Daily Fantasy Sports California

No California law authorizes or regulates paid daily fantasy sports, and California's Attorney General has concluded that such contests are illegal sports wagering. In Opinion No. 23-1001, issued on July 3, 2025, the office said both "pick'em" and "draft style" contests violate California Penal Code section 337a.

California's Position

The opinion answered a question from Assemblymember Tom Lackey. Its conclusion is direct: "California law prohibits the operation of daily fantasy sports games with players physically located within California, regardless of where the operators and associated technology are located. Such games constitute wagering on sports in violation of Penal Code section 337a." The key factor is where the player is physically located, not where the contest operator or its servers are.

The Legislature has not filled the gap. A 2015–16 bill, AB 1437, would have created a state license for internet fantasy sports operators with consumer protections such as age checks and safeguarded player funds, but it did not become law.

How DFS Compares With Sports Betting

The opinion describes two popular formats. In draft style games, a player pays a fixed entry fee, picks a lineup of real athletes and competes against other players for prizes. In pick'em games, a player predicts whether individual athletes will do better or worse than a set statistic, and in traditional versions competes "against the house," meaning the operator, rather than against other players.

The Attorney General's office treated both as betting. It cited the California Supreme Court's definition of bets or wagers as "promises to give money or money's worth upon the determination of an uncertain or unascertained event in a particular way," and noted that, unlike a lottery, betting "may involve skill or judgment." In its words: "We conclude that daily fantasy sports games, including both pick'em and draft style games, are prohibited by section 337a because they involve betting on sporting events." The opinion also described pick'em as appearing "materially indistinguishable" from a classic parlay, a combination of proposition bets on different game outcomes.

What the Opinion Does Not Settle

An Attorney General opinion is not a statute or a court ruling. When a fantasy operator went to court to stop its release, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge declined, finding that such opinions are advisory and do not change the law. The California Department of Justice has said the same thing in its own words: it "doesn't have the authority to make new law or change the law," and only the Legislature and the voters can do that.

The opinion also leaves questions open. It declined to decide whether daily fantasy contests are illegal lotteries, saying the skill-versus-chance question would need expert testimony and a fact-intensive inquiry outside the scope of an Attorney General opinion. It does not set out any timing or transition for existing paid contests in the state.

The takeaway for players: as of 2026, paid daily fantasy contests in California sit in legal uncertainty, with no state license system and a published Attorney General view that they are prohibited sports wagering. Contest formats offered in the state have changed since the opinion, and the law could change through legislation, court rulings or a ballot measure. Players physically located in California should check the official sources, the Attorney General at oag.ca.gov and the California Legislature at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, before entering a paid contest. This article is general information, not legal advice.