Gaming license fingerprinting in Los Angeles is a recurring annual requirement for casino executives and other licensed professionals. Each person may need fresh ink fingerprint cards for every U.S. or international gaming authority where they hold a license. For the executive, it is an hour that keeps reappearing in the calendar. For the coordinator, it is the same exercise repeated across a roster of people who are rarely in the same place at the same time.
Most of the difficulty is not the fingerprinting. It is that the rules governing where those prints can go are narrower than people expect.
California Live Scan Stops at the State Line
We are a California operation, and that is where this begins. Live Scan here captures fingerprints electronically and transmits them to the California Department of Justice. It is an intrastate system. It cannot transmit across state lines.
So a Live Scan appointment in Los Angeles produces nothing that a licensing authority outside California can receive — whether that is the Nevada Gaming Control Board, a tribal gaming commission, or a regulator in Arizona, Texas, Illinois, New York, or any other state. It is not a question of which state; it is that the California system does not reach beyond California at all.
Anything going out of state is therefore done on ink fingerprint cards — physical cards, rolled by hand, which travel to the board by mail. The same is true for federal submissions. That is why gaming licensing work is card work, and why it needs someone who still does it properly. If you are unsure which card a board wants, see FD-258 vs FD-1164 vs SF-87.
Two Cards Per Applicant, Per Territory
The common practice is two cards per applicant for each territory, and the reason is what happens when a card is rejected.
Ink cards get rejected on print quality — smudging, pressure, incomplete ridge detail. The first card is submitted; if it comes back rejected, the second card goes in. If the second card is also rejected, there is generally no third card. At that point the receiving agency processes the record from the applicant’s identifying information instead — name, date of birth, Social Security number — through what is known as a California DOJ name index search. Other states employ a similar method so that applicants don’t have to submit fingerprint cards endlessly.
So two is not an arbitrary number. It is how many fingerprint-based attempts exist before the process falls back to a name-based check, and it is why sending a single card is a false economy.
Organizations handling a full roster often take more than the minimum anyway, holding spares against the card that is lost or needed for a territory nobody anticipated. It is cheaper to roll an extra card while the person is sitting in front of you than to find them again three months later.
Executives Who Are in Los Angeles for Two Hours
Some of the people who need this live here. Many do not — they are in Los Angeles for a meeting, or between flights, and the window is genuinely a couple of hours.
We come to where they already are. An office, a hotel, a meeting room, near the airport before a departure. Coordinators book the appointment into a gap in an itinerary rather than asking a licensed executive to find a fingerprinting appointment in a city they do not live in.
For a roster of executives it is usually one visit, one session, and every card for every territory rolled at the same sitting.
Mobile Fingerprinting for Busy Executives
This short video shows how Anshin Mobile Notary & LiveScan brings professional mobile fingerprinting directly to clients throughout Los Angeles. Gaming-license applicants and executive groups can be fingerprinted at offices, hotels, meeting rooms, and locations near LAX.
Where a Board Accepts an Electronic FBI Submission
Gaming applicants generally need a federal background check alongside the license itself. Some boards require cards for this. Others accept an electronic FBI submission instead.
Where a board accepts the electronic route, we can do that as well. It is worth asking the board which they want before anyone is fingerprinted, because the answer changes what has to happen in the appointment — and it is the sort of question that is much cheaper to ask first than to discover afterward.
What the Coordinator Settles Before the Appointment
The fingerprinting is the short part. What determines whether a renewal cycle runs cleanly is what gets agreed beforehand:
- Which territories each person is licensed in, and how many cards each requires
- Whether any board wants an electronic federal submission rather than a card
- How many spare cards to roll while everyone is present
- Where and when the roster can realistically be in one place
- Who receives the completed cards, and how they are being sent
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use California Live Scan for a gaming license in another state?
No. California Live Scan transmits only to the California Department of Justice and cannot cross state lines. A submission to Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, New York, a tribal gaming commission, or any other authority outside California has to be made on ink fingerprint cards.
Why do we need two fingerprint cards per person?
Because cards are rejected on print quality, and two is how many attempts you get. If the first card is rejected the second is submitted. If the second is also rejected, there is generally no third card — the agency processes the record from the applicant’s name, date of birth and Social Security number through a name index search instead.
Can executives be fingerprinted while traveling through Los Angeles?
Yes. We travel to the person — an office, hotel, or meeting room, including near the airport — so the appointment fits inside an existing trip rather than requiring a separate one.
Do gaming applicants also need an FBI background check?
Usually. Some boards want it on cards and some accept an electronic FBI submission. Confirm which with the board before the appointment, because it changes what is done at the appointment.
Can you fingerprint a whole group of executives in one session?
Yes. Group sessions are routine, and every card for every territory can be rolled at the same sitting.
How often does gaming licensing fingerprinting have to be repeated?
Typically every year at renewal, for each licensed person in each territory where they hold a license.
Arranging a Session
Tell us how many people, which territories they are licensed in, and when they can be in one place. We will tell you how many cards that means and what the session needs to cover.
Call or text (310) 526-0200
info@anshinotary.com