A study recently published came to the conclusion that in terms of online gambling, the USA’s gambling legislation is the most complex in the world. This makes the US online gambling market overly complicated for players and operators alike. We are here to make it simple and easy to understand. Currently, out of the 50 states and 5 inhabited overseas territories 7 has legalized online gambling and online gambling is still illegal on a federal level.
To date, as much as an estimated 72%* of the world’s online casinos are closed to US visitors (due to overly complex legal environment, and the hostility of certain states towards online gambling), which means that it is not easy for US players to find online casinos. We are here to help with this as well (see below for list of online gambling websites, which accept players from the USA).
First of all, US players are not prosecuted for playing in non-US online casinos and gambling websites. But in case of domestic, US-registered online operations, the online gambling website (with a few exceptions, see below) can only accept players from the state it is registered in.
Despite all this, domestic online gambling in the USA is blossoming. 5 US states and territories legalized some form of online gambling (apart from online horse racing betting and greyhound racing, which is legal almost everywhere).
Online gambling in the USA is legal since 2011, that year, the DOJ’s (Department of Justice) reversed its former stance on the Wire Act of 1961**. This made it possible for states to legalize intrastate online gambling from then on.**
Nevertheless, online gambling in the USA remains a complicated and a controversial topic.
Online casinos accepting players from the USA
The following online gambling websites accept players from the USA
Black Lotus Casino
- Get 200% match bonus, up to $600. Use the code: WELCOME600
- +$30 bonus. Use code: WINBLACK
Bonuses for existing players:
- 32 Free Spins on Sweet Success Code: CHEER1
- 32 Free Spins on Nordic Wild Code: CHEER2
- 32 Free Spins on Cosmopolitan Code: CHEER3
- 32 Free Spins on 7 Chakras Code: CHEER4
- 32 Free Spins on Le Chocolatier Code: CHEER5
- 32 Free Spins on Fairy Dust Forest Code: CHEER6
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
- Playthrough requirement: 40-60x for match bonuses and usually 60x for free spins and other bonuses, depends on the bonus check the casino's web page for the specific, up to date, current playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Wagering limitation:
- 100% - Slots and Keno
- 50% - Roulette and Three Card Poker
- 25% - Baccarat
- 10% - Video Poker
- 5% - Blackjack, Craps
- 0% - Everything else
Bet Online Casino and Sports Book
- Welcome bonus, 100% up to $1,000 on your first three deposits! Use the code BOLCASINO
- 100% welcome match bonus up to 100% on your first deposit using Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin or DASH. No code required.
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Playthrough requirement: • Slot Games (progressive jackpot slots excluded) 100% • Roulette (All versions), Draw High-Lo, 3 Card Rummy 20% • Baccarat, Blackjack (American & European), Poker 3, Oasis Poker, Single Deck Blackjack, Triple Edge Poker, Caribbean Poker, Three Card Poker, Video Poker 10% • Pirate 21, Blackjack Super 7, Pai Gow, 21 Burn, Ride’m Poker, All forms of Keno, Red Dog, Pontoon, Top Card Trumps 5% • Craps, Live Casino, All Games with Progressive Jackpots, Virtual Racebook. Speciality games ie Keno’s and Scratcher game offered by Betsoft 0%
Wagering limitation:
- Any action on Baccarat, Roulette and Craps will not count towards the wagering requirement.
Sources:
* Online Gambling Access Around The World
Summary:
- Legal status of online gambling in the USA
- Online gambling state-by-state breakdown
- Online casino gambling in the US
- Online bingo in the US
- Online poker in the US
- Online sports betting in the US
- Online lottery in the US
- Bitcoin gambling in the US
Legal status of online gambling in the USA
There are two Acts with paramount importance: the Wire Act of 1961, and the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) signed into law in 2006. Interpretations, reinterpretations, and contradictions of these two were decisive to the present legal status of online gambling in the USA. The most recent milestone of US online gambling regulations was the memo issued by the DOJ in 2011.
