California Sports Betting Apps 2023

California sports betting is not online at the moment (mobile sportsbook apps are yet to come). However, California is one of those states exploring legalized mobile sports betting in 2023. It is set for push!

California Sports Betting Apps

 Legal Sports Betting Apps in California right now:

Expected California sports betting apps in 2023 and further: Santa Anita Park goes mobile, Del Mar Racing app, Golden Gate Fields, Fox Bet CA app, Pointsbet app, Unibet sportsbook, William Hill CA, Unibet, bet365 CA, and more.

Sports Betting via California mobile apps: Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Local horse or greyhound races.

California is widely considered a progressive state. However, they are not nearly as progressive as states like Delaware, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, where online gambling is legalized. 

California has put forth some effort to regulate the industry over the years, with an online poker bill and talks of regulating the online sports betting market. A handful of bills have found their way into the State Assembly, but none of them have successfully landed. 

There have been some opponents to online and offline gambling that have prevented most attempts to regulate online gambling. These opponents are mainly tribal nations that do not want their casinos to compete with online gambling. However, recent talks have some optimism since the state already showcases strong numbers with daily fantasy sports and horse/greyhound racing markets.

When looking at California as a whole, they play a huge role in the potential of an online betting market in the United States. They are an attractive destination due to their massive population and a $2 trillion economy, ranking eighth in the entire world. It is no secret that sportsbooks and other gambling platforms want a piece of this and makes it a target for the day they decide to legalize sports betting. 

Top Daily Fantasy Betting Sites in California

Since sports betting is not legal in the state, bettors will have to wager on other things to get money down on sports. Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is one such method. 

Future Plans for 2023

Many experts in the sports betting industry believe that legalization will occur in California sooner rather than later. There are a handful of key factors that could significantly influence the speedy transition, such as:

• California already has a pro-gambling culture. There are already legal card rooms, casinos, and daily fantasy sports, so this is the only thing missing. 
• California is in debt, as a lot of states have been with the recent pandemic looming. The tax revenues that would be generated from online gambling would help tremendously for the state. 
• The sky's the limit of how much money could be made since the crackdown of illegal sports betting could become taxed instead of under the table. 

For now, a legal sports betting market in California does not appear to be happening any time in the immediate future. Tribes in the Golden State are typically opposed to the movement as they do not want to see gambling on sporting events legalized. This is due to the belief that commercial businesses will be allowed to open sportsbooks and take control of the market, as this most likely would happen in some cases. 

The Tribes have stated that they want to have exclusive rights to a potential sports betting industry in California. This bold claim means that they do not want to allow anyone else to operate sports betting venues.

With the threat of legal recourse, ACA16 Bill Sponsor Senator Bill Dodd took his legislation off the table, so no further talk went down after that. In future sessions, this will definitely be an uphill fight to have sports betting lead to legalization in California only until one side concedes. 

The state could give in and pass legislation that would give the Tribes the monopoly on a legal sports betting industry, but this would greatly upset many commercial operators. The other option would be to try again for another proposal and face possible legal battles by the Tribes in the Golden State. As such, California is going to be an interesting process for sports betting. 

Mobile Sports betting in California

California leads the country in total casinos, but they are not one of the leaders in mobile sports betting apps. While many states are working hard towards legalization or launch of sports betting, that hasn’t been the case in California.

There are more than 60 casinos throughout the state of California, with almost all of them being ran by Native-American tribes located in the state.

There has been some talk of legalizing sports betting apps of late, but none of the introduced bills made it very far in either the House or the Senate. The place to bet on sporting events in the state of California is at the four full-time horse racing tracks in the state.

These racetracks don’t offer any horse racing betting apps themselves, but there are three mobile betting apps that are currently legal at this point. Racetracks will likely try to come out with a betting app in the near future, but they are facing some tough competition in California.

Read about online gambling in California

California Sports Betting Legislation Timeline Since 2018

California sports betting and gambling laws are, in most part, pretty clear. The state’s current ban on sports betting is defined in 337a of the California Penal Code (Part 1, Title 9, Chapter 10. Gaming). This states that “pool selling or bookmaking, with or without writing, at any time or place” within California borders is strictly prohibited. 

Violators are even subject to up to a year in prison and pay a fine of up to $5000 for their first offense. The state’s law on horse betting is covered under Chapter 10.5 of the same section, which authorizes pari-mutuel wagering at horse racing venues in the state. 

Further looking into it, Chapter 5 of the California Business and Professions Code 19800—19985 (known as the Gambling Control Act) describes the different forms of legal and illegal gaming activities in the state. Unfortunately for bettors, there are not currently any active pending bills in the California congress. The most recent attempt to legalize sports betting was the ACA-18, which ultimately failed in the committee at the end of 2018. 

Some have wondered if and when this could be addressed again. There are a handful of factors that could greatly influence the talks of legalization again. As 2023 approaches, the talks could start again, but for now, there is no word. 

Online Sportsbooks in California

More so than many states, legalizing sports betting is proving to be an uphill battle for California. The size of the state, the population, and many heavily invested organizations are all working against the greater good.

That said, this does not mean California is a no-go. The market share demands action and although the state legislature has kicked the can down the road for the foreseeable future, there’s just no way the issue will disappear or be denied.

Most Popular Sports to Bet on in California 

When looking at California sports betting opportunities, they have more professional and college teams of a larger scale than any other state with legal sports betting​. Sports is a major aspect of California, as there are many fans for their major markets. 

As such, you can pretty much find every popular team in each category, whether professional or college athletics. These teams have had past success and continue to have success today. The following teams are the most popular teams when it comes to California and sports betting.

College:

• – California Golden Bears (University of California, Berkeley)
• – San Diego State Aztecs (San Diego State University)
• – Stanford Cardinal (Stanford University)
• – UCLA Bruins (University of California, Los Angeles)
• – USC Trojans (University of Southern California)

Professional

• – Los Angeles Rams (NFL)
• – Los Angeles Chargers (NFL)
• – San Francisco 49ers (NFL)
• – Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB)
• – San Francisco Giants (MLB)
• – San Diego Padres (MLB)
• – Los Angeles Angels (MLB)
• – Oakland Athletics (MLB)
• – Los Angeles Lakers (NBA)
• – Golden State Warriors (NBA)
• – Sacramento Kings (NBA)
• – Anaheim Ducks (NHL)
• – Los Angeles Kings NHL)
• – San Jose Sharks (NHL)
• – Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA)