Daily fantasy sports (DFS) contests were extremely popular in California, which has led to increased regulatory scrutiny. As the country’s most populous state — with 40 million residents — California represents the largest single-state market for DFS. In fact, some estimates suggested Californians comprised as much as 10% of the total entries in US-based DFS contests (maybe even more) in 2025.
Attorney General Rob Bonta has given an advisory opinion to prohbit DFS sites in the Golden State, just like California sports betting. While this news may not encourage DFS players, know that, at the moment, it is only an opinion; not the law.
Meanwhile, if you’re seeking information about the legal status of daily fantasy sports in California and about potential DFS operators in CA players, PlayCA has you covered.
See below for everything you need to know about daily fantasy sports in the Golden State.
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Are daily fantasy sports legal in California?
They currently exist in a legal grey area.
In July 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta delivered an advisory opinion that prohibited DFS operations under the state’s penal code. Operators argued that they were separate from sports betting, but Bonta didn’t agree.
This move came after companies such as Underdog Sports, FanDuel, DraftKings and others called the state home for years, providing entertainment for Californians.
Underdog challenged the AG’s opinion in court but no opinion has yet been given, leaving operators in a state of flux. Some have chosen to pull out of California while others have decided to see the controversy through to the bitter end.
Should California legalize DFS, how would you use the sites?
Let’s say California eventually changes its tune around DFS and legalizes daily fantasy sports sites. These sites could look and feel complicated at first glace, but in reality, they’re fairly easy to figure out.
If California ever legalizes DFS sites, here are the steps you would take to create and account and enter DFS competitions. These are the same steps you’d take if you wanted to create an account in another state, too.
Browse a prospective site
You don’t want to sign up and deposit at any daily fantasy sports site blindly. Instead, you would want to look over one or more DFS sites to ensure that you find one that offers what you need. Aspects to consider during this vetting process include navigation, available markets, promotions, and banking options.
If you’re a big NHL fan, for example, you’d want to choose a site that offers lots of hockey contests. We’d recommend Fliff Superstars. Great hockey markets and they’re the only DFS site to feature official NHL logos. If bonuses are important, you may want to find a site that features plenty of DFS promotions, like Underdog Fantasy. You can also read reviews on daily fantasy sites for a second opinion on whether a site is worth considering.
Register for an account
After finding a quality DFS site, you’d need to register for an account to get started. You’d need to click on the sign-up button on the site’s homepage to bring up an account form. The form will request specific details, such as your full name, birthdate, physical address, and email address. You’d also need to create a username and password as well as to agree to the site’s general terms and conditions.
In many states, you must be at least 18 years old to participate in DFS contests. From 2009 to 2025, when DFS sites operated in a gray area in California, that was the legal age. Players needed to agree to the site’ terms and conditions, and also confirm they were at least 18. If California were to legalize DFS sites, this would likely be the same.
Make a deposit
The next step to playing in real money DFS contests involves making a deposit.
Bank transfers, credit cards, debit cards, e-wallets and prepaid cards are all commonly available at daily fantasy sites. In states where DFS sites partner with land-based venues, users can perform banking operations in person at the retail partners’ premises. That was not the case when these sites operated in California, however, since all banking must take place online.
Enter a DFS contest
Once you registered at a DFS site and deposited funds into your account, the next step would be checking the lobby for potential contests to enter. These lobbies feature filters that help you sort games, enabling you to locate and enter contests that are within your budget.
Note that once you register for a DFS contest, you can usually change your mind and unregister as long as you do so before the contest begins. When you unregister for a contest, the funds will automatically return to your account.
Daily fantasy sports vs. sports betting
In certain respects, daily fantasy sports contests resemble traditional sports betting. Generally speaking, players set their lineups for DFS contests just before games start, much like bettors will place a wager just before a game gets underway. And when the games are over, you know right away if you’ve won, as sites grade and settle outcomes soon after the contests conclude.
While the California AG believes sports betting and DFS are one in the same, there are some important differences between the two, even if they both remain illegal in the state.
When betting on sports, you’re often betting on a team to win a game outright or by a certain amount of points (point spread). Thus, the result of the game directly impacts whether your bet wins. Say you place a moneyline bet on the Golden State Warriors to beat the Los Angeles Lakers. The game’s outcome obviously affects whether you win your bet.
