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Is it Legal to Gamble Online in the USA?
Introduction
It’s been so many years since I wrote the first version of this page that appeared on our website with so many changes to the online gambling market that it would make one’s head spin. In fact, while this page has been updated on a few occasions over the years, I don’t even think the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) had been overturned, so online sports wagering would have been illegal, per the Federal Government, everywhere except Nevada.
In the meantime, things haven’t changed too much with respect to either poker or casino-style gaming products being licensed and regulated in individual states. There are a few states, such as West Virginia, to have authorized some websites, but the majority of states have not.
Of course, this page desperately needed a rewrite as more than half of the states now have legalized sports betting, and the majority of those make it legal to bet on sports online. In most cases, a punter can expect to see websites such as DraftKings and Fanduel, though a few states have unusual laws (such as Mississippi and Washington) that tie any form of mobile sports betting to being at a physical location, such as a casino, in order for the bet to be made legally.
We will get into all of that and more. Additionally, for those states with no online gambling, we will explore whether or not it is legal for players to play online at all. Additionally, for states with legalized online sportsbooks, we will determine whether or not playing at websites that offer casino-style games, or poker, is illegal for potential players to do.
Get strapped in, we’ve got a lot to cover.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ONLINE WORLD
The biggest development that caused a change in the attitude toward online gambling is the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) by the Supreme Court of the United States. The original law of the land was betting on sports, and being an operator or bookie were patently illegal anywhere in the country and would be done in violation of Federal Law.
Indeed, PASPA applied to mere punters, too, which is why many offshore online casinos that operated within the U.S. did not offer sportsbooks to players. There were a few that did, but most of them shied away from it as it was categorically illegal for players to even play there.
Of course, people are going to bet on sports; it’s just a simple fact. For those bettors who did not look to offshore sportsbooks or illegal bookies, many of them just made private bets with one another, engaged in fantasy sports, or even created their own games built around picking against handicappers’ lines. Speaking of, I hear that those WoV Picks Games are a lot of fun, so you should make sure to keep an eye out for them and play!
That blew the door wide open for sports betting both in-person and online, which a great many states would have already been offering in their land casinos, except for the fact that they couldn’t, because Nevada was the only state to take advantage of its exception. Ironically, New Jersey (who was one of the states leading the push for the overturn) could have had sports betting prior to PASPA taking effect, but did not implement it in time.
With that, almost all states with Commercial Land Casinos now have sportsbook available via in-person betting, online betting or both. One of the only exceptions that I can think of is that of Missouri, where some of the state’s politicians are working to get it authorized.
With that, we present the following map of the status of online gambling for each state. This map will tell you what kinds of online gambling is regulated by the state, if any, as well as whether or not it is legal for players to play at offshore casinos and sportsbooks.
Casinos that allow US players
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ALABAMA
- Regulated Online Casinos: No
- Regulated Online Sportsbooks: No
- Gambling Online Legality: Ambiguous
Alabama law makes it pretty clear that operators of online gambling enterprises, as well as any other form of unlawful gambling, are committing a crime and are subject to punishment.
There are a couple of laws in the State of Alabama that would seem to make online gambling illegal. One makes it a Class C Misdemeanor to, "Knowingly advances or profit from unlawful gambling activity as a player." However, if there is nothing specifically in the Alabama code to make online gambling patently illegal, then I would suggest one is not engaged in, "Unlawful gambling activity." There is another statute that prohibits, "Possession of a gambling device," which is a Class A Misdemeanor. However, the gambling device is illegal if it is, "Any other gambling device, with the intention that it be used in the advancement of an unlawful gambling activity."
Absent anything in Alabama law actually declaring online gambling to fall under the purview of, "Unlawful Gambling Activity." The only thing related to online gambling that Alabama law makes clear is that an individual or company cannot operate Online Gambling within the State, but that is because an individual or company cannot operate for-profit gambling on any kind within the State.
With that, operators or those conducting gambling games with some sort of house edge, or vigorish, other than those authorized by the state are committing a crime, but we do not believe that applies to people who are just playing at online casinos.
Most recently, Alabama (2022) introduced Senate Bill 294, which you can find here, which would have authorized sports wagering, and more to our purposes, online sports wagering to be licensed and regulated through the lottery department, but that bill died a legislative death without ever even making it to a vote.
The earliest we would expect online sports betting to be legalized in Alabama would be 2024, though we consider that highly unlikely. The state’s politicians don’t see to have much interest in advancing the question. As far as online casino gaming goes, it would not surprise us if that never became legal in the state.
ALASKA
- Regulated Online Casinos: No
- Regulated Online Sportsbooks: No
- Online Gambling for Players: Technically Illegal
Alaska is an interesting state in that they’re really too small and scattered to really care what anyone does with their free time and their own money, for the most part.
Another thing that we notice is that, while playing at online casinos in Alaska is technically illegal, the first offense in the state is only termed a, “Violation,” and comes with no actual penalty. More than that, we can find no instance of anyone ever being charged with this particular violation.
