Gambling is one of the most popular entertainment industries in the world. As of the late 90s and early 2000s, casinos have begun to adapt to the Information Era. Namely, online gambling websites have begun to make it big. Gamblers nowadays don’t even need to travel to any casino. All they have to do is log onto a website and select their favorite game.
In the United States, online gambling laws are kind of strange. Online casinos are only legal in a handful of states. However, playing at these casinos is not necessarily illegal. The case is such with California. While the state has not legalized online gambling, residents of California can access casinos situated in other states, or even offshore websites. An example here would be all of the casinos available at novibet.ie. So, in this article, we would like to give a brief overview of how gambling works in California, both online and land-based.
Land-based Gambling
In California, commercial gambling, such as what you would find in casinos is prohibited. However, residents of the state can still find ways to gamble legally in brick-and-mortar establishments. For example, Indian casinos are perfectly legal. Meaning, if you are in California, you could find quite a few Indian casinos, and play all of your favorite games.
If that is not your thing, you could always find one of the many licensed cardrooms. These establishments operate legally and feature many different card games, most notably poker. Lastly, the state-run lottery is one of the most popular forms of gambling, and it is perfectly legal.
The state has also legalized gambling for charity. This includes different games, the proceeds of which all go to charity. The most notable kind of game here is bingo, but different kinds of games are also played. Other than that, fans of sports can place bets on horse racing. However, betting on any other sport is illegal.
Online Gambling
Online gambling in California is not legalized yet. However, many people mistake this to mean that they are not allowed to gamble at all. This is not the case. In fact, the laws are a little confusing, but for the most part, when a state says gambling is not legalized, all it means is that online gambling websites are not allowed to base their HQ within the state’s borders. In other words, Californians can still play at online casinos, however, online casinos are not allowed to base their business within California’s borders.This means that a California resident can access any of the numerous online casinos based in the states where online gambling is legal. Another option is to play at offshore websites. Online sports betting also exists in the same murky grey area. Which means that sports fans can still place bets online, as long as the website they are using is not based in California. This surely is good news, as online sports betting is on the rise, especially among women.