With daily fantasy sports, which team wins or loses the game often doesn’t matter. Instead, you are betting on how individual players perform, with the statistical results of their play determining how you fare. You might choose Stephen Curry and LeBron James to fill a couple of spots in your DFS lineup for a given night’s slate of games. Whether the Warriors win or the Lakers win won’t affect how you do. Rather, you’ll only be pulling for Curry and James to put up big numbers for you.
One type of traditional sports bet resembles DFS more closely — proposition bets or “prop bets” on individual players. However, in DFS you never bet on just one player to score a certain number of points, to register a certain number of strikeouts or to rush for a certain number of yards. You are instead betting on several players — usually six or more — to accumulate points for you and help increase your fantasy team’s overall score.
Daily fantasy sports contests also restrict you from filling your lineup only with players from a single team. Usually, you must have representatives from at least two teams. That means you can’t just load up on players from the Los Angeles Dodgers or Los Angeles Angels. At least one player from another MLB team must be present in your lineup.
That rule is where the name “fantasy” comes from, in fact. When you play DFS, you are building a nonexistent “fantasy” team of players to play for you. In traditional sports betting, you bet on real, actual teams. In DFS, though, you’re betting on invented fantasy teams.
Which DFS contests would be available in California?
There are many kinds of daily fantasy sports contests featuring a variety of rules, structures and payouts. Across the country, entry fees range from freerolls and $0.25 contests up to those costing thousands of dollars to enter. All involve constructing lineups consisting of players from different teams, assembling them to create your fantasy team. No matter what type of DFS contest it is, your score will depend on the statistical performance of your selected players.
Often (but not always) the contests will give each player a value in US dollars, then invite you to build a team while not going over a maximum amount, your “salary cap.” Having that salary cap keeps you from simply picking all the best players, as you won’t have enough salary to fill out your roster with only the highest value players.
If DFS sites are ever back in California, here are the popular games residents could expect:
Guaranteed prize pools
A DFS contest that a site lists as a GPP or as having a guaranteed prize pool is one in which the site guarantees the prize amount regardless of how many players enter. Typically the top 10% to 20% of finishers divide the prize money, with the highest payouts going to the top finishers as in a poker tournament.
Cash games
In daily fantasy sports, so-called “cash games” work a little differently from GPPs. Instead of featuring graduated payouts, all the top finishers in a cash game receive the same cash prize. Cash games are also different in that if they don’t attract the required number of players, the site will cancel them and contestants will receive refunds. In other words, if there are only 75 entries in a 100-entry cash game, the contest won’t run.
Some examples of DFS cash games include 50/50 contests in which the top 50% cash, double-ups in which the prize is twice what players put into the prize pool, and head-to-head contests between two players in which the winner takes all.
Showdowns
Showdown contests enable daily fantasy sports players to focus on just one game rather than a whole slate of games. For these, you pick your entire lineup from players in a single game, although you still can’t build your entire roster from just one team’s players. You have to have at least one player from each side in your lineup. You’ll find showdown contests as either GPPs or cash games.
Tiers
DFS contests using tiers set aside the salary cap and instead divide players into separate tiers (“Tier 1,” “Tier 2,” etc.). You then select one player from each tier to create your lineup. Contests using tiers also can be either GPPs or cash games.
There are other DFS games, as well. Many contests allow multiple entries, while some restrict players to entering just once. There are “steps” contests that function as satellites into larger ones. There are even “in game” DFS contests that have some similarities to live betting.
You’ll also find DFS sites inviting players to participate in free-to-enter pools and other special contests with cash prizes.
Which sports would be available for DFS contests in California?
Much like with traditional sports betting, the major North American sports are the most popular among DFS players. Football is the most popular (by far), followed by baseball, basketball and hockey. These were the main ones in California before operations were shut down. If California reverses course at some point, you can expect those trends to repeat.
