States That Legalized Gambling

• In 2018, their record-setting revenues totaled $41.68 billion, an increased of 3.5 percent from the previous year.
• One of the first major casinos to open in Las Vegas was El Rancho Vegas, opened in 1941
• The decision was made to allow states to set their own gambling policies, without federal government interference.
• In 2018, there were 465 commercial casinos in the United States

Gambling could well be America’s favorite pastime, with the commercial casino industry raking in billions every year. In 2018, their record-setting revenues totaled $41.68 billion, an increase of 3.5 percent from the previous year. This is a far cry from the New Orleans gambling halls of the 1800s, gambling halls of the Old West, and the small casinos that opened in Nevada in the 1930s.

One of the first major casinos to open in Las Vegas was El Rancho Vegas, opened in 1941. Although many did not set their stakes on casino gambling being successful, it grew by fits and starts and eventually shot for the stars.

The state of play: Sports betting is now legal and fully operational in 18 states, plus Washington, D.C. Another four states — Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington — have passed bills legalizing it this year, but are not yet operational. Casino gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931 and it was the only state to offer that type of gambling until 1977 when New Jersey legalized casinos for its seaside resort town of Atlantic City. It is these land-based, stand-alone, casinos that were the original forms until riverboat and Indian casinos came along in the 1990’s. Arkansas - In November of 2018, there was a bill passed for sports betting but there are still a few hurdles to clear before it's legal. New York - The New York State Gaming Commission is hoping.

West Virginia is an interesting state because it has legalized casinos as well as hundreds of slot parlors, but just about any other form of gambling is illegal, including home games. If you execute an illegal wager in West Virginia, the code says that you will pay a fine of $5-$300 and, if you fail to do so, will spend 10-30 days in jail.

Casino Industry Growth In The U.S.

In 1976, the U.S. Commission on the Review of the National Policy toward Gambling published “Gambling in America,” a report that studied attitudes about gambling in America. The Commission then made recommendations to different state governments that were thinking about legalizing gambling. The decision was made to allow states to set their own gambling policies, without federal government interference.

Just two years later, New Jersey opened its first legal casino in Atlantic City. Less than 20 years later, casino gambling was legal in nine more states. As of 2020, these states all have legal casinos. Some are the traditional Las Vegas style, some are land-based; others are Native American owned, on riverboats, or pari-mutuel (pool betting).

States That Legalized Sports Gambling

1. Alabama
2. Arizona
3. Arkansas
4. California
5. Colorado
6. Connecticut
7. Delaware
8. Florida
9. Georgia
10. Idaho
11. Illinois
12. Indiana
13. Iowa
14. Kansas
15. Kentucky
16. Louisiana
17. Maine
18. Maryland
19. Massachusetts
20. Michigan
21. Minnesota
22. Mississippi
23. Missouri
24. Montana
25. Nebraska
26. Nevada
27. New Jersey
28. New Mexico
29. New York
30. North Carolina
31. North Dakota
32. Ohio
33. Oklahoma
34. Oregon
35. Pennsylvania
36. Rhode Island
37. South Carolina
38. South Dakota
39. Texas
40. Virginia
41. Washington
42. West Virginia
43. Wisconsin Casinos
44. Wyoming Casinos

More Ways to Gamble

In 2018, there were 465 commercial casinos in the United States, with Nevada (334), California (150+), Oklahoma (134) and Colorado (40) leading the pack. This is merely the tip of the iceberg, though, as the proliferation of online casino gambling has created even more places to place bets 24/7, 365 days a year. There is also sports betting, lotteries, Bingo, and other games, and gambling laws vary by state.

Some of the live casinos are way over the top, especially ones like the Wynn in Las Vegas and Borgata in Atlantic City. Visitors enjoy spending long weekends – if not days – in these resort towns, taking in the local attractions, seeing shows, sampling the local food, and even going on breathtaking roller coasters. Smaller casinos can be fun too, but you may have to drive out of your way to get to some of them.

States That Legalized Sports Betting

Gambling Restrictions

Some of the 44 states on the legal casinos list do place restrictions on their gambling. For example, New Hampshire, Indiana, and other states do not permit online gambling. Georgia only has one casino, and it is a cruise ship. There are two states in the country that have a 100 percent ban on all gambling, and they are Utah and Hawaii.

Sports betting in the United States has changed dramatically since May of 2018 when PASPA was repealed. In fact, the changes are taking place so quickly, it's actually a bit challenging to keep up. This is not a bad thing though - it means that the sports wagering industry is expanding to fill the void that US bettors have felt for the last several decades, and state lawmakers are on board for the most part with pioneering the launch of the domestic US sports betting industry.

Following PASPA's nullification, state-regulated sports betting has come onto the scene to provide a second avenue for betting along with the handful of trusted offshore sportsbooks that have legally and reliably provided their betting services to American sports fans for decades. To assist in helping everyone stay in the know regarding which states allow or prohibit these different forms of sportsbook gambling, we've broken the information down in a few different ways.

Where Is Sports Betting Considered Legal In The United States?

Before May 2018, only one state had full-service state-regulated sports betting options, that state being Nevada. At this moment in time, the number of states offering legal domestic sports betting is 19. In addition, US players are permitted to access offshore sports betting sites in most states except in Connecticut and Washington, where lawmakers have established state laws outlawing access to all forms of online gambling. Residents in every other state can legally access offshore sportsbooks without violating any type of state or federal laws.

List Of States That Have Already Legalized State Regulated Sports Betting

What states offer legal sports betting locally? Currently, more than 20 US states have legalized state-regulated sports betting options, though you can reduce that number by one if you consider the tribal loophole used by New Mexico Indian nations to not qualify as specific state approval.

