Californians are very familiar with gambling in general, yet are often curious if online betting is legal or not. Unfortunately, California does not regulate online casinos but does permit charitable gaming and parimutuel wagering on horse racing as legal forms of online gaming.
Residents can also take advantage of social and sweepstakes casinos to experience real money gaming without risking their own funds. To participate in California online casinos, however, one must be 18 or over; state lotteries or national lotteries require you to travel physically gambling venues in order to place bets.
Are Online Casinos Legal in California? At the core of any efforts to legalize California online casinos are California’s Native American tribes, which run many brick-and-mortar casinos across the state. Tribal leaders have consistently opposed attempts by major commercial operators such as sportsbooks to open up this market to competition from them, with recent sports betting proposals failing spectacularly due to this powerful veto power.
California will likely never allow an online casino to launch until tribal sovereignty issues have been fully addressed. While the government could theoretically change its position on tribal sovereignty issues, any agreement to this effect could take considerable time and energy from all parties involved to negotiate successfully.
If a California online casino does eventually emerge, expect some restrictions on which games can be played and what can be won. Reducing responsible gambling should also be top of mind; licensed sites should include details on ways gamblers can limit their gambling and provide links to specialist agencies for anyone suffering from problem gambling.
The Minimum Gambling Age in California
In California, the minimum gambling age varies depending on what form of gambling activity you engage in. For instance, those betting horses must be 18 while 21 is required for casinos and Lotterie tickets purchases. Similar to online poker, the minimum age for accessing offshore sportsbooks or bookmakers is 18. However, due to these platforms being unregulated and lacking protections like licensed casino websites do. As noted above, most of the best online poker sites provide an array of games for players from around the globe to enjoy, such as blackjack, roulette and baccarat – which means players from any continent can usually find something suitable to them on these sites. It is essential that gamblers be wary of unlicensed gambling sites; thus it is paramount that reputation checks are conducted prior to depositing real money in an untrustworthy casino or sportsbook.