Welcome to the WPT.com guide to California online poker! This article outlines the legality of online poker in California, as well as the best online poker sites for California players.
California, like many other U.S. states, doesn’t allow full-scale, real-money online poker. While some states (like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan) have the legal framework in place for regulated online poker sites, California does not.
While regulated online poker isn’t a reality in the Golden State, California players can enjoy legal sweepstakes poker sites like ClubWPT. ClubWPT offers the best platform for online poker in California.
Best California Poker Site
[CLUBWPT AD]
Is Online Poker Legal In California?
No form of online gambling is currently legal in California. That includes online poker, as well as online sports betting and online casino games.
California gambling laws allow land-based poker rooms, as well as tribal casinos. While various online gambling measures have gone to a public vote in California, state voters haven’t approved any of those measures.
The lack of legal options makes playing online poker in California somewhat difficult. While California players don’t enjoy access to full-scale legal online poker rooms for now, they do have access to sweepstakes poker sites.
Is Online Poker Legal In The United States?
Federal gambling laws allow each U.S. state to choose its own stance toward online poker (and online gambling in general).
Some states offer a robust selection of regulated online gaming formats. If you go to New Jersey, for instance, you’ll have access to legal real-money online poker, as well as online sports betting and online casinos.
Michigan and Pennsylvania both offer a similar slate of regulated online gaming options.
Only a handful of states, however, offer legal online poker sites. While more than half of U.S. states authorize online sports betting, real-money online poker remains off-limits in most of the U.S.
If you remember the “poker boom” era of the 2000s in the U.S., you remember a time when you could play poker online at numerous online sites, no matter where you were located in the States. That era came to an end in 2011, when the U.S. Department of Justice cracked down on poker sites that were operating illegally in the U.S.
While online poker has yet to return to those peak years of the 2000s, the advent of sweepstakes gaming sites opened up a new way for U.S. poker players to enjoy the game.
Best California Online Poker Sites
If recent ballots are any indication, California residents aren’t in any hurry to legalize online poker any time soon. That doesn’t mean you can’t find legal poker games online in the Golden State, however.
Sweepstakes poker sites are legal in California, as well as most of the U.S. Read on in this guide for more on the legality of sweepstakes poker, as well as how sweepstakes gaming sites work in general.
ClubWPT operates under the sweepstakes gaming model. An official product of the World Poker Tour, ClubWPT currently stands as the best online poker room available in California.
ClubWPT
ClubWPT is a legal online poker site operated by the World Poker Tour. ClubWPT doesn’t offer real-money poker games in the traditional sense.
The ClubWPT platform operates as a social and sweepstakes poker site. You can find free-to-play (aka play money) poker games at ClubWPT, which are accessible to anyone in the U.S.
You can also find sweepstakes poker games at ClubWPT, which award cash and prizes. The prizes up for grabs in ClubWPT’s sweepstakes games include entries into WPT live events, WPT Voyage Cruise packages, and more.
ClubWPT Sign-Up Link
[CLUBWPT AD]
How Does ClubWPT Work?
The sweepstakes games at ClubWPT are available via monthly subscription. Once you pay the subscription fee, you get unlimited access to the sweepstakes games in your subscription tier, with no additional buy-ins required.
ClubWPT’s sweepstakes games come in the form of tournaments that award cash and prizes.
You can purchase one of two different subscription tiers at ClubWPT, as well as an add-on subscription that allows access to special Saturday satellite tournaments.
The subscription tiers at ClubWPT look like this:
- VIP ($27.95 per month, access to all VIP tournaments)
- Diamond ($149.95 per month, access to all Diamond and VIP tournaments)
- Super SATurdays ($100 add-on per month, access to Super SATurdays satellite tournaments)
The sweepstakes tournaments at ClubWPT award more than $100,000 in prizes every month. The tournaments include Texas Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo game formats.
VIP Tournaments
The VIP subscription is the lowest-priced tier on ClubWPT. The VIP subscription allows access to all tournaments under the VIP tab at ClubWPT.
VIP tournaments use Tournament Points (TP) as the buy-in currency. You get 500 TP when you sign up for a subscription, and your TP balance reloads every day.
Tournaments in the VIP tier award TP, cash, and prizes.
