by Umar FarooqLegal gambling in the U S.: A state-by-state breakdown of casinos, sports betting and online gaming Yogonet International
Additionally, about 13 million U.S. adults (approximately 5% of the adult population) wagered over $500 monthly on sports betting in 2024. The American Gambling Association reported the total 2024 U.S. sports betting handle reached nearly $150 billion. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a federal ban against sports betting. If their case is heard and the ruling is in favor of New Jersey, the American sports betting landscape could change forever. New Jersey is arguing that sports betting should be a state right and not left up to the government. PASPA, the Federal Wire Act and the UIGEA aren’t designed to target individual bettors, but rather the institutions facilitating sports betting.
MaineOnline sports betting is legal but not yet operational in Maine. KentuckyOnline sports betting is not yet legal in Kentucky.LouisianaOnline sports betting is live and legal in Louisiana. IowaOnline sports betting is live and legal in Iowa.KansasOnline sports betting is live and legal in Kansas. ConnecticutOnline sports betting is live and legal in Connecticut. CaliforniaOnline sports betting is not yet legal in California.ColoradoOnline sports betting is live and legal in Colorado.
Sports betting became legal in Rhode Island just a month after PASPA was annulled. Sports betting is legal and launched on January 1, 2023. The only restriction applies to college sports bets. The bill signed into law by Gov. Pete Ricketts in June 2021 only allows for in-person betting. In fact, you need to be physically present within a licensed establishment to place an online sports bet. According to the bill, players can bet on all sports either online or at one of the hundreds of licensed sales agents around the state.
Residents can also bet at racetracks and casinos and buy state lottery tickets. Retail betting at Cherokee tribal properties launched in March 2021, and statewide online betting followed on March 11, 2024. Four New Mexico tribes www.pokernewsdaily.com/sportsbooks/ and pueblos sued Kalshi in May 2026, alleging the platform enables sports gambling on tribal land in violation of gaming compacts. Find the best NJ sportsbook promos for the latest sign-up bonuses and offers.
While lawmakers in many states are actively pushing for new gambling bills centered around allowing iGaming, these law proposals either move painfully slow or are basically dead in the water from the very beginning. One of the most common ones is prohibiting betting on in-state college teams. When moving on to the wagering of college sports, the field narrows. And, of course, what are the top sportsbook apps in my state?
They are operating in countries such as Panama and Costa Rica, and so adhere to the laws and regulations of those nations. However, online bookmakers based outside of the USA are available to players in all fifty states. There are a number of cultural and societal factors that can increase someone’s risk for developing gambling disorder. Trent is a professional sports journalist specializing in UFC, MMA, and esports coverage. However, legalization does not look the same everywhere.
Utah’s constitution explicitly prohibits all forms of gambling. HJR 134 and SJR 65 followed, proposing a constitutional amendment to put legalization to a public vote. College game outcomes are bettable, but college player props are prohibited. The market is regulated by the state’s Sports Wagering Council. A 2022 bill, SJR 502, would have added a mobile option and passed the Senate before failing in the House.
Sports betting has the potential to be legal in all 50 states given the 2018 SCOTUS decision that repealed PASPA. Now that there is no federal ban, multiple states have already passed sports gambling laws, and many more have legislation in the works. The US-friendly offshore sportsbooks you see on this page are all operating legitimately within the industry.
In those days, horse racing was viewed differently from other sports betting types and was generally enjoyed by the elite society. In all other states with legal, online betting, 21 is the minimum age for betting. However, we’ve still gathered the most interesting information available about sports betting in each. Just click on your state for our expert review about the best betting sites and apps available near you!
Lawmakers have discussed broader gaming packages in recent sessions, but those efforts have not produced a regulated sportsbook market. Sports wagering is not offered as a broad statewide commercial mobile market. They quickly added mobile betting to their offering in September 2019. Pennsylvania launched sports betting in August 2018, not long after the PASPA overruling. Sports betting has been available at tribal casinos in North Dakota since December 2021. Online sports betting launched at noon on March 11, 2024, and eight state-licensed sports betting apps are currently available to bettors in the state.
There are no US laws that criminalize offshore gambling, and there are no domestic online gambling sites that even come close to offering the variety of games, odds, and lines that offshore operators provide. Our legal online casinos guide provides a deeper look at the online casino market in the United States. It does not impact individual bettors, and it does not make sports betting illegal. The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 is a law barring interstate sports betting. With sports betting legal in some capacity in 38 states already, there’s a good chance it already has.
Currently offering legal wagering, including Missouri which joined the market in late 2025. You must be physically located within a legal state to place online bets. DraftKings is known for offering a large selection of betting markets, including same-game parlays, player props, and live betting options. Its strong brand recognition and wide coverage make it a top option in many sports betting states.
New JerseyOnline sports betting is live and legal in New Jersey. New HampshireOnline sports betting is live and legal in New Hampshire. At press, the official launch date is December 1, 2025.MontanaOnline sports betting is live and legal in Montana.NebraskaOnline sports betting is legal but not yet operational in Nebraska.NevadaOnline sports betting is live and legal in Nevada. MassachusettsOnline sports betting is legal but not yet operational in Massachusetts.
However, you can continue to freely use the recommended offshore betting sites without a problem. They do require in-person registration to use the state-sanctioned betting sites. Illinois is one of the most open states when it comes to US sports betting.
Total commercial gaming revenue hit a record $78.72 billion. In 2011, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie filed a lawsuit arguing PASPA violated states’ rights to govern themselves. Wyoming’s market launched in September 2021, timed for that NFL season. Robinhood pre-emptively sued Washington in April 2026 in anticipation of state action against its prediction markets platform. It cleared a Senate committee in late April, passed the full Senate in early May, and Governor Phil Scott signed it into law on June 14. Changing that requires a two-thirds legislative supermajority plus voter approval, which is why Utah is the one state with essentially no path to legalization.
