If you’re looking for safe and legal online casino gaming in the state of California, you’ll be happy to know that you have several options to choose from. The state is a long way from legalizing real-money online gambling, with a recent effort to launch online sports betting failing at the ballot box. But the best California online casinos offer tons of slots, plus table games and more, with sweepstakes promo codes that make it possible to win cash prizes for free.
California Online Casino Bonuses May 2025
While players in California don’t have access to safe, legal real-money online casinos, they can play at social and sweepstakes sites that offer free Sweeps Coins on signup. Play the games to win Sweeps Coins, and redeem the winnings for cash prizes. Get started with the bonus offers below.
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Terms and conditions apply. Gambling is for entertainment purposes only. Stay safe and ensure success when you gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER for confidential support. Visit SAMHSA’s National Helpline website for resources that include treatment center locator, anonymous chat, and more.
Best Online Casinos for Cash Prizes in California
Best for Feeling Like You're in Vegas
30 FREE SC + 1,500,000 WOW Coins for $29.99 (normally $9.99)
Play WOW Vegas Via: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available in: Most US States
WOW Vegas
See WOW Vegas Review
Forget about driving to Vegas, even from SoCal. WOW Vegas offers games that look like the slots you’d find in land-based casinos along the Las Vegas Strip, minus the drive. Now, all you need to do is grab your phone or your computer to play your favorite games.
The concept is simple – buy WOW Coins packages and collect FREE Sweepstakes Coins (SC), then use those WOW Coins and SC to play whatever games you’d like. Once you’ve collected enough SC, you can redeem them for cash prizes. No more road trips to Sin City for you.
Best for Feeling Like You're in Vegas
Best for Hold & Win Games
57,500 GOLD COINS + 27.5 FREE SWEEPSTAKES COINS
Play McLuck Via: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available in: Most US States
McLuck.com
See McLuck Review
Despite its name and mascot exuding St. Patrick’s Day imagery, McLuck is an excellent sweepstakes casino choice year-round. McLuck features a superb game selection that spans the common and less common, from slots you know and love to one of the few social live casinos with blackjack, roulette, and baccarat. Even better, the MCJACKPOT is available on all aforementioned games, giving players the opportunity to win a large jackpot at any time.
In addition, the site features a daily login bonus, a solid loyalty program, and promotions that, more often than not, feature massive prize pools. All in all, McLuck is a sweepstakes casino that has it all and is one of our top recommended options.
Best for Hold & Win Games
Best for an Established Brand with a Fresh New Look
Claim 3 FREE SC, 300 Diamonds, & 400 GC on Signup
Play High Five Via: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available in: Most US States
High 5 Casino
High 5 Casino Review
High 5 Casino is a name Californians may recognize, as it has been around for a while. However, due to a recent revamp (a complete revamp at that), High 5 Casino has rocketed its way onto our best-of list. High 5 Casino, thanks to a partnership with, you guessed it, High 5 Games, offers over 540 popular slots from the studio. It also offers a login bonus of SC0.50 and GC10 that can be claimed not once daily, but once every four hours, which is excellent. That login bonus also includes Diamonds, which can be used to purchase Free Spin Feature Boosts, Super Boosts, and more — another unique feature on offer here.
Best for an Established Brand with a Fresh New Look
Best for Progressive Jackpots
2.3 SC FREE + 66% discount on first GC purchase and get up to 40 free SC
Play Pulsz Via: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available In: Most US States
Pulsz Casino
Full Pulsz Review
Pulsz Casino is definitely one of the best social casinos available to California players. It offers high-quality slots with big prizes, plus a great selection of table games, including casino-style blackjack with player-friendly rules.
Other Pulsz promotions for existing players include slot tournaments, prize pool giveaways, and additional purchase boosts. You also get huge purchase bonuses the further you climb up the loyalty tiers, including getting 10x the coins when you reach the top of the VIP ladder.
Best for Progressive Jackpots
Best Social Casino In California
2,000,000 FREE Gold Coins and 2 FREE Sweeps Coins
Play Chumba Via: Desktop, laptop, on mobile phone
Available In: Most US States
Chumba Casino
Full Chumba Review
Chumba Casino is one of our top social casinos for California players who want to play on the sweepstakes model. Not only does Chumba offer a stellar selection of slots, but it also offers video poker and classic table games like blackjack. And if you win the games using Sweeps Coins (SC), you can redeem them for cash prizes and more.
