Interesting Facts and Statistics About Casino Gambling in California

There are quite a few interesting facts and statistics about casino gambling in California that might be of interest to players and those simply involved in observing various aspects of the industry. Some of the more intriguing statistics paint the picture of what gambling is like in California and those who participate. The following takes a closer look at these. Various studies have been done in the state, administered by reputable parties such as the UCLA Gambling Studies Program and other professional state and private agencies involved in researching and providing support to gamblers in the California. You can learn more about some of these agencies in our page that covers gambling resources for California residents.

General Gambling Statistics in California

When looking at a comprehensive study that was held in 2006, it is shown that nearly 83 percent of residents of California have participated in gambling during their lifetime, with just over 58 percent of California adults having done so in the previous year. Over 20 percent of those polled say that they gamble at least once per month. When looking directly at the specific types of gambling, six out of ten adults in California have gambled at a casino, which is just below the seven out of ten that have played the lottery, making casino gambling the second most popular form of gambling in the state.

The common age group for those participating in casino gambling in California is 30-64, the amount of which is substantially higher than the age bracket of 18-29. As of the time when the study took place, gambling among Hispanics and Asians was lower overall than among Whites and African Americans. When identifying gambling patterns among California residents, 35 percent of respondents has gambled within the past year as opposed to the amount of gamblers that do so at least weekly, which is just around 10 percent. It’s also interesting to note that casino gamblers are more likely to have graduated college and be earning over $50,000 in annual household income.

Indian Casino Gambling Facts in California

There are also a wide range of interesting facts about tribal casinos in California. For one, they pay much lower taxes than those of standard casinos, as federal law protects their tribal properties. In general, they simply don’t receive as many types of gambling taxes as other casinos. It’s also important to note that Indian reservation casinos weren’t really that established of an industry until the 1970’s in the United States and the 1980’s in California. In such a short time, it has already turned into a massive industry. In California, there are between 40 and 50 different Indian tribes that own and run Indian reservation casinos. In relation to the rest of the United States, this covers about 25 percent of all Indian tribes that have a stake in building casinos on their land.

You will also find that the Indian casino gambling industry has grown at a much larger rate than traditional casinos. In fact, between the years of 2000 and 2010, Indian casino gambling grew at around eight times faster than its counterpart. California is also among a handful of states, including New York, Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin, that has sent in applications to the BIA for gambling on off-reservation sites, though these applications have yet to be accepted. California also has more Indian tribe casinos than any other state within the United States. In total, these casinos earn well over $6 billion per year in revenue, which is a staggering sum. It might also be interesting to know that the Chumash Casino in Santa Barbara County is one of the more diverse Indian casinos in the United States, as it hosts over 3,500 visitors per day, with most of these visitors being Hispanic, while many of the employees are also non-Indian.

Statistics Concerning Online Casino Gambling in California

At this time, we were unable to locate documented online casino gambling statistics relevant to the state of California. There simply hasn’t been the type of research conducted on playing California online casino games as there has been for the brick and mortar gambling entertainment. We suspect that as California moves towards legalizing state regulated online gambling that this will change and that various gambling studies research teams at UCLA will jump at the chance to incorporate a new gambling venue into their program. At such time as those types of statistics start showing up, we will add them to this page.