Gambling Illegal States

Gambling Illegal States Rating: 3,8/5 4804 votes

Laws have been passed to legalize betting at retail locations, but gamblers are still waiting to place legal sports bets in Washington. No legislation has been proposed to introduce legal sports betting in the state of Utah. Lebanon In Lebanon the law states that gambling of any kind that is unauthorised is illegal, and the government has the power to block online casinos too. Online gambling is only allowed at a designated online casino, and land based gambling is facilitated at Casino du Liban in Jounieh. Unless New York legislators legalize a gambling game, it is illegal. As for the state’s legal gaming options, the most popular is the New York Lottery. More New Yorkers buy lottery tickets than citizens of any state, with greater than 92% participation, according to figures released by the state each summer.

  1. State laws also govern gambling. Some states prohibit public wagers or betting by minors, while others allow wagering up to a certain amount. In some states parimutuel betting on horse races at the tracks is legal and most states operate or participate in daily and weekly lotteries. Some states, however, particularly those along the Mississippi.
  2. VPNs in general are great, but using a VPN to gamble online is almost always a terrible idea. Most reputable online gambling sites have become very good at detecting questionable IP addresses and specifically state in their T&C that VPNs are banned.

We've compiled this legal online betting guide for US players arranged by state, to provide accurate and up to date information on the legal online gambling status and gaming options available within each US state. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive state gambling directory which will empower players with the information to make informed decisions about online gambling.

This state-specific data will include a look at the state laws governing online gambling opportunities from online casinos, online poker, to online sports betting.

Each individual state is approaching the legalization of online gambling differently, thus it is necessary to detail lawfully available state-licensed options, and sanctioned licensed offshore online gambling opportunities. We also address some of the most commonly asked questions about gambling in each state and provide some helpful resources for players to access. This information can only be covered in depth within each of the state pages we offer, which you can find listed within this guide.

Is Online Gambling Legal In My State?

To avoid confusion, we have marked US states which offer state-regulated gambling options in the table below with a check mark. At this moment in time, eight US states have legalized and regulated online gambling in some form. For example:

Online Poker & Casinos:

  • Delaware - Online Poker and Online Casino gambling
  • Nevada - Online Poker
  • New Jersey - Online Poker, Online Casinos
  • Pennsylvania - Online Poker, Online Casinos
  • West Virginia - Online Poker, Online Casinos

Online Sports Betting & Fantasy Sports

  • Illinois - Legalized Online Sports Betting**
  • Indiana - Offers Online Sports Betting
  • Iowa - Offers Online Sports Betting
  • Massachusetts - Fantasy Sports Allowed
  • Mississippi - Online Allowed At Casinos Only
  • Montana - Legalized Online Sports Betting**
  • Nevada - Online Sportsbooks State-wide
  • New Jersey - Online Sportsbooks State-wide
  • New York - Allows Fantasy Sports And Domestic Sports Betting
  • Oregon - Offers Online Sports Betting
  • Pennsylvania - Offers Online and Domestic Sports Betting
  • Rhode Island - Offers Online and Domestic Sports Betting
  • Tennessee - Offers Online Sports Betting Apps
  • West Virginia - Online Sports Betting Allowed State-wide

** Legalized but Pending launch

Online Lottery:

  • Georgia - Online Lottery Allowed
  • Illinois - Online Lottery Allowed
  • Kentucky - Online Lottery Allowed
  • Michigan - Online Lottery Allowed
  • Minnesota - Online Lottery Allowed
  • New Hampshire - Online Lottery Allowed
  • Pennsylvania - Online Lottery Allowed

Is Licensed Offshore Gambling Legal In My State?

While the above-mentioned states offer regulated online gambling, they still maintain the option to utilize licensed offshore online options. Nearly all US state residents, except those from Washington or Connecticut, can legally access licensed offshore online gambling platforms to play online casino games, poker, or bet on sports.

This is because no state laws in these other 48 states specifically prohibit or allow it - thus operating in a technical grey area, it is still considered safe to use because it is not likely these states will draft and pass legislation to specifically affect domestic access to licensed offshore gaming.

What Is The Minimum Online Gambling Age in the US?

Betting

There is no one minimum gambling age in the US as this is set and regulated by each individual state. The minimum gambling age within each state is affected by various factors such as game selected and licensor. By this, we mean state-regulated online gambling options require domestic players, whether residents or visitors, to abide by the state's minimum gambling age for that form of gambling on land within the state's borders.

However, licensed offshore online platforms which offer casino games, poker, and sports betting can lawfully accept players who are at least 18 years of age or older. These licensed offshore online sites also offer players much more in the way of bonuses and perks and the platforms we recommend are all extremely reputable.