A significant number of states have passed legislation to authorize sports gambling in their state but have yet to launch any sportsbooks while additional states have legislation pending.

Here is a breakdown of the states that have already passed legislation allowing domestic sports betting entertainment as well as states that have pending active legislation in the works. States with ** indicate that they have legalized state-regulated sports betting but have not yet launched any brick and mortar or online betting options.

• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Delaware
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Michigan
• Mississippi

• Montana
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina**
• Oregon

• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Tennessee
• Virginia**
• West Virginia
• Washington**
• Washington D.C.

List Of U.S. States That Don't Criminalize Offshore Betting

Even if you don't live in one of the above states which have passed legislation to legalize sports betting, there are still plenty of options to bet on sports while remaining within the confines of the U.S. law. The most important thing to understand on the legal side of things is that there are only 2 states which specifically make gambling via an offshore site illegal. These include Washington and Connecticut. So you won't be breaking any laws if you reside in any other state and choose to bet with an offshore sportsbook.

States Where Online Sports Betting Is Considered Illegal

A few states have taken an extra measure to strengthen their enforcement of anti-gambling laws to keep their residents from engaging in any form of gambling on the Internet, including online sports betting:

• Washington
• Connecticut

These two states are the only ones that have taken this approach as of early 2020. They each have specific state laws that outlaw all forms of gambling on the Internet, regardless of the source. Their prohibition of online sports wagering does not mean that they won't legalize state-regulated brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, as Connecticut has some betting legislation on the table right now and Washington just passed a sports betting bill of its own.

There are also a few states that have enacted laws specifically to prohibit state-regulated sports wagering, including:

• Utah
• Vermont
• Alaska
• Hawaii

We've seen that this can change as well, as Hawaii already has a pending sports gambling bill in its legislature.

States That Legalized Gambling

Understanding States’ Rights

The United States Department of Justice issued a Formal Opinion in 2011 clarifying that the Wire Act only pertained to US-based online sports gambling businesses. This freed up states to issue legislation that would legalize online casinos and poker.

However, the application of this law changed in 2018 with the repeal of PASPA and again in 2019 with another clarification of the law's reach post-PASPA. Now the Act simply prohibits any interstate gambling transmissions for all state-regulated gambling, meaning that state gambling businesses are not permitted to accept wagers across state lines. This interpretation is being challenged in court, so the application of the Wire Act could change yet again.

Until its repeal in May of 2018, PASPA was a federal ban that superseded states’ rights. There was an argument against the ban stating that it violated states’ constitutional rights. PASPA prohibited states from authorizing or licensing sports betting enterprises themselves. After being sued by the major sports leagues in the US, NJ decided to do something about PASPA.

New Jersey was victorious in their historic Supreme Court case where they are argued that PASPA violates their rights as they tried to authorize sports betting in 2014. SCOTUS ruled that PASPA was indeed unconstitutional and rendered the law null and void and has therefore placed the authority to regulate sports wagering into the hands of the individual states.

States That Legalized Online Sports Betting

Make Your Voice Heard

You can help with the ongoing US sports betting legal disputes by contacting your state representatives and encouraging them to vote on matters you support. Contact your state representatives and tell them to support sports betting legislation. If you visit our state bill tracker page - you will see a map with all the states. If you click on that map you will see a list of all pending bills for any given state. If a state is not 'clickable', you will know there are no sports betting bills pending for that state.

Understanding The Legal Gambling Age Of Each State

One of the most stringent protocols for any gambling sector is age verification. States have gambling age requirements to prevent minors from gaining access to both brick-and-mortar and online gambling platforms. Most states have a minimum gambling age somewhere between 18 and 21. However, most state-regulated sports betting platforms that we've seen launched require participants to be at least 21 years old, but there are a few exceptions. Be sure to check with your state’s gambling laws before participating in gambling to ensure you are within your legal limits.

What The Future Holds For Legal Online Sports Betting In America

This depends on whether the 2019 DOJ opinion on the Wire Act will be challenged in court (though it has received a temporary injunction on its new 'interpretation'). This new opinion flipped the domestic market on its head as it placed many restrictions on operations, forcing providers to be 100% intrastate-supported and compliant by mid-2019. However, New Hampshire and other states are attempting to challenge this opinion in court, and so far things are looking good.

Sports Gambling - By The Numbers

Be the legal situation as it may, sports betting still happens. American bettors are flocking to regulated offshore sportsbooks or illegal online and offline bookies to place their wagers. Sports gambling is a billion-dollar industry.

To put things in perspective, check out this information provided by the American Gaming Association of sports betting statistics from Super Bowl LIV (2020).

• 26 million—Number of American adults to bet on SB54
• 5 million—Bets placed online/offshore
• $6.8 billion—Total Super Bowl betting handle
• $154.7 million—Legal bets placed in Nevada
• $6.65 billion—Gray-market bets placed everywhere else
• 97.7%—Percentage of all bets placed through non-US-licensed means
• 25%—Increase in total Super Bowl bets from the previous year

The AGA is also estimating that a total of over $40 billion will be wagered on MLB games during the next season. Imagine if this type of revenue was being regulated. Since the market already exists, why not put regulations on it to make it work towards our mutual benefit?

A poll conducted before the repeal of PASPA by the Morning Consult asked NFL fans their opinions on sports betting legislation. Nearly three times as many NFL fans believed the federal government should lift the ban on sports betting. The majority also believed that individual states should have the power to decide if they want sports betting, not the federal government. Americans want to bet on sports, and they've made it clear.

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