Details:
“Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”
If you made your way through the quirky sentence, intuition probably tells you that it only applies to sports betting. According to several historic cases, most interpretations, and discussions and the enactment of the Act mentioned in the 2011 memo prove that it was indeed only meant to impose regulations on sports betting activities. Moreover, it only seems to address the technological infrastructure of the era it was crafted in.
In fact, many amendments proposed through the ’90s sought to make the act more technologically neutral, which suggests that the people proposing these amendments didn’t believe it applied to the internet, or anything besides what “wire communication facility” meant at the time of its enactment.
All this didn’t stop the US Department of Justice from interpreting the Act as a broad scale prohibition on gambling using any means of telecommunication, including the internet. Moreover, the Act only mentioned interstate transmissions expressly, but the reasoning of the DOJ for using the act to prohibit intrastate online gambling was that the internet and the telephone are inherently interstate media.
*Wire Act and its effect on online gambling legislation is Michelle Minton’s white paper: The Original Intent of the Wire Act and Its Implications for State-based Legalization of Internet Gambling, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
In 2009, the New York’s lottery division and the Illinois governor’s office wrote to the Department of Justice Criminal Division seeking an opinion on the legality of online lottery sales. While the Criminal Division asserted that offering lotteries online within the state would violate the Wire Act, they did acknowledge that such interpretation contradicts the UIGEA, which expressly excludes intrastate online gambling, making it legal.
The UIGEA was considered to be quite faulty in its phrasing, because actually it didn’t ban online gambling, nor did it define, what is unlawful internet gambling. Instead, it prohibited payment processors from processing transactions related to online gambling in the USA.
Another strange thing about the UIGEA is that it specifically exempts online horse race and greyhound betting. And this is why online horse and greyhound betting and online lottery are the only kinds of online gambling that are legal in the majority of the states.
In 2011, partly in response to the New York lottery divisions inquiry, the DOJ released a memo*, which represented a 180 degrees reversal of their previous interpretation of the Wire Act. The memo declared that because lottery is not related to sports betting, it falls outside the scope of the Wire Act. The decision, (apart from allowing the state of Illinois to conduct online lottery), dispelled the ambiguity surrounding the Wire Act’s actual scope and it opened the door for states to legalize online gambling within their borders.
The legal status of online gambling in the US, state-by-state
In total, 7 states & territories have legalized some forms of online gambling in the USA as of now:
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- Delaware
- US Virgin Islands (unincorporated overseas territory)
- Georgia
- Illinois
- New York (Bitcoin horse betting is allowed too)
And in the following 26 states only online horse racing betting is legal currently: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Vermont, South Dakota, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Oregon, Oklahoma, Ohio, North Dakota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Louisiana, Minnesota, Kentucky, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Idaho, Pennsylvania.
Online gambling in most of these states and territories is only allowed on an intrastate basis. This means that poker players from Nevada, are only allowed to play poker against players from Nevada, and only on platforms offered specifically for the Nevada market.
However, this is changing right now, interstate agreements were signed by many of these states recently. And there are still also many offshore gambling websites, which accept US players.
This table summarizes the legal status of different forms of online gambling in all the US states. You can find a list of online gambling sites, which accept US players below the table.
