FanDuel sits in an unusual legal position in California. In July 2025, state Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a formal opinion concluding that daily fantasy sports contests are illegal under California law.1California Department of Justice. Attorney General Opinion 23-1001 – Daily Fantasy Sports FanDuel disagreed, kept its app running, and told California users they could continue playing while the company reviews the opinion.2FanDuel. FanDuel in California So when people ask whether FanDuel is legal in California, the honest answer is that the state’s top legal officer says no, the company is behaving as if the answer is yes, and no one has been ordered to stop or prosecuted for playing.
The Current Status in Plain Terms
An Attorney General opinion carries legal weight, but it is not a court ruling and not a new law. The AG’s office noted that its role was to describe existing law, not to make or change it.3California Department of Justice. California Department of Justice Releases Legal Opinion on Daily Fantasy Sports The opinion tells prosecutors and judges how the AG reads the statute. It does not by itself shut anyone down.
FanDuel has taken the position that its California users can keep playing. Its California support page confirms that active and pending contests will be scored and paid out as normal.2FanDuel. FanDuel in California A competing operator, Underdog, filed a lawsuit in July 2025 trying to prevent the opinion from being released, and more litigation is likely.
Enforcement so far has been nonexistent. No state agency has moved against FanDuel or any other daily fantasy operator since the opinion came out, and no California player has been prosecuted for entering a contest. California gambling enforcement has historically focused on unlicensed card rooms, offshore sportsbooks, and underground betting rather than fantasy apps.
Which FanDuel Products Work in California
FanDuel is not one product. What is available in the state depends on which part of the company you are using.
- Daily fantasy sports. Still accessible to California users, though the Attorney General’s opinion says these contests are illegal. FanDuel has not voluntarily pulled DFS from the state.
- FanDuel Faceoff. A separate app with head-to-head skill games like puzzles and arcade-style competitions for real money. Faceoff is available in California, though card games like Solitaire Sprint are restricted here. Because Faceoff players are the ones actually competing, rather than wagering on athletes, it sits outside the wagering statute the AG relied on.4FanDuel. Where Can I Play FanDuel Faceoff
- Sports betting. Not available. California voters rejected two ballot measures in November 2022 that would have legalized sports wagering.5Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 27 – Allows Online and Mobile Sports Wagering Outside Tribal Lands
- Online casino. Not available. Under the California Constitution, only tribal casinos may operate slot machines and similar games.
If someone tells you they use FanDuel in California, they are almost certainly using either the daily fantasy product or Faceoff. Sports betting and casino games from FanDuel have never operated in the state.
Why the Attorney General Says DFS Is Illegal
The opinion rests on Penal Code 337a, which makes it a crime to lay, make, offer, or accept any bet on the result of a contest of skill, speed, or power of endurance involving people or animals. The AG concluded that daily fantasy entry fees are wagers on the outcome of real-world athletic competition, which falls inside that prohibition.1California Department of Justice. Attorney General Opinion 23-1001 – Daily Fantasy Sports
The opinion covers both major contest formats. Pick’em games, where players predict whether an athlete will exceed a statistical benchmark, are treated as bets on the outcome of sporting events. Draft-style contests, where players assemble virtual rosters under a salary cap, get the same treatment: players are staking money on the uncertain performance of real athletes in real games.
The AG also rejected the industry’s usual escape hatch. California law includes a “contest-participant” exception that lets entrants pay to compete in things like golf tournaments or spelling bees. That exception does not fit DFS, because DFS players are not the ones performing. They are wagering on the performance of third parties.1California Department of Justice. Attorney General Opinion 23-1001 – Daily Fantasy Sports
The skill-versus-chance debate that has protected DFS in other states does not help here. That argument tends to work against Penal Code 330, which targets banking and percentage games. But the AG relied on Section 337a, which expressly reaches contests of skill, speed, or endurance. Even if building a winning lineup takes real expertise, the statute already anticipates skilled contests. So arguing that DFS is a game of skill does not remove it from the statute’s coverage.
What This Means for You as a Player
Individual players face very low legal risk in practice, but the situation has genuinely shifted since July 2025. Before the opinion, DFS existed in a gray area. Now the state’s chief legal officer has called it illegal, even if no one has acted on that call.
Penal Code 337a on its face reaches both operators and the people who place wagers, so players are theoretically exposed. California prosecutors have never pursued individual DFS participants, and the appetite for doing so appears to be essentially zero. Any enforcement pressure that eventually materializes is much more likely to land on FanDuel and its competitors than on their users.
The more realistic day-to-day risk is the absence of regulatory oversight. Because California has never licensed DFS operators, there is no state gambling commission to handle disputes over payouts, account freezes, or unfair-play complaints. If something goes wrong with your account, your recourse is FanDuel’s customer support and its terms of service. There is no state referee.
One boundary worth flagging: geolocation matters. You have to be physically in California to enter a contest from a California account, and if you travel to a state that explicitly bans DFS, the app will lock you out until you come back to an eligible location. The legality question in this article is about California specifically. Cross a state line and you are under a different set of rules.
Taxes on Your Winnings
The tax rules do not care whether California considers DFS legal. Winnings are taxable either way.
At the federal level, FanDuel is required to issue a Form 1099-MISC to any player with $600 or more in net winnings in a calendar year.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information The $600 threshold only decides whether FanDuel sends you a form. It does not decide whether you owe tax. Smaller winnings are still reportable income.
California treats gambling and contest winnings as taxable personal income, and the Franchise Tax Board applies that rule to winnings from lotteries, casinos, horse races, and similar activities.7Franchise Tax Board. Gambling DFS winnings flow into your California return through your federal adjusted gross income. FanDuel does not withhold California income tax the way a regulated casino might, so tracking and reporting is on you.
What Could Change
The current standoff will not hold forever. A few things could move it.
The legislature could pass a statute that explicitly legalizes and regulates DFS. Assembly Bill 1437 tried this in 2015 with a licensing structure administered by the Department of Justice. It passed the Assembly and stalled in the Senate.8California Legislative Information. California Assembly Bill 1437 – Gambling: Internet Fantasy Sports Game Protection Act Nothing comparable has advanced since.
The courts could weigh in. Operators have real financial reasons to challenge the AG’s reading, and the Underdog lawsuit filed in July 2025 may be the first of several. A court decision that DFS is not sports wagering under Section 337a would effectively displace the opinion. A court decision that agrees with the AG would put serious pressure on FanDuel to leave.
Prosecutors could act. So far they have not. If that changes, it will almost certainly begin with the operators.
Until one of those things happens, FanDuel’s daily fantasy product will keep running in California, users will keep entering contests, and the state’s Attorney General will keep saying that all of it is against the law.