However, Californians had other options when they visited DFS sites, including some esports. Here are some of the sports that were available in California (and likely would be available if DFS sites are legalized):
- Australian rules football
- Auto racing (NASCAR)
- Baseball (MLB)
- Basketball (NBA, NCAA, Euroleague)
- Esports (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, League of Legends)
- Football (NFL, NCAA, CFL)
- Golf (PGA, LPGA)
- Hockey (NHL)
- Mixed martial arts (UFC)
- Soccer (EPL, MLS)
- Tennis (ATP, WTA)
History of daily fantasy sports in California
Daily fantasy sports first emerged in earnest during the late 2000s and early 2010s. FanDuel, for instance, launched in 2009, while DraftKings went live in 2012. After these sites operated for a few years and started to become increasingly popular, many states’ lawmakers began considering the need to legalize and regulate DFS, in part to capture the significant tax revenue the contests could provide. California was one of the states to make such efforts.
2016: California Assembly passes DFS bill; Senate declines to pursue
California was actually among the first state legislatures to take up DFS. In fact, in January 2016, the California Assembly became the first legislative body in the country to approve a bill that legalized DFS.
The bill, called the Internet Fantasy Sports Game Protection Act (AB 1437), came from Assemblymember Adam Gray with his colleagues Reggie Jones-Sawyer and Cheryl Brown as co-authors.
The bill sought to establish a licensing process for DFS sites in California that would ensure they pay a licensing fee and a tax on revenue, although it did not specify amounts for either. Expectations were that the Senate would fill in specifics regarding licensing fees, tax rates and other particulars once they took up the bill.
Many also believed that then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris would likely issue an opinion about the legality of DFS in response to a letter from Assemblymember Marc Levine requesting she do so. Having such an opinion in hand would then help the Senate shape the legislation to fit with California gambling law.
The Assembly passed the legislation by an overwhelming 62-1 vote, with Levine the only person to vote no. It appeared California was on its way to becoming the first state to legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports. Soon after, though, the state’s influential gambling tribes rose up in opposition to the legislation. The bill went to a Senate committee, and lawmakers scheduled a hearing but then canceled it. By year’s end, the bill had died without further action.
No attorney general opinion on DFS in California
In 2016, Harris was elected to represent California in the US Senate before later becoming vice president, and Xavier Becerra succeeded her as the state’s attorney general. Like Harris, Becerra never weighed in with an opinion on daily fantasy sports during his tenure.
Nor has current Attorney General Rob Bonta tipped his hand regarding DFS since he took the post in 2021. That said, Bonta did vote in favor of AB 1437 in 2016 while a member of the Assembly.
2025: Attorney general opinion rules DFS sites illegal in California
In 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta delivered an opinion putting DFS in the same boat as sports betting. This came days after DFS operator Underdog Sports attempted to stop Bonta from releasing this opinion but failed.
Bonta’s 33-page opinion likened DFS games to sports betting, saying that the two “enable participants to win or lose money based on the outcomes of sporting events played by third-party athletes.”
DFS operators argued that their games aren’t that of pure chance, believing players do research and need skill to put together successful lineups. But the AG didn’t see it that way.
“Just because the operator is not betting against the players does not mean that the players are not betting against each other,” Bonta’s opinion states.
This opinion shut the door on the gray area era in California. As 2025 came to a close, the state also instituted a prohibition on sweepstakes casinos.
What’s next for daily fantasy sports in California?
It appears unlikely that legalizing daily fantasy sports will happen in California any time soon. The state had its chance, but after spending more than a decade and a half in a gray area, don’t expect the state to somehow reverse its course overnight.
For DFS to eventually become legal in California, things will have to change.
For one, it’s wise to assume that sports betting would likey need to be legalized, since Bonta believes the two are similar. That move would require the backing and initiative of California’s Native American tribes, as well as other groups with a keen interest in the matter. Attempts to legalize sports betting without the tribes’ approval failed time and time again. Attempts to legalize DFS sites in the same vein would likely meet a similar fate.
For DFS to prevail, it would need that same approval. Leading up to Bonta’s opinion, the California Nations of Indian Gaming Association tabbed DFS sites as “illegal and unregulated gaming.” Of course, things could change if it were the tribes leading the push, but plenty of work would need to be done for that even to be a possibility.
All of this is a tall task. Sports betting would likely need to be the first domino to fall, and that is easier said than done.