Online gambling in the USA – sorted by states and type | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
State | Online casino gambling | Online Bingo | Online Poker | Online sports betting | Online Lottery, scratch cards and Keno | Bitcoin gambling | |
Alabama | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | no state lottery | not yet decided | |
Alaska | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | no state lottery | not yet decided | |
Arizona | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Arkansas | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
California | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Colorado | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Connecticut | illegal, players are not prosecuted | legal on sites licensed by the state | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Delaware | legal on sites licensed by the state | legal on sites licensed by the state | legal on sites licensed by the state | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Florida | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Georgia | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | legal, the state lottery has an online platform | not yet decided | |
Hawaii | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | no state lottery | not yet decided | |
Idaho | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Illinois | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | legal, the state lottery has an online platform | not yet decided | |
Indiana | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Iowa | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Kansas | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Kentucky | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Louisiana | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Maine | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Maryland | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Massachusetts | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Michigan | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | legal, the state lottery has an online platform | not yet decided | |
Minnesota | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | legal but the state lottery no longer has online platform | not yet decided | |
Mississippi | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | no state lottery | not yet decided | |
Missouri | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Montana | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Nebraska | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Nevada | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | legal on platforms licensed by the state | legal, on licensed sites | no state lottery | no licenses were issued to operators yet, unclear | |
New Hampshire | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
New Jersey | legal on platforms licensed by the state | legal on platforms licensed by the state | legal on platforms licensed by the state | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
New Mexico | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
New York | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, there is an online platform | legal, one legally licensed operator, Derby Jackpot accepts Bitcoin wagers | |
North Carolina | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
North Dakota | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Ohio | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Oklahoma | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Oregon | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Pennsylvania | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, except for horse racing betting and fantasy sports betting legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Rhode Island | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
South Carolina | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
South Dakota | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Tennessee | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Texas | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Utah | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | no state lottery | not yet decided | |
Vermont | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Virginia | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Washington | illegal, considered a felony, players are seldom prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
West Virginia | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Wisconsin | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided | |
Wyoming | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | only horse racing betting is legal on licensed sites | state monopoly, no online platform | not yet decided |
US overseas unincorporated territories
Online gambling in the USA – sorted by territories and types | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Territory | Online casino gambling | Online Bingo | Online Poker | Online sport betting | Online lottery | Bitcoin Gambling | |
American Samoa | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, except for horse racing betting on licensed sites | illegal, players are not prosecuted | not yet decided | |
Guam | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | not yet decided | |
Northern Mariana Islands | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | not yet decided | |
Puerto Rico | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | illegal, players are not prosecuted | not yet decided | |
US Virgin Islands | legal, but no licensed are issued yet | legal, but no licensed are issued yet | legal, but no licensed are issued yet | illegal, players are not prosecuted | legal, but no licensed are issued yet | legal, but no licenses are issued yet |
Online casino gambling in the USA
Online casino gambling in the US: illegal in most states, offshore online casinos outside of US jusrisdiction accept players from most states, players are not prosecuted
Online casino gambling is prohibited in the US, mainly by the UIGEA. The only exceptions are two states, Delaware and New Jersey and an overseas territory; the US Virgin Islands. All three of these passed bills in recent years expressly legalizing various forms of online gambling.
Not many gambling websites accept players from the US. Some foreign online casinos are blocked by ISPs, some voluntarily restrict US access to their sites and some (especially the ones registered in microstates) are afraid of US influence and pressure. However, US players who play in foreign online casinos are not prosecuted by the authorities.
The online casinos below accept players from USA.
The following online casino websites accept players from the USA:
Black Lotus Casino
- Get 200% match bonus, up to $600. Use the code: WELCOME600
- +$30 bonus. Use code: WINBLACK
Bonuses for existing players:
- 32 Free Spins on Sweet Success Code: CHEER1
- 32 Free Spins on Nordic Wild Code: CHEER2
- 32 Free Spins on Cosmopolitan Code: CHEER3
- 32 Free Spins on 7 Chakras Code: CHEER4
- 32 Free Spins on Le Chocolatier Code: CHEER5
- 32 Free Spins on Fairy Dust Forest Code: CHEER6
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
- Playthrough requirement: 40-60x for match bonuses and usually 60x for free spins and other bonuses, depends on the bonus check the casino's web page for the specific, up to date, current playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Wagering limitation:
- 100% - Slots and Keno
- 50% - Roulette and Three Card Poker
- 25% - Baccarat
- 10% - Video Poker
- 5% - Blackjack, Craps
- 0% - Everything else
Bet Online Casino and Sports Book
- Welcome bonus, 100% up to $1,000 on your first three deposits! Use the code BOLCASINO
- 100% welcome match bonus up to 100% on your first deposit using Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin or DASH. No code required.