Further violations become misdemeanors, so in the extraordinarily unlikely event the state catches you unlawfully gambling online, and actually decides to do something about it (spoiler alert: this won’t happen), we guess just don’t do it again.
Perhaps surprisingly, a bill has been introduced that would permit mobile sports wagering in the State of Alaska, but so far there is nothing that would relate to online casino-style gambling or poker. That bill was transferred to committee in February of 2022, and hasn’t made it out of committee as of December, 2022, so it won’t be happening this Legislative session.
The bill itself is also pretty bare bones. It would also be interesting to see how Alaska plans to regulate sports betting as the state does not have a lottery department, land casinos or any other form of Commercial gambling to speak of. Typically, online sports betting is the purview of the same agency that regulates land casinos, and in states with no such agency, the lottery departments typically handle it.
We think that Alaska players hoping for regulated online sports betting are going to have to hope for awhile longer and it’s quite possible that state-regulated online casino-style games will never happen at all.
ARIZONA
- Regulated Online Casinos: No
- Regulated Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Online Casino Gambling Illegal: Yes
The first thing that we note about Arizona is that the state is home to licensed online sportsbooks, which is a pretty recent development having just happened in 2022. However, there is no lawful online casino-style gambling in Arizona, and state law makes it fairly clear that online gambling at non-licensed entities is illegal for players.
Whether or not it would ever be enforced, the language of Arizona State Law (which allows Social Gambling) makes it pretty clear that online gambling is illegal. "Benefiting from Gambling," is a Class I Misdemeanor, and it is defined as, "Except for amusement or regulated gambling, a person commits benefiting from gambling if he obtains any benefit from gambling."
There are much stricter laws concerning operators of illegal casinos, of course.
That said, we could find no instance of someone ever being prosecuted in the State of Arizona for playing at an offshore online casino and seriously doubt that any such would ever happen.
While the state has not allowed for regulated casino-style gambling, or poker, sportsbooks are now legal in the state and most of the operators are the ones that players can find in other states with legal online sports books, DraftKings is one example.
Upon doing a fairly thorough search, we were unable to uncover any Legislation, as recently as December of 2022, that would indicate any possibility of online casino-style gaming become regulated within the state. Also, all of the state’s land casinos are Tribal, rather than commercial, so we would suspect that they would be highly opposed to having to compete with online. For that reason, if Arizona is ever going to authorize online casinos at all, we suspect it would happen in late 2023 at the earliest.
However, if it goes through the same websites as the sportsbooks, then it should be able to be implemented fairly quickly as many of the sportsbook sites (maybe all) also operate online casinos elsewhere in the country.
ARKANSAS
- Regulated Online Casinos: No
- Regulated Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Online Casino Gambling Illegal: Yes
The first thing to note about Arkansas is that their law states, "Any money or property may be won.,” in their definition of Gambling and makes it illegal to gamble in any fashion that has not been specifically authorized by the state.
Of course, many states, particularly very conservative ones, tend to have a more positive disposition to online sports betting than they do with online casinos. Arkansas is no different in this regard, but has very few online sportsbooks because they charge a tax of 51% on all net revenues, whereas the average tax usually lives somewhere in the 5-15% range.
For that reason, major operators that can be found in other states have little interest in Arkansas. Arkansas’ population is also fairly small, so the major operators wouldn’t want to signal to larger states that they are willing to put up with a 51% tax rate.
New Hampshire is an exception to this as DraftKings operates there at a 50% tax rate on all revenues; however, DraftKings also has five years of exclusivity in the state, so they have no in-state competitors to deal with for the regulated online sportsbook market; they are the market.
In the meantime, there have been many bills introduced, one as recently as 2022, that would authorize and regulate online casinos; however, none of these bills have ever made it out of committee. For that reason, we do not expect the state to have online casino-style gambling anytime soon.
While gambling online (even as a player) is technically against the law, per the usual, we have found no instance of any player ever being prosecuted for acting in the capacity of a player, rather than an operator.
CALIFORNIA
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: No
- Online Gambling Illegal: No (But theoretically could be in individual jurisdictions)
The first thing about California to cover is that there is no statewide law that would prohibit players from gambling online, however, the state law does enable lesser jurisdictions, such as counties, cities and municipalities to implement their own laws. As the previous page listing the states said:
Beyond that, California is completely ambiguous because there is no State law that would serve to explicitly prohibit players from gambling online, (operators would be doing something illegal under California State Law) but lower levels of Government than the State itself could enact Legislation making such an act illegal. Therefore, I would suggest that any California player would want to research to determine if there are any laws in his/her locality prohibiting online gambling.
With that, if the legality of gambling online (as a player) is something that you are very worried about, then we would suggest consulting your local laws. If there is nothing in your local laws stating you cannot, then based on our research, it would not be illegal at the state level.
