Pull tabs, the break-open paper tickets that charities sell across much of the country, do not have a place in California's charitable gaming rules. California lets qualified nonprofits raise money through bingo, raffles, and occasional charity poker nights, but pull tabs are not on that list. Because a pull tab is a predetermined instant-win ticket rather than a live drawing, it does not fit California's narrow raffle exception and is treated like an unauthorized lottery or gambling device. In practice, you will not find licensed charitable pull-tab games at posts and clubs here the way you would in states like Minnesota or North Dakota.
What California actually allows
California's constitution bans lotteries except for the state lottery and a few specific charitable carve-outs. Nonprofits can run charitable bingo under Penal Code section 326.5, hold registered raffles under Penal Code section 320.5, and put on charity poker night fundraisers under the Business and Professions Code. Each is overseen by a different authority: bingo by your city or county, raffles by the Attorney General's Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, and poker nights by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Gambling Control.
Pull tabs are absent from every one of these programs. The Bureau of Gambling Control's charitable gambling page does not mention pull tabs, break-opens, or Nevada tickets, and the bingo statute makes no provision for them. There is simply no license or registration pathway for a pull-tab game in California.
Why pull tabs do not fit the raffle exception
The closest legal category would be a raffle, but the two do not match. A California raffle has to be a draw. Winners are chosen by pulling detached ticket stubs, and the statute flatly bars conducting a raffle by means of, or otherwise utilizing, any gaming machine, apparatus, or device. A pull tab works the opposite way. The result is fixed inside the ticket before you buy it, and the tickets are usually dispensed from a jar, box, or machine.
Because a pull tab is a predetermined instant-win ticket sold through a device rather than a live drawing, it falls outside the raffle rules and back under California's general gambling and lottery prohibitions in Penal Code sections 319 through 330.
What this means for players
For anyone looking to play, the short version is that licensed charitable pull tabs are not something California offers. You will still find charitable bingo at halls run by nonprofits, veterans groups, and fraternal organizations, plus raffles at fundraisers throughout the year, but not the break-open pull-tab tickets common in the upper Midwest. If you see pull-tab style tickets being sold somewhere in California, treat that as a warning sign rather than a licensed game.
Charitable bingo bars minors from participating, so play is limited to adults 18 and older. Electronic or tablet based pull tabs are likewise not authorized, since the underlying paper game is not authorized in the first place. The bingo statute even bars electronic or video displays in the game itself, apart from the caller's drawing device and card-minding aids.
Where can I play pull tabs in California?
Pull tabs are not offered in California, though you can find charitable bingo at nonprofit, veterans, and fraternal halls and raffles at registered nonprofit fundraisers.
Find a spot553 places to play pull tabs in California