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Playthrough requirement: • Slot Games (progressive jackpot slots excluded) 100% • Roulette (All versions), Draw High-Lo, 3 Card Rummy 20% • Baccarat, Blackjack (American & European), Poker 3, Oasis Poker, Single Deck Blackjack, Triple Edge Poker, Caribbean Poker, Three Card Poker, Video Poker 10% • Pirate 21, Blackjack Super 7, Pai Gow, 21 Burn, Ride’m Poker, All forms of Keno, Red Dog, Pontoon, Top Card Trumps 5% • Craps, Live Casino, All Games with Progressive Jackpots, Virtual Racebook. Speciality games ie Keno’s and Scratcher game offered by Betsoft 0%
Wagering limitation:
- Any action on Baccarat, Roulette and Craps will not count towards the wagering requirement.
Online bingo in the USA
Online bingo in the US: illegal, except for New Jersey, a few foreign online bingo sites can accept players from the USA
In many US states, Bingo games are only allowed to be conducted in support of charitable causes. In others like Nevada, brick & mortar bingo halls are eligible for a license as well. The only legal online bingo platform in the USA at the time of writing is the one offered by New Jersey licensee, VirginCasino.com.
However, players who play on foreign bingo sites that still accept players from the US are not prosecuted (there are not many).
The following bingo websites accept players from the USA:
I can not personally recommend any right now.
Online poker in the USA
Online poker in the US: illegal, except for Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and the US Virgin Islands, players playing on foreign online poker sites are not prosecuted but barely any poker website accept players from the US due to various issues
Online poker is prohibited in the vast majority of the US states. After the UIGEA was passed in 2006, major online poker sites, like Poker Stars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker continued to offer their services on the US market, even with the apparent legal risks involved. It was not until four years later that US authorities took serious legal action against these sites, operating on somewhat of a gray market for 5 years. They were charged with the violation of the UIGEA, bank fraud, and money laundering. After their indictment on April 15, 2011, the day that was quickly dubbed by the poker community as “the Black Friday”, 95% of the US online poker market was destroyed overnight.
However, since then, states that recently passed bills legalizing online poker, but mostly on an intrastate level.
In most of the US, online poker opportunities are limited to unlicensed foreign sites. Although technically illegal, poker players are not prosecuted in the USA. Nevertheless, we do not recommend playing poker online on foreign websites from Washington (strict online poker laws – playing online Poker is considered a class B felony in the sate of Washington).
The following online poker sites accept players from USA:
Not many online poker platforms accept US players. I can not recommend any right now, because the ones I use do not accept US players and the rest, which do are on my rogue casinos & gambling websites list and are not recommended.
UPDATE 2021: The online poker websites below accept players from the USA.
The following online casino websites have poker and accept players from the USA:
Bet Online Casino and Sports Book
- Welcome bonus, 100% up to $1,000 on your first three deposits! Use the code BOLCASINO
- 100% welcome match bonus up to 100% on your first deposit using Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin or DASH. No code required.
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Playthrough requirement: • Slot Games (progressive jackpot slots excluded) 100% • Roulette (All versions), Draw High-Lo, 3 Card Rummy 20% • Baccarat, Blackjack (American & European), Poker 3, Oasis Poker, Single Deck Blackjack, Triple Edge Poker, Caribbean Poker, Three Card Poker, Video Poker 10% • Pirate 21, Blackjack Super 7, Pai Gow, 21 Burn, Ride’m Poker, All forms of Keno, Red Dog, Pontoon, Top Card Trumps 5% • Craps, Live Casino, All Games with Progressive Jackpots, Virtual Racebook. Speciality games ie Keno’s and Scratcher game offered by Betsoft 0%
Wagering limitation:
- Any action on Baccarat, Roulette and Craps will not count towards the wagering requirement.