According to Cal Matters, the question of legalized online sports betting went to a public vote and failed resoundingly, 83%-17%, which seems like a very strange outcome to me. You would think that a highly Liberal state, such as California, would favor allowing people to do as they wish with their own money, but we guess not.
The state also had a vote to allow in person sports betting at both Tribal Casinos as well as the states private horse racing tracks; that proposition did not fail by as much, with the vote going 30%-70% with the side against winning.
Once again, we have no idea why the citizens of California would have ever been against this, after all, just because you can doesn’t mean you have to. In this writer’s opinion, it’s just a highly surprising outcome given what is otherwise an extremely liberal state. Besides, the state is going to miss out on some serious tax revenues as Californians will place their sports wagers and play at online casinos elsewhere.
Either way, the tribes are evidently celebrating the result, quoting from the above-linked article:
But there’s another group of tribes, including the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, that had proposed a third sports betting legalization measure. Their measure would have allowed tribes to offer in person and online sports betting exclusively. It didn’t make it on to the 2022 ballot and recently failed to gather enough signatures to make it onto the 2024 ballot as well — but that doesn’t mean the idea is off the table.
“Our group feels that [measure] is the best path forward for online sports wagering in California,” said Roger Salazar, a spokesperson for a coalition that campaigned against Prop. 27 and includes those tribes.
You’ll come to discover that the case is similar in one or two other states; the tribes are highly opposed to not having exclusivity in sports betting, both land and online, in states where there are no Commercial Casinos. California does have Commercial Card rooms, but we did not find anything about those entities making a push to operate sportsbooks.
COLORADO
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Online Casino Gambling Illegal: Yes
The first aspect that we have to cover is, according to our previous writing, the fact that the state considers gambling online (in any form not authorized by the state) to be illegal. Quoting from the previous version of this page:
The State of Colorado dictates that anti-gambling laws be construed, "Liberally," and other than Social Gambling or Gambling authorized by the State, any other form of gambling (as a player) is a petty offense that could result in a fine. Gambling constitutes a Class 1 Petty Offense. The Colorado Department of Revenue site makes this clear.
In any event, the state really doesn’t seem to care as long as it gets its slice, as they were pretty quick to authorize online sports betting as soon as it became possible to do so.
Amusingly, the Department of Revenue’s website still decares all online gambling to be illegal:
Internet gambling is illegal under state and federal laws. Colorado law prohibits the transmission or reception of gambling information by any means. The federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, signed into law in October 2006, prohibits online gamblers from using credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to place and settle bets. Further, the federal 1961 Wire Act also prohibits the use of wire communications in interstate or foreign commerce for the placing of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers.
Wait a minute…how can it be legal under state and federal laws when you literally offer online sportsbooks, which are regulated by the state? I think it might be time to update that page, Colorado.
Also, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act doesn’t prohibit gamblers from doing anything you bunch of liars, it prohibits United States based financial institutions from knowingly conducting business with offshore online casinos.
Furthermore, how could one surmise that the 1961 WIRE Act covers that, at least for offshore casinos, when online gambling did not even exist at the time that was written?
In any event, a Petty Offense is nothing and it doesn’t even appear as though the charges graduate (if you are acting in the capacity of a mere player) per incident. Furthermore, we have found no instance of anyone merely playing at an online casino ever being prosecuted by the state. With that, while it is technically illegal, we don’t think players would actually have anything to worry about.
CONNECTICUT
- Online Casinos: Yes (But there are only two)
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Online (Offshore) Casinos Illegal for Players: We don’t think so.
If following the letter of the law is very important to you, then we would have to recommend that you consult with an attorney, even though we have found no instance of someone being prosecuted for the mere act of playing online even before Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun were authorized to offer online casinos.
The prior version of this page stated as follows:
Connecticut law is completely clear and unambiguous that Gambling is a crime, specifically, a Class B Misdemeanor. Until the State explicitly makes online gambling (in any form) legal, it is illegal. It is difficult to speculate whether or not the law is strictly enforced.
At that time, we decided that gambling online (even as a player) was patently illegal, based on the law. However, online gambling at the state-regulated casinos and sportsbooks is now legal, so one would have to assume that Connecticut would need to make a separate law specifying that players can ONLY gamble at state-regulated online casinos and sportsbooks and to do so otherwise is illegal; we have seen no evidence of such a law being created.
The two operators that are regulated through the state are DraftKings and Fanduel, who again, are directly tied to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun for state purposes. In any event, it probably won’t take you too long to play new player bonuses for only two casinos, so if you are looking for more, please feel free to check out some of the casinos we have listed on this webpage.
