On January 1, 2007, a new California law (AB 839)  [PDF 58 kb / 4 pg] passed allowing eligible nonprofit organizations to hold "charity poker night" fundraisers. Nonprofit organizations and suppliers of equipment and/or services for such fundraising events must submit an application for registration to the Bureau of Gambling Control for approval.

Controlled games which are an approved funding mechanism for these fundraisers are specified in the California Penal Code section 337j(e)(1) as “any poker or pai gow game, and any other game played with cards or tiles, or both, and approved by the Bureau of Gambling Control, and any game of chance, including any gaming device, played for currency, check, credit, or any other thing of value that is not prohibited and made unlawful by statute or local ordinance.”

A detailed listing of provisions outlined in AB 839  [PDF 28 kb / 1 pg] can be found at: Charitable Gambling Fundraisers At-A-Glance.

Nonprofit organizations must register with the Bureau to host one event per calendar year. In addition to nonprofit organizations, businesses that supply equipment and services for fundraising events will be required to register annually with the Bureau. A business that supplies equipment and/or services to an event must register annually.

No one under the age of 21 is allowed to participate at these fundraising events. Nonprofit organizations are required to post problem gambling information at each fundraising event.

The new law does not allow the use of slot machines or Internet gaming for fundraising purposes. Other fundraising restrictions apply to charity bingo and raffle events. The Attorney General’s Charitable Trust Section regulates raffles (Raffles - Charitable Trusts - California Dept. of Justice - Office of the Attorney General). Nonprofit Organizations must register with the Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts prior to conducting a raffle and file financial disclosure reports on each raffle event. Please contact your local city, sheriff, or police department for inquiries regarding bingo.

Bureau staff work directly with the Franchise Tax Board to assist in providing required documents to determine tax exemption. A process has been implemented which allows nonprofit organizations to obtain written documentation necessary to process applications in a very minimal waiting period.

During the 2007* calendar year, the Bureau of Gambling Control has monitored and tracked all applications received by the Charitable Gambling Program. Based on the research of both Nonprofit Organizations and Gambling Equipment/Service Suppliers the total number of applications received for Nonprofit Organizations in 2007 was 322 and the total for Gambling Equipment/Service Providers was 90 as shown in the chart above.

As shown in the chart below, 59% percent of the Gambling Equipment/Service Suppliers are located in Southern California, 28% percent in Northern California, 2% percent in Central California, and 1% percent out of other locations