. Californians can bet on horse races at the state’s private racing tracks. You can also watch races on tv and place bets. Another form of gambling allowed in California is the state’s lottery. California has over 23,000 retailers, including gas stations and convenience stores where you can buy scratchers such as MegaMillions and PowerBall. Aside from the lottery, card rooms are also allowed in California. Eighty-four card rooms are licensed, where you can play games and make bets.
Online Gambling Laws in California
Commercial casinos aren’t allowed to operate in California due to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Therefore, only tribal casinos are allowed to operate in the state. This also means that only a limited number of online casinos can operate within the state. These are namely sweepstakes casinos and social casinos. Any other forms of online casinos are not allowed in California.
This also includes online sports betting and poker. However, as mentioned, social casinos like Chumba, LuckyLand, and Winstar are an exemption. This is because social casinos are not played for real money. Therefore, if you want to try out casino games without wagering, you can check out the social casinos mentioned above.
The good news, though, is that online operators accept players from California. However, you need to make sure that you check out the terms and conditions of these operators first before signing up. In terms of whether California is planning to legalize online gambling, the legalization of online betting has a higher chance than the legalization of online casinos. This is mainly because the market for sports betting has a higher potential than casinos.
Payment Methods in California
Despite the state not legalizing online betting, betting sites continue to welcome players from California. Some betting sites offer convenient payment methods like eWallets. Using e-wallets as your mode of payment is constantly considered a smooth transaction. The most common e-wallets that betting sites offer and Californian Players can choose from are here.
- PayPal
- Neteller
- Skrill
Apart from e-wallets, there are also betting sites that offer traditional payment methods like bank transfers. You can choose this option if you don’t have any available e-wallets. Here are some traditional payment methods that you can consider.
- Credit/Debit Cards
- Online Banking
- Wire Transfer
- ACH Transfer
- PayNearMe
Apart from e-wallets and traditional payment methods, betting sites offer cryptocurrency as their mode of payment. Here are some cryptocurrencies that you can choose from.
- Avalanche
- Binance
- Bitcoin
- Cardano
- Dogecoin
- Ethereum
- Litecoin
- Shiba Inu
- Stellar
- Tether
How to Bet Online in California
Online sports betting hasn’t been legalized in California yet. However, there are well-known sports books that accept players from the state. These off-shore betting sites are considered the top in the industry and are accessible by Californian Players. Here are the sports betting sites listed as the best in the state.
- BetNow
- BetOnline
- BetUS
- Bovada
- BUSR
- Everygame
- Jazz Sports
- MyBookie
- XBet
Overall, BetOnline offers the best online betting services in all aspects. So, you can check this site out first if you like. However, if you want to consider other options, you can also check out the other betting sites mentioned above. Once you’ve chosen a betting site, register for an account.
Ensure that you provide the details your chosen betting site requires. Remember, these betting sites are operated offshore, so that they might need additional requirements. Once you’ve created an account, claim your welcome bonus, and you can start browsing through their wide selection of games. You may also research each game you find easy to place your bets on.
Online Games in California
Online casino games aren’t considered legal in California. In addition, the motion for legalizing online betting is still in process. Therefore, when you want to play online games in California, you can only do so through social casinos. They are considered legal and safe to play. Social casinos also offer a variety of online games like blackjack, roulette, slots, and video poker.