DELAWARE
- Online Casinos: Yes, One
- Online Sportsbook: Yes (But there aren’t any yet)
- Offshore Online Gambling Illegal: No
Per the usual, you would want to check with an attorney, but our findings would indicate that gambling at offshore sites is not illegal as long as you are not actually operating an offshore online gambling site. As our previous page stated:
Regulated online gambling is legal in Delaware, and nothing in that bill would tend to make it appear illegal to play at unregulated sites. However, it is illegal under Delaware law to own a, 'Gambling Device,' and is a Class A Misdemeanor. On the other hand, if they wanted to extend the definition of, 'Gambling Device,' to be a computer, then you could not play at their regulated sites which are definitely legal!
Therefore, prior to Delaware authorizing their own online casinos, playing online would most likely have technically been illegal, though we could find no instance of anyone ever being prosecuted for that. However, Delaware has since legalized and regulated online casinos and sportsbooks, which forces us to assume that players can play anywhere they want to, absent a separate law being created to specifically say otherwise.
Delaware also has a regulation system in place for online sports betting, so that is legal, but there are presently no actual operators in the state. It’s an extremely small state and any operators would have to have ties to a land casino, but since the online casino-style games were legal first, those sites are already in place.
We imagine someone like DraftKings will eventually make it into the state with one of the existing websites running a sportsbook, “Powered by DraftKings,” or some such, but that hasn’t happened yet. If you want to get online bets down, you’ll have to look to do so offshore, take a short little drive to a state like Pennsylvania or just call a friend and see if they wouldn’t mind handling an account for you.
Online poker is also legal in the state, but from what we have heard, given the state’s limited population, it can be difficult to find the game you want at the limits you want, sometimes.
The three land based casinos in Delaware all share in the state’s lone regulated online casino.
FLORIDA
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbook: Not at this time. (In Litigation-December, 2022)
- Playing Online Illegal: Yes
As we found the last time around:
Florida has some regulated gambling, and it is a Second-Degree Misdemeanor to engage in any form of unregulated gambling within the State. Since online casinos outside of the State of Florida fall under this purview, playing at them is patently illegal. It is difficult to say whether this law is really enforced, probably not.
With that being said, we could find no instance of anyone being prosecuted for merely playing at an online casino from The Sunshine State.
There have been a few instances of, “Internet Cafes,” being broken up and arrests of illegal operators, and sometimes players, being made over the years, but that’s an entirely different thing. Internet Cafes are sort of closed enterprises where you supposedly buy credits that give you so many minutes on a device, but really, you are using the device to gamble. In other words, their goal is to say that they are not actually gambling in cash, which is a ridiculous argument.
The Florida online sportsbook situation is kind of in limbo, so we would encourage you to research that for yourself if you are interested in the goings-on. The short story is that the Seminole Tribe was offering an online sportsbook on sort of a presumptive legality basis, through a deal with Governor Ron DeSantis, but the deal was itself illegal.
According to Click Orlando, the problem with the deal is that the Tribal Compact, it is challenged, only applies to Indian lands, so offering an online sportsbook that is accessible by anyone of age in the state, anywhere in the state, constitutes an illegality. Quoting, in part:
“It was so obvious from the outset that this compact violated federal law,” Wallach said. “It’s called the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), and it governs the conduct of gaming on Indian lands and nowhere else.”
The 30-year compact, which was announced by the governor last year, essentially gave the tribe control over Florida’s gambling kingdom, but Wallach said the deal exceeded the boundaries of what’s allowed under IGRA by including online sports gaming.
The ultimate question might come down to, provided the servers are actually on Seminole land, does the bet take place where the player makes the bet, or where the servers are located? If it takes place where the servers are located, then one could argue that the bet is being made on Seminole land.
In any event, would-be Florida punters are probably finding themselves perplexed by the fact that they could once legally bet online and now they can’t. I wonder what the disposition of any futures bet that had already been made will be?
GEORGIA
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbook: No
- Online Gambling Illegal for Players: Yes
In the case of Georgia, our earlier look into the law would still apply:
Notable are terms such as, "Any slot machine, simulations or variation thereof," and, "Any video game machine or device, operated for any consideration, for the game of poker, Blackjack, any other card game or Keno.....etc"
The long and short of it is, while Georgia law may not specifically address online gambling, it does address virtually every way an individual can possibly gamble online. The result:
That being said, the State of Georgia is making some headway, though not very much, into legalizing online sports betting. According to CBS Sports, legislation has been introduced to this effect, but thus far, it has not made it to an actual vote.
We suspect that it may be a few years before The Peachtree State has licensed and regulated sportsbooks operating and also find it quite possible that they will never have online casinos. For one thing, their surprisingly healthy Skill Game industry would probably lobby pretty hard against the state getting any forms of online casino.
Furthermore, there are no land-based casinos in Georgia at this time. Generally speaking, when a state authorizes online casino-style gambling, they require a website to have direct ties to one of the physical properties within the state, in fact, that is true in every state in which online casino games are presently regulated.
When it comes to sportsbooks, on the other hand, a few states have legalized online sports betting wherein they do not have any land-based casinos at all. Typically, they will have these regulated by way of the Lottery Department.