Chumba also regularly adds new games, so it’s impossible to get bored, as every time you log in the variety of games is sure to blow you away.
Best Social Casino In California
Best For Winning Daily Jackpot Prizes
250 Premium Points ($2.50) + 100% purchase bonus up to $20
Play Funzpoints Via: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available In: Most US States
Funzpoints Casino
Read Full Funzpoints Review
Funzpoints offers something completely unique to other sweepstakes and social casinos: the ability to win cash prizes, even when you’re not playing with premium credits. At every other social casino, you can only win cash prizes when you play the games with premium credits. As you play the games at Funzpoints with standard credits, you can earn entries to the daily prize draw, with $1,000 worth of cash prizes.
Funzpoints also offers a prize spin wheel that’s unlocked every four hours. All you have to do is log in and spin the wheel to get up to 200 or more free entry tickets. But most spins get you at least 10 entry tickets. Plus, Premium Funzpoints can be used to play any of the slots (and a couple of versions of Keno) to win cash prizes directly, just like at any other social casino.
Best For Winning Daily Jackpot Prizes
Best For Wide Variety of Games
Get 250,000 Gold Coins + 25 Stake Cash on Sign Up
Play Stake.us Via: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available In: Most US States
Stake.us
Read Full Stake.us Review
Stake.us is one of the better-known names in the sweepstakes casino world, and for good reason. The website is fully fleshed out with games, including slots, table games, live dealer, and even “Stake Originals,” such as Plinko, Dice, Crash, Limbo, and more.
Stake.us also features a generous daily login bonus at 1 FREE SC, a sitewide chatroom, and challenges that offer the ability to win large prizes. Overall, Stake.us is an excellent option for those looking for extremely high-quality in their sweepstakes casino choice.
Best For Wide Variety of Games
Best For Hourly Bonuses
2SC and 20,000 GC on Sign Up + 25 FREE SC on First $20 Purchase + More
Play Chanced Via: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available In: Most US States
Chanced
Read Full Chanced Review
Chanced Social Casino offers players the ability to play a wide variety of slots, table games, “Chanced Originals,” and even live dealer games on a polished, intuitive website. It also features popular additional features, including challenges, giveaways, a VIP program, and a daily login bonus.
Live support is quick to respond, and sweep rules are overall fair. If you’re looking for an intuitive and clean interface full of games and nice-to-have features, Chanced may be a good landing spot for you.
Best For Hourly Bonuses
Best Social Casino For Quick Cash Prize Redemption
10 FREE SC and 7,777 FREE GC on signup + $4.99 for 50,000 GC and 10 FREE SC
Available on: Desktop, iOS, Android
Available in: Most US States
Luckyland Slots
Full Luckyland Review
Slots lovers in California have a go-to social casino with Luckyland Slots. Though LuckyLand does offer instant win games and is starting to venture into offering table games as well, it is best known as the ultimate social casino for redeeming SC for cash prizes and more by spinning the reels. If you’re familiar with slots in places like Las Vegas or Atlantic City, then you already know how to play the games. Play using FREE Sweeps Coins at Luckyland slots, and any SC that you win can be redeemed for cash prizes and gift cards.
Best Social Casino For Quick Cash Prize Redemption
Gambling is for entertainment purposes only. Stay safe and ensure success when you gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER for confidential support. Visit SAMHSA’s National Helpline website for resources that include a treatment center locator, anonymous chat, and more.
How We Rank the Best California Online Casinos
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Legality
Determining the legal status of an online casino is the very first step of our ranking process. If an online casino isn’t fully legal and above board, it does not make our top lists and is immediately removed from our ranking consideration. Illegal and offshore casinos pose many threats to players, including but not limited to stolen personal and financial information. This is why we only recommend legal online casinos, and since legal real-money options don’t yet exist in California, why we only recommend sweepstakes and social casinos within the state.
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Security
Secondly, and with the same interests in mind as the previous section, we take a look at security features. We will only recommend the best California online casinos that offer complete safety and security for our players — this includes utilizing features such as SSL encryption for data transfer, as well as practicing safe data protection standards for both personal and financial information. It also entails a strong privacy policy that ensures your information will never be sold to a third-party.
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Welcome Bonuses
Once we have legality and security verified, we begin at the start of the user journey, which is the welcome bonus. Check out our list of California online casino no deposit bonuses to start playing the games and winning cash prizes for free.
