republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-120.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Gambling Control Act."
description: "Existing law, the Gambling Control Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of various legalized gambling activities and establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission and the investigation and enforcement of those activities and establishments by the Department of Justice. Existing law requires every person who, either as owner, lessee, or employee, deals, operates, carries on, conducts, maintains, or exposes for play any controlled game, or who receives, directly or indirectly, any compensation or reward, or any percentage or share of the money or property played, for keeping, running, or carrying on any controlled game, to apply for and obtain from the commission a valid state gambling license, key employee license, or work permit. Existing law requires the commission to hold a meeting that is conducted in accordance with specified evidentiary rules, similar to a hearing, in order to deny an application or grant a gambling license to an applicant."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 120"
citation: "California AB 120 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Gambling Control Act."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Salas"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2020-12-18"
last_action: "2021-07-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/51dc2620-f63b-4c44-bdb5-eaaa68e55c6d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB120"
source_hash: "f99ffea47aaf87c8d8f992fdcc54e87c80f1889fae840e8b42c71ac3a643f93f"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 120 (20212022) — Gambling Control Act.

Existing law, the Gambling Control Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of various legalized gambling activities and establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission and the investigation and enforcement of those activities and establishments by the Department of Justice. Existing law requires every person who, either as owner, lessee, or employee, deals, operates, carries on, conducts, maintains, or exposes for play any controlled game, or who receives, directly or indirectly, any compensation or reward, or any percentage or share of the money or property played, for keeping, running, or carrying on any controlled game, to apply for and obtain from the commission a valid state gambling license, key employee license, or work permit. Existing law requires the commission to hold a meeting that is conducted in accordance with specified evidentiary rules, similar to a hearing, in order to deny an application or grant a gambling license to an applicant.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **12/18/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB120&version=20210AB12099INT)
2. **07/09/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB120&version=20210AB12097CHP)
3. **AB120** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB120)
4. **06/25/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB120&version=20210AB12098ENR)

## Votes

- Consent Calendar AB120 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 120 Salas Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **22–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Salas — primary (person)
- Gipson — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-12-18** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2020-12-19** From printer. May be heard in committee January 18.
- **2021-01-11** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-12** Coauthors revised.
- **2021-04-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 22. Noes 0.) (April 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-28** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 28). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-29** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1334.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-06** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-19** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (June 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-21** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-24** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1632.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-24** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2021-06-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2021-07-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 45, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/51dc2620-f63b-4c44-bdb5-eaaa68e55c6d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).