With that, we’re not even sure there’s a framework in place by which Georgia could even regulate online casinos. For one thing, they would have to draft actual gaming regulations, though we suppose they could just copy and paste those of Nevada, change the tax percentage to something much higher and call it a day!
In any event, while gambling online is illegal in the state, even in the capacity of a player, we have uncovered no instance of anyone ever being prosecuted for doing so.
HAWAII
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: No
- Illegal to Play Online: Yes
As we discovered with our previous look into The Aloha State:
The State Legislature of Hawaii is completely out of its mind. If it were me, I would legalize every form of gambling imaginable immediately! Combine that with how highly-praised Hawaii is as a tourist destination already, and you have a guaranteed cash cow. Instead, engaging in any form of gambling other than Social Gambling or Home Games is patently illegal under Hawaii law. The law restricts any form of betting in, "Contests of chance."
Of course, I figured out one of the reasons why residents might not be too keen on casinos: From watching travel videos, I have determined that the citizens of Hawaii really do not enjoy having tourists all that much! I can’t speak for the politicians, but I imagine some of the denizens would be against casinos not in spite of the fact that it would give people another reason to visit the state, but because of it.
In any event, according to the Civil Beat, any push for legalized online sportsbooks seems to have stalled out thus far. The citizens of the islands simply seem to not have any great appetite for Commercial Gambling, although, we have heard that there are many social gambling games, some quite unique, that enjoy some popularity.
In the meantime, if someone wanted to jump on their computer and play at an online casino, we could uncover no instance of the state actually prosecuting a player for doing so.
One question that we would have, assuming Hawaii ever authorizes online sports betting, is what entity is going to regulate it? In states with no land-based casinos, from what we have seen, this task usually falls on Tribal Casinos in the state or on the lottery department, but Hawaii has neither of those two things, either!
IDAHO
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: No
- Illegal to Play Online: Yes
The first item to cover, pursuant to our previous writing:
All forms of gambling, except for those allowed by the State, are prohibited in the State of Idaho and gambling is a Misdemeanor. It is unknown whether or not this is ever enforced for online gambling.
The state has not authorized any legalized and regulated forms of online gambling, therefore, it remains illegal. That being said, we could uncover no instance of a player ever being prosecuted for the mere act of playing online at an offshore casino and seriously doubt that any such prosecution would ever happen.
According to the Idaho Statesman, it’s unlikely that sports betting, much less online sports betting, makes its way to the State of Idaho anytime soon as, the Statesman claims, there’s really no appetite for it. Quoting, in part:
Many other states had a similar blanket ban on gambling, which they amended after lawmakers introduced bills in the House or the Senate. However, no legislators in Idaho have ever introduced a sports betting bill, and there seems to be very little appetite for it.
With that, we can read that not even a single Legislator has attempted to push a sports betting bill whatsoever, which signals to us that Idaho could be one of the very last states to authorize online sports betting, assuming that they ever do so.
The population of Idaho is also safely in the bottom third, so they might have to come up with some sort of deal, similar to that of New Hampshire, to allow for a single exclusive regulated sportsbook in the state to operate in exchange for a very high percentage (tax) of that sportsbook’s revenues. In our opinion, that seems like the way to do it that would work best for the smallest third of states.
ILLINOIS
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Play at Online Casino: Yes
As we discussed in the previous iteration of this page, the state law on forms of gambling that are not regulated by the state is quite clear:
The law is clear in the Land of Lincoln, other than State-Regulated forms of gambling, playing a game, "Of chance or skill for money or other thing of value," is patently illegal. It is a Misdemeanor under the law, but it is difficult to tell how strictly the law is enforced with respect to Online Gambling.
With that, the law is worded in such a way that, even if the state had regulated online casinos, playing at an unregulated one would be illegal. Strangely, at one point about a decade ago, they tried to advance a law that would make online gambling, specifically, illegal, but it never went to a full Senate vote. This would have been a strange development as, to us, the wording of the current code already makes it illegal.
In any event, we have uncovered no instance of a player ever being prosecuted for the mere act of playing at an online casino.
We predicted that online gambling would become regulated in the state around 2020, and while we weren’t exactly right, we were half right. While online casino-style games do not yet exist, the state now has online sportsbooks, with the usual operators that you will find elsewhere in the country in those states where the activity has been legalized.
Illinois Policy has also reported that the state is looking very closely at just how much money online casino-style gambling could bring in by way of tax revenues. What they have noticed is that the answer, and I am paraphrasing, “A hell of a lot of money,” so we would expect the state to have licensed and regulated online casinos pretty soon. This is especially true as they have been one of the most liberal states in terms of gambling throughout the last several decades; they are one of only a few states to have limited Video Lottery Terminals all over the state.
Interestingly, the state was looking at online poker even before the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was reversed, but online poker has still not come into being.