Some welcome bonuses may seem large and generous, but we dig further into terms and conditions to ensure that these welcome bonuses are fair, attainable, and are as they appear to be in the large print. This includes reasonable playthrough requirements, time limits, game eligibility, and more — and that’s just the start. Essentially, our casino experts do the heavy lifting for you to ensure you’ll receive a welcome bonus that’s both fun and potentially rewarding.
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Bonuses for Existing Players
The rewards shouldn’t stop once you’ve signed up. The best California online casinos offer appealing bonuses for existing players to both attract and retain those players. Our approach here is much like that of our approach to welcome bonuses, which includes delving into the terms and conditions to make sure bonuses are attainable and fair. However, here, we also take into account the variety of types of bonuses and the frequency of bonuses offered.
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Game Selection
The variety and breadth of a game catalog is obviously an important part of ranking the best California online casinos, which is why we weigh this section heavily in our research. Not only do the best online casinos offer slots, table games, and other game categories, but they also offer variety within each of those categories. This variety should come in the form of game features (bonus rounds, side bets, etc.), minimum and maximum bet amounts, and even theme. This is also where your own research should come into play — for example, a player who focuses primarily on table games shouldn’t pick an online casino that prides itself on its slot selection alone.
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Reputation
We always believe that reputation is important because there’s almost always a reason why an online casino holds the reputation that it does. For our rankings, we take into consideration not only the reputation that each online casino holds, but why it holds that reputation. If it’s a positive reputation, we make sure to point out why. If it’s a negative reputation, we look to see if the online casino is or has already taken steps to mitigate the reasons for that negativity.
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Loyalty and Rewards
Some of the best online casinos have made it to where they are based on the quality of their loyalty and rewards programs. So, while this isn’t an essential piece of the online casino experience, we do take it into consideration for our rankings. We look at whether or not an online casino offers a loyalty or rewards program, and if it does, the details of that program itself.
California Online Gambling Snapshot
Unfortunately, California has been slow to join the rest of the country in terms of sports betting, but it’s pretty run of the mill in terms of USA online casino states, with a nice selection of online gambling options.
| 🎂 Minimum Gambling Age: | 18+ |
| 💰 Cash Prize Limit? | No limit to size of cash prizes |
| 🎰 Best for Casino Players: | WOW Vegas |
| 🏈 Best for Sports Bettors: | Fliff Sports Picks |
| ♣️ Best for Poker Players: | Global Poker |
| 🎉 Newest California Online Casino: | SweepSlots |
| 👩⚖️ State Regulator: | California Gambling Control Commission |
| ✅ Sweepstakes Casinos: | Yes, Legal |
| ✅ Sweepstakes Poker: | Yes, Legal |
| ✅ Sweepstakes Sportsbooks: | Yes, Legal |
| ✅ Sweepstakes Sportsbooks: | Yes, Legal |
| ✅ Online Horse Betting: | Yes, Legal |
| ✅ Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): | Yes, Legal |
| ❌ Real-Money Online Casinos: | No, Not Legal |
| ❌ Real-Money Online Sportsbooks: | No, Not Legal |
| ❌ Online Lottery: | No, Not Legal |
| 📞 Gambling Helpline: | 1-800-GAMBLER |
| ✍️ Facts Updated: | May 2025 |
California Online Casino Games
Slots in California
Social and sweepstakes casino apps available to California players offer a wide variety and selection of slots. Themes varying from Asian-themed slots to Ancient Egyptian-themed slots can be found, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond that, players can choose from slots that feature a wide range of features, bonus rounds, bet amounts, and more. Essentially, all players from those new and on a budget to high rollers can find something they enjoy here.
Table Games in California
Table games players in the state, while not presented with as rich a catalog as slots, can still find all of the classics from blackjack to roulette and more. Where some sweepstakes and social casinos lack variety is game variations that offer side bets that can’t be found in land-based casinos, but this should have no effect on a true table game player’s enjoyment. While you may have to search a little harder to find your ideal table game selections, they do exist and are readily available in California.
More California Online Casino Games
Where California sweepstakes and social casinos go above and beyond land-based retail casinos is with unique game offerings. Often called “originals”, players will be able to find many options that aren’t available at their favorite retail casinos. This includes games such as Plinko, Dice, and many more. We strongly recommend exploring these other game options as you may find new favorites that you weren’t even aware of originally.
