How much do you want to bet that they don't enforce that?

I said this to a friend mine in a bar who was standing under a sign printed with that on it. California has strange gambling laws. It was once OK to play Draw Poker and illegal to play Stud Poker in card casinos. Legal by the way since the 1930's. The legal gambling age is 18 or 21 depending on the game one is betting on! As far as I know it is illegal in every state of the United States to play Poker at your house for money! Including Nevada. Can't say that I've ever heard of a successful prosecution of breaking this law though. I consider Pool a game of skill and yet it is illegal to bet on it in California is you are playing in a place that serves alcohol. When I was a kid winning a free game on a pinball machine was illegal in Anaheim (Where Disneyland is) but legal in Santa Ana and Tustin (Neighboring cities). Someone actually took a pinball to court and got the laws overturned. The original pinball machines had no flippers and were gambling machines. That's why Anaheim had them against the law.

As for a contest where the contestants pay an entry fee and all money collected is paid out to the contestants, this is normally not considered gambling as compared to where the organizor takes a cut of the money collected, but here again the game in question has to be taken into account in California! Also, you can have sponsored contests where the money given out in prizes is more than the money collected from the participants. Such as some of the tournaments on this site, or any PGA golf tournament. I'm not sure about NASCAR races, but I think the money awards in it are more than the entry fees paid by the race teams.

This internet is a whole different deal. MikkyT's observation about the government not getting the cut of the action really is their prime complaint. They try to sound high moral and consumer protection advocate like, but we all know what side of the bread is getting the butter.