Key Takeaways
In summary, while California residents did at one point have access to daily fantasy sports, that all changed in 2025 when Bonta released his opinion deeming the games illegal. Operators such as FanDuel and DraftKings, who called California home since as early as 2009 and 2012, had to stop operations.
There certainly is a world where DFS games could eventually become legal. But the current landscape of California signals that this isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s an uphill battle.
For now, Californians need to travel to surrounding states like Oregon or Arizona (just as they would to place a sports wager) to participate in daily fantasy sports.
FAQ on potential DFS in California
As is the case in most states, you would likely need to be at least 18 years old in order to play daily fantasy sports in California. When these sites operated unregulated in the state, that was the minimum age to create an account.
It all depends on how DFS sites would operate. But there’s a good chance that if DFS were to be legal in California, DraftKings would be one of the main players. The operator called the state home for more than a decade while operating in a gray area. It’s also likely that we’d see operators like FanDuel and Underdog Sports make a comeback, should legislation change.
They’d likely be a hit, considering how much operators credited their business to California residents.
Obviously the biggest reason for this is that these sites operated in a gray area while sports betting was illegal. DFS sites were technically the only option California residents had. Being that the state is highly populated, California accounted for as much as 10% of all DFS site activity in the country during this time.
But again, there are a number of factors. With California’s AG believing sports betting and DFS sites are the same, sports betting would likely need to be greenlit before DFS. If sports betting is ever legal in California at the same time as DFS sites, the sites likely wouldn’t be as popular, since they wouldn’t be the lone sports entertainment option.
In 2016, when California legislators were considering whether to legalize DFS in the state, Assembly member Eric Linder noted that the legislation was necessary because not acting “puts up to six million Californians who are playing fantasy sports at risk.” (For more on the history of California’s legislative efforts with regard to DFS, see below.)
While that figure was just an estimate, it gave a good indication of just how popular DFS was in California at the time. Meanwhile, the total number of DFS players in the country increased steadily since. Studies from the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association indicate there are more than 45 million DFS players in the US, plus another 15 million or so in Canada. It stands to reason that the number of players in California has increased as well over recent years.
Not anymore.
Previously, Nevada DFS players could travel across state lines to set their lineups and enter contests. But since the California attorney general shut down DFS sites, that isn’t possible.
Instead, Nevada residents (as well as Californians) will need to visit other nearby states lik Oregon or Arizona in order to play DFS games.
California and Nevada are among the few states that don’t allow DFS sites. Other states include Washington, Idaho, Montana, Missouri, and Hawaii.
Nevada considers daily fantasy sports to be gambling, which means DFS sites must have a license to operate in the state. When the state’s attorney general announced this position in 2015, all DFS companies left Nevada, including DraftKings and FanDuel.
As a result, a significant number of Las Vegas-based DFS players traveled across state lines to California before operations shut down in 2025.
If California were to formally legalize daily fantasy sports, the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) would likely serve as the regulatory authority overseeing licensing and game integrity.
The CGCC oversees California card rooms and also serves as the state regulatory agency for California’s tribal casinos.
The California State Lottery could theoretically step forward as a potential regulator for DFS, but the CGCC would be a much more likely candidate.
Plenty of different things.
The potential tax revenue from legalized DFS sites would have been major for the state, but competing interests have made any kind of gambling expansion difficult for lawmakers to pursue. The current discussion of sports betting illustrates how the many stakeholders in the state and conflicts between them can pose a challenge to enacting new gambling legislation.
California tribes operate nearly 70 casinos in the state, making them an important participant in any discussions about legal gambling. There are also nearly 100 non-tribal card rooms that can factor into such negotiations. In the case of sports betting, the state’s racetracks and professional sports franchises are also interested parties, as are operators of online sportsbooks hoping one day to launch in CA.
These many competing interests make gambling legislation a complicated topic for lawmakers, who must consider the political consequences of maintaining or losing support from significant constituencies.
The landscape would need to shift dramatically, and it certainly wouldn’t happen overnight. The state lacked urgency to provide any sort of legal sanction for daily fantasy sports for almost two decades. If DFS sites were to be legalized, this process would take plenty of time.