INDIANA
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Play Offshore: Yes
It’s not actually illegal to play offshore so much as whatever device that you are playing on would become an unlawful gambling device under the law, as we found last time we looked into Indiana:
You do NOT want to operate an online casino in Indiana! For the players, though, illegal Gambling is a Class B Misdemeanor. Further, your device would almost undoubtedly become an illegal gambling device under State law.
That said, we could find no instance of an individual player ever being prosecuted for the mere act of gambling online and seriously doubt anyone has ever been charged under that law.
In the meantime, The Hoosier State has legalized online sportsbooks, as well as in-person betting at the state’s casino, since the last time we did a major overhaul of this page.
According to Inside Indiana, state politicians are also taking a close look into how much the state could be bringing in by way of tax revenues on online casino, and possibly poker, products, as well.
However, no such bills in that regard have made it out of committee, as yet. The earliest that such a bill could even theoretically pass is in 2023; however, if it did, then it would not take very long to implement as many of the states sportsbook operators also operate online casinos in other states, such as Pennsylvania.
With that, we suspect that online casinos becoming regulated in the state is going to happen within the next few years, perhaps as early as next year.
IOWA
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Gamble Offshore: Yes-Potential Felony
When we did the first iteration of this page, this is what we found:
Iowa has perhaps the strictest apparent laws on Online Gambling out there. Other than regulated forms of Gambling, it is a crime to, "Make any bet," pursuant to Iowa law, and the penalties can range all the way up to a Felony dependent exclusively on the amounts involved. Furthermore, any monies garnered from online gambling are subject to seizure, as are any monies with any other illegal form of gambling in the State. It is unknown how frequently these laws are enforced.
The law specifically indicates that only regulated forms of gambling are permissible, which would go as far as to include only operators who are licensed within the state, when it comes to both sports betting and casino gambling.
The one thing that has us concerned is the fact that online gambling, depending on the amounts in question, can actually be a felony category crime. You can do as you will, and we have found no instance of someone acting as a mere player being prosecuted for online gambling at an offshore casino, but you might not want to go anywhere near a potential felony.
On a brighter note, the state has authorized both land-based and online sports betting, with the sites operating (in a regulated way) within the state being the same as are found in other states.
However, KTVO reports that Iowa seems to be slowing down its expansion of gambling as it has placed a two-year moratorium on the licensing of new Commercial Casinos. Assuming the same also holds true for online gambling enterprises, we would not expect the state to authorize and regulate online casinos for the next three years, at a minimum.
KANSAS
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Play Offshore: Yes
The first thing to get out of the way is, as we found in the first iteration of this page, Kansas laws are pretty broad in that gambling in any way that has not been regulated by the state is unlawful:
The scope of the law is pretty broad in Kansas, a state in which making, "A bet," is a Class B Misdemeanor unless it is a form of gambling specifically allowed by the State. The laws are probably rarely if ever, enforced.
That being the case, playing at an unregulated website would constitute a Misdemeanor, however, we could uncover no evidence of anyone ever actually being charged under that code.
In the meantime, Kansas, perhaps to the surprise of many, has legalized and now regulates online sports betting. Typically, Kansas is an extremely conservative state, so to seem them do this as it fails resoundingly in California and has not happened yet (as of December 2022) in neighboring, and slightly less conservative, Missouri, comes as a huge surprise.
The Kansas Reflector points out that no version of the bill that would allows for regulated Internet sportsbooks mentioned anything about poker or casino-style gambling. Of course, those looking to advance an online casino bill can expect some serious pushback, quoting the Kansas Reflector, in part:
“Those 65,000 gambling addicts in this state, we’re selling them out. That’s like dropping a bomb on those 65,000 families,” said Rep. Pat Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who said he’d never bought a lottery ticket. “We have created this monster.”
With that, it becomes quickly evident that not everyone was on board with the sports betting, so one can only imagine that casino gambling online would be an even larger hurdle to clear.
However, if an online casino bill ever did pass, it could be implemented really quickly as Kansas is already home to both Tribal land-based casinos as well as Commercial land-based casinos, such as the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kansas.
KENTACKY
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: No
- Gambling Online Illegal: No
As we mentioned in the first iteration of this page:
Kentucky law makes it illegal to, "Advance Gambling Activity," which is something that would apply to operators, rather than players. Kentucky law does not seem to prescribe a penalty for the mere act of gambling as a player whatsoever.
To this day, we still haven’t found any laws that would make it illegal for a person to merely play at an online casino and we do not expect such a law will ever be created.
In the meantime, according to Saturday Down South, a bill that would permit online sports betting, as well as in-person sports betting at the state’s tracks, made it through the House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate. Quoting:
“I think it’s a natural extension of our long history and tradition of betting pari-mutuelly on horses, which is a form of sports betting in my opinion. But there’s still a lot of anti-gambling sentiment in this building,” Thayer said.
The Kentucky House of Representatives approved its sports betting bill by a vote of 58-30 last week. Rep. Adam Koenig’s (R-Erlanger) bill, HB 606, will now move to the Kentucky Senate. If approved by the Senate, it would then go to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for his signature before it becomes law.
