Verticals / Card rooms
Card rooms
Card rooms are legal and live in 7 states: California, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire and Washington, as of Oct 11, 2026. 1 state allow it in a limited form.
Card rooms / poker rooms outside casinos.
LiveLegal, not launchedLimitedContestedProhibitedNot authorizedRepealedNA
By state
| State | Status | Launched | Model | Current tax | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | Live | Competitive | 1.33% OTHER (retail) | Card rooms may offer player-banked games (the 'bank' rotates among players, often via licensed third-party proposition players/TPPPs) but not house-banked games, which are reserved to tribal casinos. A statutory moratorium on new card-room licenses has been in effect since 1995. Local governments separately tax card-room gross revenue at rates that vary widely by city (historically reported from roughly 2% to 16.5%+ of monthly gross receipts); see tax_rates for the separate state annual cardroom-business license fee (4 CCR § 12368.2), which is distinct from local gambling taxes. Since Jan. 1, 2025, SB 549 (2024) lets tribes sue card rooms/TPPPs civilly over alleged illegal banked games; multiple tribal coalitions have sued (Sacramento Superior Court, filed starting Jan. 1, 2025; Agua Caliente Feb. 18, 2025; Rincon Band Apr. 23, 2025), with no reported ruling as of this research. | |
| Florida | Live | Competitive | 8% GGR (total) 10% GGR (total) | Nonbanking poker and dominoes only (players compete against each other, not the house); some poker games may use a "designated player" format. A cardroom license is available only to a licensed pari-mutuel permitholder, operating at the same facility as the pari-mutuel wagering. Table caps: 10 tables in counties with authorized slot machine gaming, 30 elsewhere. Minimum age 18. | |
| Minnesota | Live | Competitive | 0% OTHER (retail) | 1999 law authorized a card room with unbanked poker at Canterbury Park (and, per the Canterbury history, concurrently allowed poker tables at tribal casinos); Running Aces later opened with a similar card room. Games are unbanked (player-pool) only; the house may not bank games. | |
| Montana | Live | Competitive | No GGR/revenue tax on card-room (poker/panguingue) operations. Operators pay flat license/permit fees instead: an operator's license under §23-5-177, a per-table permit, and fees for the on-premises liquor license and each licensed dealer, rather than a percentage-of-revenue tax. OTHER (retail) | Live poker/panguingue card tables require an operator's license (§23-5-177) plus an on-premises liquor license, a per-table permit, and a separately licensed dealer; games must be played at a permitted table on the licensed premises. | |
| Nevada | Live | 1931 | Competitive | 6.75% GGR (retail) | Poker/card rooms are not a separate license category; they operate as part of nonrestricted casino licenses under NRS 463. |
| New Hampshire | Live | Competitive | No flat statutory GGR tax; revenue from charitable-gaming table games is split between the charity licensee and the state by game type. Per secondary press reporting (not independently verified against current RSA 287-D text) charities receive 35% of table-game revenue and the state 10%. Separately, Lottery Commission administrative rule (N.H. Code Admin. R. Lot 7208.03) requires a payment to the state of 3% of all funds collected from players in games using valueless chips, or 10% of the rake/house winnings in games using chips with monetary value. OTHER (retail) | For-profit "game operator employer" licensees (RSA 287-D:8) run poker and table games at charitable-gaming facilities on behalf of charity licensees, which must receive at least 35% of gross revenue minus prizes (287-D §9 area); for-profit operation of these rooms has been allowed since a 2006 law change. High-stakes tournaments (buy-in $2,500+) separately authorized under 287-D:3-a. | |
| Washington | Live | Competitive | Not a state tax; Washington's gambling taxes are local-option. RCW 9.46.110 caps what a city/county/town may impose: card rooms/social card games up to 20% of gross revenue; commercial (for-profit) punchboards/pull-tabs up to 5% of gross receipts, or at local option up to 10% of gross receipts minus cash/merchandise prizes. Actual local rates vary by jurisdiction and are often set below the statutory cap. OTHER (retail) | Commercial card rooms (house-banked and non-house-banked) licensed by WSGC; count has declined for years (88 in 2007 vs. roughly 42 house-banked and 101 non-house-banked card rooms reported for FY2023). Local gambling taxes on card rooms/social card games are capped by state law (RCW 9.46.110) at 20% of gross revenue from those games; actual local rates vary and are often set well below the cap (one municipal example: 10% of annual gross receipts over $10,000). Commercial (for-profit, non-charitable) punchboards/pull-tabs operated by card rooms and other licensed businesses are separately capped under RCW 9.46.110 at 5% of gross receipts, or, at local option, 10% of gross receipts minus cash/merchandise prizes. | |