U.S. States Where You Can Legally Gamble At 18 And Up

Below you can learn more about the minimum legal online gambling age by state in the USA.

AL Offshore Yes:18IL Offshore Yes:18NE Offshore Yes:18SD Offshore Yes:18
AK Offshore Yes:18IN Offshore Yes:18NV Offshore Yes:18SC Offshore Yes:18
AZ Offshore Yes:18KS Offshore Yes:18NH Offshore Yes:18TN Offshore Yes:18
AR Offshore Yes:18KY Offshore Yes:18NJ Offshore NoTX Offshore Yes:18
CA Offshore Yes:18LA Offshore Yes:18NM Offshore Yes:18UT Offshore Yes:18
CO Offshore Yes:18ME Offshore Yes:18NY Offshore Yes:18VT Offshore Yes:18
CT Offshore NoMD Offshore Yes:18ND Offshore Yes:18VA Offshore Yes:18
DE Offshore Yes:18MA Offshore Yes:18NC Offshore Yes:18WA Offshore No
FL Offshore Yes:18MI Offshore Yes:18OH Offshore Yes:18WV Offshore Yes:18
GA Offshore Yes:18MN Offshore Yes:18OK Offshore Yes:18WI Offshore Yes:18
HI Offshore Yes:18MS Offshore Yes:18OR Offshore Yes:18WY Offshore Yes:18
ID Offshore Yes:18MO Offshore Yes:18PA Offshore Yes:18
IA Offshore Yes:18MT Offshore Yes:18RI Offshore Yes:18

Online Gambling Laws in The United States

Gambling laws can be a rather complex topic these days as there are several US federal gambling laws to account for such as the UIGEA, and the Federal Wire Act, as well as, several individual state gambling laws. The reason for this is because the United States DOJ has said that states have the authority to determine their own destiny concerning both land-based and online gambling.

Afterward, several states moved forward with legalizing some forms of online gambling for their region. Multiple other states are currently in discussions amongst themselves regarding the possibility of embracing this virtual gaming platform in their own territories. As discussed earlier and from what can be read from our laws page, US players outside of WA and CT are permitted access to multiple licensed, certified, and regulated online gambling sites hosted outside of the United States. This is a nice alternative for those players not located in a state with its own regulated form of domestic online gambling.

States With Pending Online Gambling Legislation

US States That Offer Domestic Sportsbooks

US States With Passed Sports Betting Legislation (Pending Launch)

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Illegal Sports Betting

Online Gambling Illegal States

How Offshore Operators – and Those Who Support Them – Break U.S. Law

For decades, state-regulated brick and mortar sportsbooks in Nevada offered the only legal sports betting in the U.S. However, with the advent of the internet, illegal bookies have taken advantage of lax or even non-existent laws in places like Antigua, Costa Rica, Latvia, and Panama to set up online sportsbooks that target American customers. These sportsbooks are illegal in the United States and prey on unsuspecting Americans, despite claims of regulation and licensure in their home countries. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Murphy v. NCAA and nearly half of the states legalizing sports betting, these unscrupulous operators continue to take advantage of the unsuspecting public.

Sports betting, like all other forms of gambling, is highly regulated at the state level. Each state in the country can decide if and to what extent it will permit gambling. Since the decision in Murphy v. NCAA, 22 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting. Each of these states have established rigorous licensing regimes to ensure game integrity and consumer safety. Sportsbooks and bookies that offer sports betting outside of these licensing regimes – whether in person or online – are illegal.

Federal law makes it a crime to participate in the business of illegal gambling. There are a variety of statutes that make it illegal to operate or participate in financial transactions related to an unlicensed sportsbook in the United States, including the Wire Act, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, the Travel Act, and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.[i] Beyond federal statutes aimed specifically at gambling, a variety of broader criminal laws targeting organized crime have also been the basis for prosecution of offshore gambling rings.[ii]

The threat of federal prosecution is not hypothetical. Prosecutors have been successfully pursuing cases against offshore operators for two decades. The first ever prosecution of an offshore book came in 2000 against Jay Cohen, founder of the Antigua-based World Sports Exchange. A jury found Cohen guilty of several violations of the Wire Act, for which he was sentenced to two years in jail.[iii] In another case, the federal government charged 57 individuals with operating an illegal gambling business, racketeering, and money laundering in connection with their Panama-based sportsbook.[iv] The trials continued for many years, resulting in convictions, fines, and other sanctions.