It didn’t exactly fail in the Senate, though; instead, the Senate simply did not bring HB 606 to a vote, so Kentucky still gets no sports betting.
That’s actually kind of a huge revenue loss there, especially if Kentucky would not prohibit betting on collegiate sports, because there are some rabid sports fans in the state and it would surely bring it just wheelbarrow and wheelbarrow full of tax dollars.
When it comes to online casino-style gambling, it’s difficult for us to imagine that will ever take off. The state seems pretty staunchly opposed to all things related to casino games, so we would project that any legalization is more than five years away, assuming it happens at all.
LOUISIANA
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Gamble Offshore: Yes
The first thing for us to do is recollect what we said the first time we did this page:
This says it all, "Whoever commits the crime of Gambling by Computer shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.":
That remains true, except for online sports betting as that is now legal in the state. Unfortunately, Louisiana added a paragraph that makes sports betting legal in specific cases; naturally, those cases are when the sports betting leads to tax revenues coming into the state.
Honestly, I was hoping beyond hope they wouldn’t have amended that law. I had a hysterical joke ready to pop about the state of education in Louisiana and gambling being both legal and illegal simultaneously.
In any event, the state’s online sportsbooks, of which there are a half dozen or so, are the usual operators that can be found elsewhere. That said, no bill that would allow for online casino-style gambling has ever come anywhere near passing.
We think it’s possible that one might in the next few years as they see the kind of revenue that other states are taking in, more than that, the state’s attitude towards gambling has historically been very liberal as they were one of the first states to have Commercial land-based casinos.
In the meantime, we have found no instance of anyone actually being prosecuted under unlawful gambling laws in the state if they were a mere player gambling at an offshore online casino.
MAINE
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbook: Yes (But None Exist Yet-December, 2022)
- Illegal to Play Offshore: No
As we established in our first version of this page:
While unlawful gambling is considered criminal in Maine, there do not appear to be any penalties associated with the act of merely being a player gambling online. An absence of any penalties effectively makes the act not illegal.
With that, we determined that players could do whatever they wished provided they are not actually operating an unlawful online casino in Maine.
Since then, according to the Press Herald, Maine has passed a bill authorizing Internet sportsbooks. This is a variation of a previous bill that would have demanded a tax rate of 25% of sportsbook net revenues, which as in New Hampshire (50%) probably no operators would have tolerated unless they could also get exclusivity.
The websites will come in and be tied to the state’s land-based Tribal Casinos, as has been reported, and quoting in part:
Champion estimates the state’s annual cut of sports betting – set in the law at 10 percent of gross revenues after payouts to bettors – will be $3.8 million to $6 million. The tribes would get 50 percent or more of the online revenues, with “providers” such as Draft Kings or FanDuel receiving up to 30-40 percent for hosting mobile apps where bettors place wagers. In addition, 0.25 percent of the gross revenue will go toward federal taxes.
That seems like a decent revenue split and it’s nice that the tribes are going to be the primary benefactors of this gambling expansion. It would be unfortunate to see the state, which really doesn’t need the money (Maine is quite flush) take a bigger cut than necessary to the detriment of the tribes.
In the meantime, these sportsbooks aren’t expected to actually go live until sometime in 2024, for reasons beyond our comprehension. There’s honestly no reason why it should take that long as other states, some without land casinos, got online sports betting up and running within mere months of the passage of the bills.
It’s hard to say when Maine will authorize online casino-style gambling in the state, but we imagine that it’s probably just a matter of time. Eventually, they will have no choice but to note the revenue inflow to other states and, more than that, Maine and the Native American casino operators have a very agreeable relationship and we are quite confident the tribes would want to be able to get a cut of online casino-style gaming revenues, as well.
MARYLAND
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Gamble Offshore: No
Once again, you would want to check with an attorney, but our previous take on Maryland law that would have made online gambling illegal was based on this:
Pursuant to Maryland Law, both the use of a, "Gambling Device," and the possession of a Gambling Device are crimes that can result in various fines and even up to two years in prison for playing a gaming device.
However, it would seem that a computer or phone is now allowed to be a gambling device, if one is a player, as mobile sports betting is now legal in the State of Maryland. We never were able to dig up any law that made it flatly illegal to play online the first time we did a page like this, so we relied on the notion that the device would become a gambling device.
A bill that would authorize online sports betting passed in 2020, online sports betting went live in the Baltimore area in 2021, and as of November of 2022, it is available in the entire state. The state has about a half dozen regulated sportsbooks online, all of which can be found in the border state of Pennsylvania.
Our opinion is that Maryland will legalize and regulate online casinos within the next two to three years. We have that opinion, and Public Gaming agrees, for several reasons:
1.) Maryland already has Commercial Land Casinos:
- The first reason is the fact that Maryland already has land-based Commercial Casinos, which so far, is something true of every state that has allowed for regulated casino-style gaming and poker.