A typical tournament in the VIP tier could look like this:
- Tournament Name: $1,000 Mountain
- Buy-In: 400TP
- Prize Pool: $1,000 USD + 202,500 TP Guaranteed
- First Place: $150 USD + 2,000 TP
You can also find plenty of freeroll tournaments (aka zero TP buy-in tournaments) in this tier that award TP, cash, and prizes.
Diamond Tournaments
The Diamond subscription gives you access to all Diamond-level tournaments, as well as all VIP tournaments. The biggest prizes awarded at ClubWPT come through the Diamond tournaments, making this subscription tier the best value available among the sweepstakes games.
Diamond subscribers get unlimited entries into Diamond Tournaments. While VIP Tournaments require Tournament Points to enter, Diamond Tournaments are open for entry on an uncapped basis for subscribers to this tier.
All of the tournaments on the Diamond level are freerolls in a sense, though you do have to pay the monthly subscription to get access.
Like in the VIP tier, Diamond tournaments award cash and prizes to tournament winners. The cash amounts and prizes available are substantially larger than what’s awarded in VIP Tournaments, however.
A typical Diamond Tournament could look like this:
- Tournament Name: $5,000 Cash Guarantee
- Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers)
- Prize Pool: $5,000 USD + 541,000 TP Guaranteed
- First Place: $1,000 USD + 5,000 TP
You’ll also find many opportunities to win entry into a World Poker Tour live event on the Diamond level. Many of the tournaments in this tier award cash and TP, with a WPT live event package as the top prize.
For example, the following Diamond Tournament awarded a WPT Prime Passport (travel package and entry fee for any WPT Prime tournament):
- Tournament Name: $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport + $500
- Buy-In: Freeroll (unlimited entry for Diamond subscribers)
- Prize Pool: $3,000 USD + 467,500 TP Guaranteed
- First Place: $2,500 WPT Prime Passport + 5,000 TP
Keep in mind that Diamond subscribers get access to both the Diamond and the VIP tier, so the TP earned in Diamond tournaments can be used in VIP tournaments.
ClubWPT Sign-Up Link
[CLUBWPT AD]
$125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge
One of the biggest tournaments on the ClubWPT Tournament schedule is the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge. The details for this special tournament look like this:
- Tournament Name: $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge
- Buy-In: Entries must qualify through other ClubWPT events
- Prize Pool: $125,000 USD
- First Place: WPT Event Package $12,000
The first-place prize for this event comes in the form of a $12,000 package that sends you to the annual WPT World Championship in Las Vegas.
You can’t just enter this tournament; you must qualify through other tournaments on ClubWPT. Most of the tournaments that allow you to win your way into the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge are in the Diamond tier.
Is ClubWPT A Real Money Online Poker Site?
ClubWPT does not operate as a traditional real-money online poker site.
The platform operates as a sweepstakes gaming site, which offers poker tournaments that award cash and prizes.
You don’t deposit money or directly play for cash on ClubWPT. The cash and prizes on the line in the sweepstakes tournaments are substantial, however.
ClubWPT awards more than $100,000 in cash and prizes every month. The flagship tournament on ClubWPT, the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge, awards $125,000 in total cash and prizes.
The grand prize for this tournament is a $12,000 WPT Event Package that sends the winner to the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
How Do I Sign Up At ClubWPT?
You can join ClubWPT from anywhere in the U.S. Keep in mind, however, that you can only play the sweepstakes games for cash and prizes if you’re in one of the 36 eligible states.
California is on the list of states that allow access to the sweepstakes poker games at ClubWPT.
Here’s how to sign up for a ClubWPT account:
- Click the sign-up link in any of the ClubWPT ads in this article.
- Click the green “Sign-Up” button at the top right of the ClubWPT home page
- Enter a valid email, choose a username and password, and click “Continue”
- Enter your name, DoB, and physical address, and choose a security question and answer.
- On the next screen, choose your subscription and your payment method.
The free-to-play cash games and tournaments are open to all U.S. players, without a subscription required.
To play the VIP and Diamond games, you must sign up for a monthly subscription package and must be located in one of the 36 eligible states when you play.
If you’re located in California, you’re in luck, as the ClubWPT sweepstakes games are accessible to you (as long as you’re physically located in California while you play).
ClubWPT Sign-Up Link
[CLUBWPT AD]
How Do Sweepstakes Poker Sites Work?