| Oregon | Limited | No tax exists because no taxable commercial card-room revenue is legally permitted. ORS 167.117(21)'s 'social game' exemption, under which card rooms/poker nights are allowed in private businesses and clubs when authorized by a city or county (ORS 167.121), strictly forbids any house bank, house odds, or house income from the games (no entry fee, table rental, rake, or other charge for the privilege of playing); any such charge would make the game an unlawful, untaxed/unlicensed gambling operation rather than a licensed card room. OTHER (retail) | Oregon has no licensed commercial card-room industry comparable to California or Washington. 'Social games' (including poker) with no house bank, house odds, or house income are exempt from the gambling prohibition; cities/counties may authorize them in private businesses and clubs (allowed since 1974 under ORS 167.121), but hosts may not charge entry fees, table rental, or otherwise take money from play. A 2017 bill (HB 2190) would have restricted business-hosted social games to charitable/fraternal/religious premises only; whether it was enacted could not be confirmed in this research. | ||
| Texas | Contested | No statute licenses card rooms. Operators rely on the Penal Code 47.02(b) "private place" social-gambling defense, structuring poker rooms as private membership clubs where the house allegedly takes no cut of pots (only membership/seat fees). Texas AG and local prosecutors (Dallas, Houston) have disputed this theory and brought enforcement actions against individual clubs; legality is litigated city-by-city and club-by-club rather than settled statewide. | |||
| Hawaii | Prohibited | No stand-alone card room license category exists; only private, no-stakes-beyond-winnings home games qualify for the social-gambling exception. | |||
| Idaho | Prohibited | No stand-alone card rooms exist outside tribal facilities. | |||
| Utah | Prohibited | No stand-alone poker/card rooms exist; hosting gambling on a property is "permitting gambling." | |||
| Alabama | Not authorized | No statute authorizes stand-alone card rooms outside tribal Class II facilities. | |||
| Alaska | Not authorized | No stand-alone card-room license category exists outside the social-game home-poker defense. | |||
| Arizona | Not authorized | No statute authorizes standalone (non-tribal) card rooms in Arizona; Title 5's gaming chapters cover racing, lottery, bingo, fantasy sports, event wagering and tribal gaming only. | |||
| Arkansas | Not authorized | No standalone cardroom licensing framework outside poker rooms at the state's licensed casinos. | |||
| Colorado | Not authorized | Colorado's constitution confines table games (including poker) to licensed limited-gaming casinos in the three gaming towns; standalone card rooms outside that framework are not authorized. | |||
| Connecticut | Not authorized | No standalone card rooms are authorized outside the two tribal casinos; home/social poker with no house cut and nothing of value flowing to a non-participant is the only legal form. | |||
| Delaware | Not authorized | No stand-alone card-room category; table games/poker operate only inside the 3 Lottery-run racino casinos. | |||
| District of Columbia | Not authorized | No statute authorizes stand-alone card rooms/poker rooms outside the sports-wagering and skill-machine frameworks; covered by the general gaming-table prohibition. | |||
| Georgia | Not authorized | Card rooms outside the home are not licensed; wagering on card games is gambling under O.C.G.A. 16-12-21. | |||
| Illinois | Not authorized | No Illinois statute authorizes stand-alone card rooms outside licensed casinos; general prohibition in 720 ILCS 5/28-1 applies to unlicensed card games for money. | |||
| Indiana | Not authorized | No freestanding card-room statute outside licensed casinos; poker is offered only within IGC-licensed casinos or as charitable/peer-to-peer skill-based poker. | |||
| Iowa | Not authorized | Iowa Code ch. 99F's license categories (excursion gambling boats, racetrack gambling structures, and their table games) do not include a standalone card-room/poker-room license outside a licensed casino; Iowa Administrative Code 491-ch.11 implementing ch. 99F likewise covers casino table games and slots, not independent card rooms. Ch. 99B separately permits nonprofit "qualified organizations" to run card-game tournaments withholding up to 5% of gross receipts, but that is charitable gaming (see charitable), not a commercial card-room category. | |||