2.) Bordering states have Commercial Online Casinos Already:
- That’s right, Maryland is actually way behind on this one as bordering states, such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia, already have online sportsbooks and casino-style games. Eventually, Maryland is going to have to take notice of the semi-trucks full of cash that these states are bringing in via taxation and decide they want those gamblers to hop online and play, as well.
Anyway, people with interest in a regulated online casino product, but no interest in sports, will just jump the border and play elsewhere until such time as Maryland also gets some casino-style gaming in the state.
MASSACHUSETTS
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Gamble Offshore: Yes, Technically
The State of Massachusetts has laws both prohibiting unregulated gambling (even as a player) as well as gambling in a public place. The first iteration of this page cited:
Essentially states that individuals doing any form of gambling and winning five or more dollars (except State authorized gambling under Chapter 23K) could be fined double the amount of the money that was won gambling.
With that, there’s no jail time involved and we have also never heard of anyone actually being charged under this statute for playing online, so while it’s technically illegal, it is also extraordinarily unlikely that someone would get in any trouble for doing so.
In the meantime, NBC Boston reports that online sports betting has passed in November of 2022, so operators are now in the process of getting licensed and websites should be kicking off in time for the kickoff of the 2023 NFL Season, probably earlier.
In most states with land casinos, online operators have to have some tie to one of the state’s land-based casinos, whether that casino is commercial or Native American. Massachusetts is a little different in that they decided to allow for as many as seven mobile only sports betting licenses, though only six entities have applied for them thus far. Quoting from NBC:
The six companies that applied by Monday's deadline are: Bally Bet, Betr, Betway (DGC USA), DraftKings, FanDuel, and PointsBet. One mobile betting company, bet365, filed an application to eventually partner with Raynham Park, which was not subject to Monday's deadline.
The applications received by Monday's deadline will be reviewed during public meetings of the Gaming Commission. The commission said Monday that more information on the scheduling of those meetings is forthcoming.
Each company that applied for a sports betting license also had to submit a non-refundable $200,000 application fee by Monday. That means the Gaming Commission took in $3 million in application fees Monday.
These are the usual suspects in most other states, though I don’t think I’m very familiar with either Bally Bet or Betr. In any event, that seems like a healthy amount of competition in the state, so one would expect the new player promotions to be pretty stellar as these websites start to launch.
That bill did not include any provisions that would authorize online casino-style games or poker, but we suspect that it will likely happen within the next few years as Mass. sees the truckloads of money being driven to other states’ capitals and decides they want to get some of that action. Beyond that, the fact that they are willing to offer, “Mobile only,” licenses indicates that they are open to the general concept of Internet-based gambling.
MICHIGAN
- Online Casinos: Yes
- Online Sportsbooks: Yes
- Illegal to Play Offshore: No
The previous law in Michigan was that players could not gamble in any fashion that was not permitted by the state, which online sportsbook and casino now are, so absent a law that specifically states that players may not play on websites outside of the state, we must assume that doing so is legal.
Michigan was one of the states party to the lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court to get PASPA overturned and has been home to Commercial and Tribal Casinos alike for several years. Sports are also a pretty big deal in the state, so there probably would have been some kind of riot if residents hadn’t gotten legalized sports betting online.
Anyway, the expansion of online gambling and sports betting comes as no surprise in Michigan. If anything surprises us, it is how far behind Michigan Ohio is when it comes to these activities.
MINNESOTA
- Online Casinos: No
- Online Sportsbooks: Not Yet (December 2022)
- Illegal to Play: No
For the time being, what we found in our first iteration of this page continues to hold, which was:
While an individual who, "Makes a bet," has committed a Misdemeanor pursuant to State Law, it does not seem to carry any penalties. Minnesota proscribes a number of penalties for, "Gross Misdemeanors," in the next section of the law, but none of those would seem to apply to online players:
With that, it is technically a crime, but not one that actually has a penalty associated with it. Could you imagine that going to the judge? “I find you guilty, sir, of misdemeanor betting. That is all. Have a nice day and make sure to watch out for deer and tell your folks I says hi.”
Anyway, nobody has ever been prosecuted under this law that carries with it no penalty that we can find. In the meantime, according to Total Packers, there are a number of Legislative hangups in attempts to get online sports betting passed in the state.
This is kind of a variation of the problem in Florida, just in reverse. In the case of Minnesota, the Legislature has presented a bill that would allow the Tribes to engage in in-person sports betting at their casinos, and would also allow the tribes to have their own online sportsbooks.
Fantastic, right?
The hangup with this that the tribes have is that the current version of the bill, upon our further research, would extend in-person and online betting to the state’s Commercial racetracks, which is an element that the tribes are against.
In other words, sports betting would already be a reality in the state, except the tribes want an effective monopoly.
With that, the earliest Minnesotans can expect to see pa