Best California Casino Apps: Top Apps for Android and iPhones

Best Casino Apps in California Ranked by Users

Once California casino apps get the green light, one of the easiest ways of finding the best casino apps is by checking out rankings and reading reviews. Below you'll find the most popular casino apps and their Android and Apple ratings.

With the second-largest population in the US, residents can expect to have several casino apps available to them once legal, as these companies will all want a piece of the pie.

Are Casino Apps Legal in California?

Casino apps are not legal in the state of California. While a few forms of gambling are legal in the state of California, like cardrooms and online sweepstakes, many forms of gambling are still illegal in California. Most forms of gambling that you would commonly find in a brick-and-mortar casino, like table games, slot games, and most of your other favorite casino games, are illegal in California, in both brick-and-mortar and online casino apps. 

When Will California Casino Apps be Available?

The availability of real money California casino apps remains uncertain, with no clear timeline for legalization. The state legislature has been considering sports betting bills due to their revenue potential and pressure from major sports leagues. If online sports betting is legalized, it could pave the way for other forms of online wagering, but currently, players must wait for approval from the California Gaming Board to enjoy casino games on California casino apps.

Are there any Legal California Casino Apps?

At this time, there are not any legal California casino apps available in the state. Players who want to play online casino games on California real money casino apps have two choices. They will either have to wait until legislation is passed for them in California or use sweepstakes casinos or social casinos. The latter two feature casino games similar to what you would find with real-money casino apps but are completely legal because they don't require you to deposit any money to play. You can win real money prizes with these apps by accumulating sweepstakes coins but you are not guaranteed any prizes.

Most Likely California Casino Apps to Launch

If California decides to regulate online gambling and allow real money casino apps in California, it’s anticipated that most of the major operators in the online gaming space will be lining up to get a piece of the California gambling market. Even a small market share in California could produce millions in revenue given the massive numbers of potential players.

Based on trends in states with legal online casinos, these are the most popular operators we could potentially see in California when the time comes.

BetMGM Casino App

If California iPhone casino apps become legal in the state, BetMGM Casino California will no doubt be one of the first ones in the newly regulated market. In addition to their robust gaming offerings across all gambling markets, this app contains over 800 ways to play slots and over 60 table games, including live dealer games with a speedy interface that works across multiple platforms. Once you add in the welcome bonus, this will be one of the best California casino apps online.

Caesars Palace Online Casino App

The Caesars Place Online Casino app will lay claim to being one of the oldest real money casino apps once available. This casino app stands out from the other competitors in the category based solely on the sheer amount of gaming options it offers as over 1,000 online casino games exist in this app. With numerous live dealer games and a robust amount of promotional offers, this operator will be well-positioned to strike in the emerging California casino apps market.

DraftKings Casino App

Though best known for its sportsbook and daily fantasy products, DraftKings has its pulse on the finger of the modern gambler, so it’s no surprise that their casino gaming product is competitive with other major operators. Potential users of the California  DraftKings Casino app will get a user experience similar to its other products, with easy-to-navigate menus and large tile navigation highlighting the over 800 available games on the platform. The platform also stands out in terms of loyalty programs & rewards for users by offering three different welcome bonuses for new players. While this brand doesn’t have the history of some of the other brands in this review, it is most certainly competitive with others in the casino apps category when it comes to features, bonuses, and availability.

FanDuel Casino App

FanDuel Casino launched in 2021 and has bolstered the brand’s offerings across the gambling industry. The welcome bonus on the site is quite hefty, with free bonus spins and the ability to receive back up to 100% of your losses in the first 24 hours of play. While this operator doesn’t have the same variety of games as some of the other potential California online casino apps, the available options it does offer, including live dealer games, hefty promotions, and a pleasant user experience make this app a completely satisfactory entry in the category of potential California online casino apps.

BetRivers Casino App

With a string of land-based casinos in the Northeast United States, BetRivers, owned by Rush Gaming Interactive, has thrown its hat in with other competitors eager to offer a casino app California users can legally have access to. BetRivers Casino California app will stand out from its other competitors by offering a generous welcome bonus that offers rewards and a deposit match while asking for a minimal 1x playthrough requirement. It continues to stand out in the promotions department by offering happy hour windows with flex loyalty point increases. Like some of its other competitors that are new to the online casino apps market, the operator doesn’t have the widest variety of game selections compared to other operators. If that’s not a major factor in your decision-making process when selecting online casino apps, this app is a perfectly suitable entry in the online casino apps category. If Rush Gaming Interactive continues to expand the locations of its brick-and-mortar facilities into the western United States, they should be in a newly legal California market in no time.