| Kansas | Not authorized | KRGC public guidance states that betting/wagering-based fundraising activities (including poker games) are illegal in Kansas outside the licensed KELA/parimutuel/lottery framework. | |||
| Kentucky | Not authorized | No freestanding card-room statute identified; KRS Chapter 528 (Gambling) contains no card-room carve-out. | |||
| Louisiana | Not authorized | No standalone cardroom licensing framework outside poker rooms at licensed riverboat/land-based casinos; the Gaming Control Law does not authorize cardrooms at non-casino venues. | |||
| Maine | Not authorized | No stand-alone card-room/poker-room licensing category outside the 2 licensed casinos; general unauthorized-gambling provisions of 17-A M.R.S. ch. 39 apply. | |||
| Maryland | Not authorized | No stand-alone card-room category; table games operate only inside the 6 licensed casinos. | |||
| Massachusetts | Not authorized | No statute authorizes stand-alone card/poker rooms; general unlawful-gaming prohibition applies outside licensed casinos/sports wagering. | |||
| Michigan | Not authorized | Michigan does not authorize free-standing card rooms outside the 3 licensed Detroit commercial casinos and compacted tribal casinos; general prohibitions in the Michigan Penal Code and Gaming Control and Revenue Act apply to unlicensed card games for money. Secondary source only. | |||
| Mississippi | Not authorized | No standalone cardroom licensing framework outside licensed casino poker rooms; the Gaming Control Act does not authorize cardrooms at non-casino venues. | |||
| Missouri | Not authorized | Poker/card rooms outside the 13 licensed riverboat casinos are not authorized; Chapter 572 RSMo general gambling prohibition applies. | |||
| Nebraska | Not authorized | Games of chance confined by statute to licensed racetrack enclosures; no standalone card room framework identified. | |||
| New Jersey | Not authorized | No standalone card rooms outside the nine licensed Atlantic City casinos; informal "social gambling" among equals with no house cut is permitted and unregulated. | |||
| New Mexico | Not authorized | No freestanding card-room statute was identified; non-house-banked card games exist only within licensed tribal or Gaming Control Act premises, not as standalone card rooms. | |||
| New York | Not authorized | No standalone card rooms outside licensed casinos/tribal facilities; NY Penal Law's broad "gambling"/"contest of chance" definitions (Penal Law § 225.00) make unlicensed card rooms illegal. | |||
| North Carolina | Not authorized | ||||
| North Dakota | Not authorized | Poker/twenty-one is authorized only as licensed charitable gaming under ch. 53-06.1, not as a standalone commercial card room. | |||
| Ohio | Not authorized | ORC 2915.02(A)(2) prohibits operating a "game of chance" (poker is listed as a game of chance at § 2915.01(D)) for profit outside the limited charitable-games exemption at § 2915.02(D)(1) (festivals, max 5 days/year, no craps/roulette for money). Live poker is otherwise confined to the 4 licensed commercial casinos as table games under Ch. 3772; no stand-alone card rooms exist. | |||
| Oklahoma | Not authorized | Non-house-banked card games are authorized only as a tribal "covered game" under compact; there is no license category for standalone commercial card rooms. | |||
| Pennsylvania | Not authorized | Pennsylvania has no stand-alone card-room category; poker rooms operate only as part of the 17 licensed casinos under the Gaming Act. | |||
| Rhode Island | Not authorized | Casino-style table gaming (including poker) is confined by statute to the two state-licensed facilities (Twin River, Tiverton); no standalone card rooms are authorized. | |||
| South Carolina | Not authorized | No license category for stand-alone poker/card rooms; banked and table card games for money are prohibited under §16-19-40 and §16-19-50 outside the private social-game exception in §16-19-60. | |||
| South Dakota | Not authorized | No freestanding card-room statute outside licensed Deadwood/tribal casino premises. | |||
| Tennessee | Not authorized | ||||
| Vermont | Not authorized | No card-room/poker-room licensing category; general gambling-house prohibition (13 V.S.A. §2133) applies. | |||
| Virginia | Not authorized | No freestanding card-room statute separate from the licensed commercial casinos. | |||
| West Virginia | Not authorized | No stand-alone card-room category; table games operate only under the racetrack/Greenbrier table-games licenses. | |||
| Wisconsin | Not authorized | No freestanding (non-tribal) card room statute; card games occur only within tribal Class III facilities. | |||
| Wyoming | Not authorized | No stand-alone card-room/poker-room statute or license category was found; general gambling prohibition would apply absent one of the enumerated exceptions. |