Online sports betting in the USA
Online sports betting in the US: illegal, except for Nevada
The 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act* or PASP outlawed sports betting nationwide in an attempt to protect professional and amateur sports against “the taint of gambling”. PASPA barred states that didn’t already have legal sports betting from legalizing it ever since. This law effectively gave Nevada a sports gambling monopoly.
Three other states were also exempt from the Act, New Jersey, Oregon and Delaware, due to sports betting regulations already in place. However, only Delaware established any kind of sports betting market, a parlay card game for wagering on NFL matches with no online platform. Nevada remains the only state offering legal online sports betting in the US to date.
Horse racing betting, on the other hand, is a completely different matter. Legal online platforms accepting wagers on horse races are available in the majority of the US states (except for the ones expressly banning it – see the table at the beginning). For some reason, this form of online gambling is exempt from the UIGEA.
A few foreign online bookmakers outside of US jurisdiction still accept players from the US. In some states these websites might be blocked, but bettors are not prosecuted.
The online sportsbooks below accept registrations from USA.
*Source: Cornell University Law School- 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act
The following online sportsbooks accept bettors from the Commonwealth of the USA:
Bet Online Casino and Sports Book
- Welcome bonus, 100% up to $1,000 on your first three deposits! Use the code BOLCASINO
- 100% welcome match bonus up to 100% on your first deposit using Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin or DASH. No code required.
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Playthrough requirement: • Slot Games (progressive jackpot slots excluded) 100% • Roulette (All versions), Draw High-Lo, 3 Card Rummy 20% • Baccarat, Blackjack (American & European), Poker 3, Oasis Poker, Single Deck Blackjack, Triple Edge Poker, Caribbean Poker, Three Card Poker, Video Poker 10% • Pirate 21, Blackjack Super 7, Pai Gow, 21 Burn, Ride’m Poker, All forms of Keno, Red Dog, Pontoon, Top Card Trumps 5% • Craps, Live Casino, All Games with Progressive Jackpots, Virtual Racebook. Speciality games ie Keno’s and Scratcher game offered by Betsoft 0%
Wagering limitation:
- Any action on Baccarat, Roulette and Craps will not count towards the wagering requirement.
Online lottery in the USA
Online lottery in the US: lottery is, in most cases, a state monopoly, only the state-run lottery of Michigan, Minnesota (discontinued), Illinois, Georgia and New York have an online lottery
The lottery is a state monopoly in pretty much every US state (except for the ones that do not have a lottery at all – Alaska, Alabama, Nevada, Hawaii, Utah and Mississippi). Even though the 2011 memo made it possible for states to launch an online version of their lotteries, only four states, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, and Georgia lived with the opportunity so far.
Interstate online lotteries are not yet legal in the US, therefore popular interstate lotteries like Powerball do not sell lottery tickets online directly. However, interstate lotteries can partner with state lotteries and the state lotteries can legally sell interstate lottery tickets. This convoluted system is the reason why online lotteries are not very popular in the US.*
Some foreign online lotteries and lottery agents let people from the US purchase lottery tickets online too, and people are not prosecuted for such in the US.
The following websites let people from USA purchase lottery tickets online:
*Forbes – Why You Can’t Buy A $1.5 Billion Powerball Ticket Online
Bitcoin gambling in the USA
Bitcoin Gambling in the US: not yet decided in most states
The legal status of online Bitcoin gambling in the USA is very much undetermined to this date. The fact that the UIGEA does not ban online gambling per se, only prohibits financial transactions related to online gambling leaves Bitcoin in pretty much a gray area, as Bitcoin payments are not financial transactions in the traditional sense.