Hard Rock Bet Casino App

The Hard Rock Casino California app will build on its early foray into the online casino apps world when legislation on online casino apps in California moves forward. They’ve created a robust app with a nice variety of games that are available for users to dabble in. Like many new entrants into the market, they’re trying to make a name for themselves by offering a welcome bonus of 50 free spins and a 100% match deposit bonus.

How to Sign Up with a Casino App in California

Once California online casino apps are legalized, the sign-up process will be incredibly easy. Here's a look at the steps most casino apps in California will follow as a general guideline:

• Step 1: Navigate to the app of your choice via phone browser.
• Step 2: Create an account and provide all the required fields for the account.
• Step 3: Make a deposit.
• Step 4: Check for any California casino bonuses that could maximize your deposit.
• Step 5: Scroll through the lobby to see what games the casino app offers.

Games Available on a Mobile Casino App in California

While it is yet to be determined what kind of games will be legal for California mobile casino apps, I've listed the most popular types of games available on most mobile casino apps.

Slots

Slots is where you’ll find the most variety of games. When casino apps advertise the large number of games they have, it’s mostly driven by slots. Most of the main navigation you'll see on most casino apps will be filled with tiles advertising new slot games.

Table Games

For those who like a spin of the wheel or a roll of the dice, games like roulette and craps are commonly found on online casino apps. This is a common type of game where you'll experience live dealer games.

Video Poker

Video poker is also widely available across most online casino apps. It’s readily available on most online casino apps.

Live Dealer

As more and more operators get into the online casino app space, live dealer games become a must-have to remain competitive in the online casino app space. Having the in-person feel that a user might have in a real-life casino enhances the online casino user experience.

Scratch Offs

Scratch-offs can be played online, but are rarely found within most online casino apps. For those interested in playing scratch-off tickets online, there are standalone apps available to do just that.

Poker 

Some online casino apps offer poker within their casino app. Although California has legalized poker in brick-and-mortar cardrooms, online poker is still illegal in the state.

How to Stay Safe on a California Casino App

For users to feel comfortable with California casino apps, safety and security are a must. For the potential California casino apps online that would be legal to residents with the passing of legislation, their back-end architecture utilizes SSL and encryption to ensure that personal information, including financial data, is secure and passed without harm.

You will also be safe to use legalized California casino apps because they will continually be monitored. In each state where sports betting and/or online gambling has been legalized, each operator must go through an application process where they are completely vetted. Even after this process, the government group in charge of online gambling keeps tabs on the operators as long as they are still offering services in the state.

As data security becomes a more prominent issue for the technology-consuming public, the two major app stores both offer a section on each app landing page that highlights how this app utilizes consumer data and what it does with the data it collects. This can help put new users at ease so that they aren't worried about their personal or financial data being sold to third parties with less than reputable intent.

Data is Not Shared with Third Parties 

The online casino apps in California collect data on a user’s actions within the app, but it is only for performance within the app.

Data is Not Collected

California casino apps will state on the page in their respective app store what data is collected and linked to your name and what is not linked to your name. Data is not shared with unaffiliated third parties.

Data is Encrypted

Casino apps in California use the most up-to-date security and encryption procedures to ensure the safe transmission of financial and personal information.

Data Can Be Deleted

Often when users download one of the California casino apps online and decide to delete it, the record of the data the app collected is completely and permanently removed.

Should I Download Illegal Casino Apps?

Legislation, particularly legislation around gambling, generally moves very slowly. Because of this, users can be drawn to "offshore" casino apps that market themselves as being safe and legal. In general, these sites are anything but that. Although it seems that California won't be legalizing online casinos anytime soon, we cannot recommend downloading and playing with these illegal apps. Here are just a few key reasons why we would never use apps that have not gone through the legal process in the US:

• There is no government oversight which means there are no protections for you as a consumer. These sites can refuse to honor your withdrawals and you have no legal recourse of getting your money back.
• Cashing out from illegal online casino apps and filtering it back into your normal money stream can look suspicious and could increase your risk of an audit.
• Illegal casino apps are common targets for hackers and others trying to steal your data. By playing on these sites, you inherently increase your risk of being targeted for a cyber attack. 
• There is nothing stopping these companies from selling your data. Again, with no oversight, they can sell your information for their own personal gain, leaving your private information vulnerable.

Download California Casino Apps

Although residents of the Golden State will have to wait to download traditional California casino apps, there are several social and sweepstakes options available today. These operators offer a very similar experience to real-money casino apps and will allow users to get comfortable with the ins and outs before online gambling in California becomes legal.

Author

Dan Moran

@1DanMoran

Dan Moran is a sports betting expert for BetCalifornia.com. Writing for BetCalifornia.com is a marriage of two passions: starting conversations and online gaming. His love for online gaming began when he deposited his first $50 into PokerStars in college during the Moneymaker era of online poker. He taps into his passion and expertise to deliver the best information for California bettors.