California Betting

There is no legal sports betting in California, online or in person, and the distinction that matters here is narrow but large: California does license legal online betting on horse racing. Ten advance-deposit wagering providers appear on the California Horse Racing Board's own published list, and the minimum age for that wagering is 18. What California criminalises is bookmaking, and the laying, making, offering or accepting of bets on contests of skill, speed or endurance — which is what a sportsbook does.

The Criminal Prohibition

The operative section is Penal Code §337a, and it is unusually broad because it reaches the bettor as well as the book.

"337a. (a) Except as provided in Section 336.9, every person who engages in one of the following offenses, shall be punished for a first offense by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than one year or in the state prison, or by a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both imprisonment and fine: (1) Pool selling or bookmaking, with or without writing, at any time or place." — California Penal Code §337a

Paragraph (6) of the same subdivision covers a person who "Lays, makes, offers or accepts any bet or bets, or wager or wagers, upon the result, or purported result, of any trial… or contest… of skill, speed or power of endurance of person or animal". Subdivision (e) removes any commercial-scale defence: the section "applies not only to persons who commit any of the acts designated in paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive, of subdivision (a), as a business or occupation, but also applies to every person who in a single instance engages in any one of the acts specified". A second conviction carries a mandatory fine of between $1,000 and $10,000 under subdivision (b).

Online Horse Race Betting Is Licensed

Advance-deposit wagering is authorised by Business and Professions Code §19604, which both defines the product and makes the Board the licensing authority:

"(1) 'Advance deposit wagering' (ADW) means a form of parimutuel wagering in which a person residing within California or outside of this state establishes an account with an ADW provider, and subsequently issues wagering instructions concerning the funds in this account, thereby authorizing the ADW provider holding the account to place wagers on the account owner's behalf." — Business and Professions Code §19604

Subsection (c) permits those instructions to be "communicated by telephone call or through other electronic media". Subsection (b)(1)(A) requires that, for races run in California, "The ADW provider is licensed by the board", and subsection (d)(2)(A) requires a provider to "use board-approved methods to perform location and age verification confirmation with respect to persons establishing an advance deposit wagering account". The Board publishes the resulting roster on its own advance deposit wagering page, which names TVG, TwinSpires, Xpressbet, BetAmerica, WatchandWager, Game Play Network, NYRA Bets, OffTrackBetting (Lien Games Racing), AmWager and DraftKings Racing. That page, rather than any third-party roster, is the authoritative record of who may take a California race wager.

One thing California no longer has, despite the rules once existing, is a betting exchange. The Board's rulebook index shows the exchange-wagering rules §2086 through §2093 all marked "[Repealed]".

Minimum Age

Eighteen for the wagering this page is about. Board Rule 2070 defines a "Natural Person" as "any person at least 18 years of age", and Rule 2074(c) requires the information needed to open an account to include "Identification or certification to prove the Account Holder is at least 18 years of age". On track the position is the same: Rule 1968, headed "Wagering by Minors Prohibited.", provides that "No minor shall purchase or cash any parimutuel ticket."

Tribal Gaming and the Limit on the Legislature

Tribal gaming in California operates under compacts authorised by the state constitution, and the exact terms of that authorisation explain why a sportsbook could not simply be added to one:

"(a) The Legislature has no power to authorize lotteries, and shall prohibit the sale of lottery tickets in the State. (b) The Legislature may provide for the regulation of horse races and horse race meetings and wagering on the results. … (e) The Legislature has no power to authorize, and shall prohibit, casinos of the type currently operating in Nevada and New Jersey. (f) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (e), and any other provision of state law, the Governor is authorized to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature, for the operation of slot machines and for the conduct of lottery games and banking and percentage card games by federally recognized Indian tribes on Indian lands in California in accordance with federal law." — California Constitution, Article IV §19

Note what subdivision (f) lists, and what it omits. Sports wagering is not among the activities tribes are authorised to conduct under a compact, which is why the 2022 attempt to legalise it was put to the voters as a constitutional amendment rather than introduced as a bill.

Propositions 26 and 27

Both appeared on the ballot on 8 November 2022 and both were defeated, by margins worth stating exactly rather than rounding. The Secretary of State's official declaration of the vote lists them under the heading "The following proposed laws were defeated by voters". Proposition 26, which would have allowed in-person sports wagering on tribal lands, recorded 3,514,597 votes in favour, or 33.0 per cent, against 7,129,127 opposed, or 67.0 per cent. Proposition 27, which would have allowed online and mobile sports wagering outside tribal lands, recorded 1,906,342 in favour, or 17.7 per cent, against 8,849,206 opposed, or 82.3 per cent. The online measure lost by the wider margin of the two.

No successor measure has been sourced as qualified for a later ballot, and no pending California sports-betting bill could be verified for this page: the legislature's own bill-search interface refuses automated requests, so the honest position is that nothing is confirmed either way for the current session.

Prediction Markets

California has taken no recorded action. The Department of Justice Bureau of Gambling Control advisories page, the California Gambling Control Commission's notices page, the Attorney General's news index and the Attorney General's published-opinions index were all checked on 7 October 2026, and none of them mentioned Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood, prediction markets or event contracts. That is an absence of enforcement rather than an authorisation, which is why these platforms are recorded here as a grey market. One caveat on the search: the opinions index displays only the most recent entries, so an older opinion would not appear on it.

Responsible Gambling

California funds a service of its own, which is more than most prohibition states manage. The Department of Public Health's Office of Problem Gambling states that it "provides free and confidential support for Californians affected by gambling harm", and gives its contact details as "1-800-GAMBLER | 800gambler.chat | text SUPPORT to 53342".