ClubWPT doesn’t operate as a real-money poker site. The cash and prizes available in the VIP and Diamond tournaments are offered under a sweepstakes gaming model.
Sweepstakes gaming is legal in most U.S. states. Sweepstakes poker platforms like ClubWPT fall under a different legal category than real-money poker sites.
At a real-money poker site, players deposit money and use that money as currency in cash games and tournaments. When a player withdraws winnings from a real-money poker account, that withdrawal involves a direct cash transfer of some kind.
At ClubWPT, players can compete for cash and prizes, but direct cash deposits and withdrawals don’t happen. All prizes awarded in ClubWPT tournaments are sweepstakes prizes.
Those prizes include sweepstakes credits that can be redeemed for cash, luxury packages to WPT Voyage cruises, and even seats to WPT Main Tour events.
Is It Safe To Play At Offshore Poker Sites?
If you’ve tried to find a California online poker site, you might have come across a few sites that seem to offer legit online poker games for real money.
These sites might appear to give you a legal option for playing poker online. Offshore online poker sites operate illegally in the United States, however.
Here are three reasons that you shouldn’t play on these illegal online gambling sites:
Offshore Poker Sites Conduct Illegal Financial Transactions
If you make a deposit at an offshore poker site, your payment options are often limited.
Many illegal sites only allow deposits and withdrawals using cryptocurrency. If a poker site doesn’t let you put money in your account using USD, that’s not a good sign.
If you do get to make a deposit using your bank account or a credit/debit card, that deposit will often show up as a transaction for an online shopping outlet you’ve never heard of. That can’t be good either.
When you purchase a subscription at ClubWPT, that transaction will clearly show up on your bank statement as a purchase from ClubWPT.
Your Money And Personal Information Isn’t Secure At Offshore Poker Sites
ClubWPT, and any online poker site backed by the World Poker Tour, operates with a keen interest in protecting the financial and personal information of its players.
If you give your bank account number to an offshore poker site, there’s no telling where or with whom that information might end up.
Additonally, if you request a withdrawal from an offshore gambling site, you’re requesting money from an entity that has no legal obligation to send you those funds. If you do find yourself on the wrong end of a denied withdrawal, you have no legal recourse to file a complaint and recoup your money.
Offshore poker sites operate illegally, and any time you play at such a site, that could be the last day you have access to your money.
Player Security Is Questionable At Offshore Poker Sites
Some offshore poker sites are notorious for bots (aka computer automated “poker players”), player collusion, multi-accounting, and ghosting.
You can virtually guarantee that the games at offshore poker sites are rife with illegal and unethical activity, as offshore sites have little incentive to punish bad actors.
Offshore gambling sites are in the business of taking deposits from players. You can’t expect much in the way of player security once they have your money.
California Online Poker Sites FAQ
Can I play online poker in California?
Yes. While full-scale, regulated, real-money poker isn’t yet available in California, sweepstakes poker sites are legal.
The top sweepstakes poker site in California is ClubWPT. You can purchase a monthly subscription at ClubWPT and get unlimited access to the sweepstakes tournaments offered there.
ClubWPT’s sweepstakes tournaments award cash and prizes, including entries to live World Poker Tour events.
Is WPT Global allowed in California?
No. WPT Global is the world’s top real-money poker site, but (unfortunately) isn’t legal in California or any other part of the United States.
What is the best legal online poker site available in California?
ClubWPT offers the best legal online poker site available to California players. ClubWPT operates as a sweepstakes poker platform, with tournaments that award cash and prizes.
You don’t directly play with cash at ClubWPT, but you can purchase a monthly subscription and compete for cash and prizes.
Is ClubWPT legal in California?
Yes. The sweepstakes games at ClubWPT are legal in California.
The free-to-play games at ClubWPT are legal in all 50 U.S. states. The sweepstakes games are legal in 36 states, with California as one of those states.
Are offshore poker sites legal?
No. As mentioned in this guide, you should avoid playing poker or doing any kind of gaming at offshore gambling sites. Your money, banking information and personal information could be at risk at an offshore gambling site, and the integrity of the games can be questionable.
Best California Poker Site
[CLUBWPT AD]
There is no purchase necessary to play on ClubWPT. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. For more information regarding events, including how to qualify and location eligibility, visit ClubWPT.com
Ensure your jurisdiction allows play on WPT Global. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.