If you want expert insights when building your parlays, be sure to check out the best apps for bettors. As one of the most quickly-growing bet categories, parlays provide lots of fun and potential value to at-home bettors. The most popular type is generally player props, which allow you to bet on an individual player’s performance in the game, such as how many points they’ll score. On a more individual level, you might bet on a player’s statistical performance or awards. A spread is the projected margin of victory for the favored team in a game, and the bettor’s task is to decide whether they’ll overperform that number.
Online sports betting is also legal in 30 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. States had to determine which department would oversee state-regulated sportsbooks, usually choosing between their respective gambling commissions, lottery boards or, in the case of Kentucky, the state horse racing commission. It also provided a one-year window for states which operated licensed casino gaming to legalize sports wagering, which New Jersey intended to do but did not reach the deadline. It mandated states not to legalize sports betting apart from parimutuel horse racing, dog racing and jai alai.
Some states opt for a low tax, open market approach, while others employ high taxes to squeeze every ounce of revenue possible out of legal sports betting. Federal and state laws require licensed online sportsbooks and betting apps to collect certain information, including the last four digits of every customer’s Social Security number. If you are located in a state without legal online sports betting or where your preferred app does not hold a license, you can log in, view lines, make deposits, and request withdrawals. During the years when federal prohibition was in effect, a massive offshore sports betting industry flourished as offshore online sportsbooks catered to American bettors.
However, after a couple of unimpactful years, they decided to pull out of the US market. They still host one of the best DFS 2.0 apps on the market in most states if you’re interested in that as an alternative. However, due to laws on interstate trading, the operator was only able to go live in New Jersey where it struggled with low-liquidity on its lines. Unfortunately, due to a combination of licensing hold-ups and the rise of prediction markets in the US, there wasn’t enough of a demand for Sporttrade to take off. However, its market depth isn’t as extensive as larger national competitors, and the company has undergone several brand transitions in recent years, which may confuse users.
The Pelican State has a number of online sportsbook operators, led by Caesars Entertainment, which also has a retail sportsbook in Harrah’s New Orleans. Bally Bet and Fanatics Sportsbook are expected to launch their betting sites in Tennessee sometime this year. Harrah’s Cherokee Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino are the two places with established retail sportsbooks. In late fall of 2018, District of Columbia Council did pass legislation to allow sports betting in Washington DC.
Meanwhile, Utah and Hawaii hold firm in banning all forms of gambling. Others, such as California, Texas and Florida, remain closed markets with enormous untapped potential. Some states, like New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania, showcase what a full legal framework can achieve in terms of revenue and consumer protection. The state-by-state reality of gambling in America tells a story of contrasts.
HB 551 passed the House and Senate in 2023, and sportsbooks opened in September of that year, with retail on September 7 and online on September 28. The first retail sportsbook opened in September 2019, with mobile following in October, months after Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill into law. Indiana bettors have access to legal in-person and mobile betting across multiple tribal and commercial casino venues. Separately, Hawaii introduced HB 2198 in January 2026, which would explicitly define prediction market platforms offering sports contracts as illegal gambling.
The 10 highest-rated US sportsbooks, ranked by our editorial team and filterable by state. A regular attendee of industry trade shows and conferences, Mike is a strong proponent in the idea of a well regulated online betting industry. BettingUSA.com will always strive to be your accurate source of unbiased online sportsbook information.
You can use most accounts in any legal state, but you have to be physically inside that state’s borders when you place the bet. FanDuel and DraftKings hold the two largest shares of the US online market by handle. Take breaks when you notice your sportsbook has been open for a long stretch. Bonus bets typically return only the profit, not the stake, so $150 in bonus bets is worth meaningfully less than $150 cash. That circuit split, plus nine CFTC lawsuits against individual states, has made a Supreme Court decision on whether event contracts are gambling close to inevitable. Crypto.com launched sports event trading in December 2024, and Robinhood followed with a prediction markets hub in March 2025.
In the November 2024 election, Missourians voted to legalize sports betting courtesy of Amendment 2. West Virginia officially opened its sports betting market on August 30, 2018. Washington kicked off its sports betting scene on September 9, 2021, with the first legal wager placed at the Snoqualmie Casino. Tennessee bucked convention by approving an online-only sports betting bill in 2019.
A few retail sportsbooks exist, and those are run at Native American casinos. Similar to a few other states, there’s only one option for legal mobile sports betting in Oregon, and that’s DraftKings which started in January 2022. New York recently approved online sports betting and it has been live in the Empire State for over a year after its official launch on Jan. 8, 2022. In-person betting has long been a staple in Nevada, but mobile wagering in this state requires registration at one of the many casinos. Retail sportsbooks launched on September 7, 2023, and mobile betting began on September 28. Kansas legalized sports betting in the spring of 2022 and launched in-person and online betting on Sept. 1 of that year, right in time for the 2022 NFL season.
All of the state’s casinos can hold valid sports betting licenses and can host two online skins each. Iowa was the first state to legalize both online and retail sports betting simultaneously. This marked a significant milestone as the District became one of the few jurisdictions to offer both online and retail sports betting options. Here’s our breakdown of every state that now has some form of legal online sports betting. Some only permit retail sports betting, while some include online wagering too, and one state (for now) only allows online betting. Below is a list of states with some form of legal sports betting, and a link to the bills or laws in that state, including when sports betting legally started there.