Another high-profile case from the Southern District of New York illustrates the far-reaching impacts of illegal sports betting. In 2016, the U.S. Attorney charged and prosecuted 46 leaders of several organized crime families with everything from assault, extortion, and gun trafficking, to loansharking and illegal gambling.[v] The sports betting charges stemmed from the defendants’ use of online, illegal sportsbooks based in the United States and abroad to enrich the crime families.

Federal prosecution is not limited to the operators themselves. The Department of Justice has warned that media outlets that accept advertising dollars from these illegal operators could be liable for aiding and abetting criminal activity.[vi] Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo entered into a $31.5 million settlement with the federal government in relation to their promotion of illegal, offshore gambling in 2009.[vii] The Sporting News, one of the oldest sporting outlets in the country, entered into a $7.2 million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve accusations stemming from accepting advertising from offshore gaming outlets.[viii] Even short of criminal prosecution, media outlets may be subject to seizure of funds or subpoenas as part of related prosecutions or investigations.

While federal law is abundantly clear on the illegality of such operations, these books and even the media, often claim it is not illegal for the consumer to use offshore sites. While it is true that no federal law targets bettors using offshore books, many states have laws that make using these books illegal. Many of the 28 states with no legalized sports betting expressly make it illegal for consumers to wager on sports in any form, including via offshore operations.[ix] And several states that have legalized sports betting specify that consumers should only engage in such activity through a legal, regulated sportsbook. For example, it is illegal in Nevada and Michigan to place a wager with a sportsbook that is not authorized to operate in the state.[x] It is also, of course, illegal for a sportsbook to operate without proper licensure and regulatory oversight in any state with legalized sports betting.

Beyond being illegal, these offshore operations also fail to provide any meaningful consumer protection. While legal, regulated sportsbooks uphold key principles of responsible gaming, protection of consumer funds, data privacy, and more, offshore books do nothing to protect their patrons. In fact, should a consumer find themselves at odds with their offshore bookie (not being able to withdraw their funds or disagreeing with how a bet was settled, for example), there is no one the consumer can turn to for help. Further, should the federal government initiate a proceeding against any of these offshore books, customers might lose their money on deposit with the book with little to no recourse. These illegal operators also avoid contributing state and local taxes to U.S. communities.

Offshore sportsbooks violate federal and state laws in targeting U.S.-based consumers. Worse yet, they take advantage of confusion and uncertainty to entice consumers to use their illegal sites. For many consumers, they only realize the dangers in using these sites when it is too late – when they have a complaint or a problem, but no recourse to resolve it. Only when all sectors of the sports betting ecosystem work together – the operators, the suppliers, the media, the regulators – can we ensure customers can easily find and use safe, legal, and regulated sports betting sites.

Citations

[i] The Wire Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1084; Illegal Gambling Business Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1955; Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1952, Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 5361–5366.

[ii]E.g. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968 and 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956, 1957 (relating to money laundering).

[iii]United States v. Cohen, 260 F.3d 68 (2d Cir. 2001); see alsoMan Jailed in 1st U.S. Online Gambling Conviction, Reuters, Aug. 11, 2000, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/11gambling.html.

[iv]Fifty-Seven Charged with Operating Illegal Online Sports Gaming Business, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Apr. 10, 2013, https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdok/pr/fifty-seven-charged-operating-illegal-online-sports-gaming-business.

Gambling Illegal In What States

[v]Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges 46 Leaders, Members, and Associates of Several Organized Crime Families of La Costa Nostra with Wide-Ranging Racketeering Charges, U.S. Dept. of Justices, Aug. 4, 2016, https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-charges-46-leaders-members-and-associates-several-organized-crime.

[vi]See Letter from John G. Malcom, Deputy Assistant Att’y Gen. to Nat’l Ass’n of Broadcasters, June 11, 2003, available at commlawcenter.com/files/2014/02/NAB_letter-030611.pdf.

[vii] Jason Ryan, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo to Pay $31.5M Over Illegal Gambling Ads, ABC News, Jan. 8, 2009, https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/FedCrimes/story?id=4029545&page=1.

Gambling Illegal States For Medical Marijuana

[viii] Matt Richtel, Sporting News Settles Case on Gambling Ads, N.Y. Times, Jan. 21, 2006, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/21/business/media/sporting-news-settles-case-on-gambling-ads.html.

Gambling Illegal States For Recreational

[ix]See, e.g., Ga. Code Ann. § 16-12-21; Tex. Penal Code § 47.02; Wis. Stat. Ann. § 945.02

Gambling Illegal States For Covid Deaths

[x]See Nev. Rev. Stat. 465.093; Mich. Comp. L. § 750.310e.