History of Gambling in California
Gambling has had a relatively recent and restrictive history in the state of California. Truly, modern gambling legislation began with the Gaming Registration Act in 1984, which allowed cardrooms to open in the state. 1984 also saw the introduction of the California State Lottery. Following that, California created a gambling control commission in order to pave the way for tribal casinos to open. Since then, California has become home to the one of the largest tribal casino industries in the country, which we’ll go into more detail about below in the “Retail Casinos in California” section below.
As for online gambling in the state, no traction has been found. Online casino gambling and online sports betting are both still illegal in the state, despite some attempts to legalize recently. Most recently, this came with an attempt to legalize sports betting via two ballot options in Nov. 2022. Those ballot options subsequently failed.
Retail Casinos in California
As mentioned in the history section above, the retail casino market in California has grown massively and currently consists of only tribal casinos. Despite the lack of online options, there are tribal casinos in the state. According to the California Gambling Control Commission, 63 tribes of the 76 compacted tribes operate 66 casinos across the Golden State.
Also available in terms of land-based offerings are cardrooms, of which there are currently 80 total active cardroom licenses in the state. These cardrooms offer a variety of games, but slot machines are not included in that variety. As for gambling access within the state, players must be 18 to gamble at tribal casinos that don’t hold liquor licenses and 21 to gamble at those that do.
California Online Casinos – Bottom Line
The bottom line is that California online casinos are currently limited to sweepstakes and social casino options, which serve to provide plenty of variety and options to play casino-style games to redeem cash prizes within the state. As for the legalization of California real money online casinos, solid legislation has yet to be seen. While it seems that much of the state would like to see both online casino gambling and online sports betting legalized, ballot measures to do so have failed to pass in recent history, raising questions and dashing hopes for legalization in the near future.
More Resources for California Online Gamblers
- Gambling Law, Regulations, And Resource Information, 2024 Edition
- California Gambling Control Commission
- California State Lottery
- Complete list of all California tribal casinos from 500Nations
- Complete list of all licensed cardrooms in the state of California
- US News & World Report’s Top 5 Best Casino Hotels in CA
Nearby Online Casinos
Looking for more options? Here are a few online casinos available in nearby states that offer a variety of games, rewards, and chances to win:
- Nevada online casinos: Explore a range of games and bonuses. Nevada is renowned for its extensive casino landscape, offering a wide variety of games and high RTP rates.
- Oregon online casinos: Enjoy exciting gameplay and promotions. Oregon’s online casinos are popular for their extensive game libraries and frequent player rewards.
- Arizona online casinos: Discover fun and rewarding casino experiences. Arizona offers a mix of tribal casinos and sweepstakes models, providing diverse gaming options.
- Washington online casinos: Dive into a world of entertainment and prizes. Washington’s online casinos are known for their robust gaming scene and numerous promotions.
Legal Online Casinos
Want to play legally? Here are some states where online casinos are fully legal, offering a safe and regulated environment for gaming:
- Connecticut online casinos: Enjoy a variety of games and secure transactions. Connecticut’s online casinos are known for their reliability and excellent customer service.
- Delaware online casinos: Play with confidence and great bonuses. Delaware was one of the first states to legalize online gambling, offering a well-regulated and player-friendly environment.
- New Jersey online casinos: Experience top-notch gaming and rewards. New Jersey is a leader in the online casino industry, with a wide range of games and lucrative bonuses.
- Pennsylvania online casinos: Find exciting games and promotions. Pennsylvania’s online casinos are known for their extensive game selections and frequent promotions.
- West Virginia online casinos: Enjoy a safe and fun gaming experience. West Virginia offers a secure and enjoyable online gaming environment with a variety of games to choose from.
California Online Casinos FAQ
No. Real money online casinos are currently illegal in California. However, sweepstakes and social casinos in the state offer the ability to play casino-style games to redeem cash prizes, giving those in California a solid alternative.
No. Both real money online casino gambling and online sports betting remain illegal in California. The most recent attempt to legalize via ballot measures in Nov. 2022 failed.
Yes. Chumba Casino is available to play casino-style games to redeem cash prizes in the state of California.
None. Online gambling as a whole is currently illegal in the state. However, players do have the option to visit many tribal casinos and cardrooms in person, or play casino-style games on sweepstakes and social casinos online.
Currently, no legislation to legalize and regulate online gambling has passed in the state of California. For that reason, gambling online in the state remains illegal.
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