While many see and use this as a legislative loophole for online gambling in the USA, the reality might seem more complicated if we just consider the reasons for which the Nevada home of professional Poker player Bryan Micon was raided in 2015. Micon was running a Bitcoin only poker site called Seals with Clubs (and was also notoriously bragging about it on social media). It was the first-ever prosecution of a Poker site that used the digital currency in the US. Initially Micon was looking at a prison sentence, up to 10 years of imprisonment and a $50,000 fine*. Later this was reduced to a gross misdemeanor and he was ordered to pay $25,000. Currently he is on probation.
In an interview he gave to the Las Vegas times last year A.G. Burnett, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board made it clear that it was not only the lack of license that lead to Micon’s prosecution. Burnett told the reporter: “It’s [Bitcoin] absolutely not approved for gaming transactions and no licensee has approached me for considering its use”.
On the other hand, a legal and licensed horse betting operator, DerbyJackpot became the first-ever operator to Bitcoin in the USA*. The startup in New York was permitted by the state regulators to accept bets and wagers in the cryptocurrency earlier this year.
Its seems that interpretations of state and federal laws in relation with individual cases will decide Bitcoin gambling matters, for the time being. In the meantime, some foreign Bitcoin casinos, outside of US jurisdiction continue to accept players from the USA. These sites are not blocked and players are not prosecuted for placing bets with these operators.
The Bitcoin casinos below accept players from USA.
*1. Source: Vegas-based Bitcoin poker operator to return to the US, face charges
*2. Source: DerbyJackpot.com Becomes First US Regulated Online Gambling Site to Accept Bitcoin
The following online casino websites accept bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum, and accept players from the USA:
Black Lotus Casino
- Get 200% match bonus, up to $600. Use the code: WELCOME600
- +$30 bonus. Use code: WINBLACK
Bonuses for existing players:
- 32 Free Spins on Sweet Success Code: CHEER1
- 32 Free Spins on Nordic Wild Code: CHEER2
- 32 Free Spins on Cosmopolitan Code: CHEER3
- 32 Free Spins on 7 Chakras Code: CHEER4
- 32 Free Spins on Le Chocolatier Code: CHEER5
- 32 Free Spins on Fairy Dust Forest Code: CHEER6
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
- Playthrough requirement: 40-60x for match bonuses and usually 60x for free spins and other bonuses, depends on the bonus check the casino's web page for the specific, up to date, current playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Wagering limitation:
- 100% - Slots and Keno
- 50% - Roulette and Three Card Poker
- 25% - Baccarat
- 10% - Video Poker
- 5% - Blackjack, Craps
- 0% - Everything else
Bet Online Casino and Sports Book
- Welcome bonus, 100% up to $1,000 on your first three deposits! Use the code BOLCASINO
- 100% welcome match bonus up to 100% on your first deposit using Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin or DASH. No code required.
Playthrough requirements and wagering limitations
Playthrough requirement: • Slot Games (progressive jackpot slots excluded) 100% • Roulette (All versions), Draw High-Lo, 3 Card Rummy 20% • Baccarat, Blackjack (American & European), Poker 3, Oasis Poker, Single Deck Blackjack, Triple Edge Poker, Caribbean Poker, Three Card Poker, Video Poker 10% • Pirate 21, Blackjack Super 7, Pai Gow, 21 Burn, Ride’m Poker, All forms of Keno, Red Dog, Pontoon, Top Card Trumps 5% • Craps, Live Casino, All Games with Progressive Jackpots, Virtual Racebook. Speciality games ie Keno’s and Scratcher game offered by Betsoft 0%
Wagering limitation:
- Any action on Baccarat, Roulette and Craps will not count towards the wagering requirement.
If you have questions or any feedback don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. Please let me know in the comments section if you think we might have gotten something wrong or if you have additional information, clarification about the legal status of online gambling in this country.
This page is part of Simon’s List – Legal Status of Online Gambling – a definitive guide to the legal status of all forms of online gambling activities in every country around the world.
Last updated: 2021-01-02
Gamble responsibly,
SimonTheSorcerer
Hi Simon,
My name is Mitchel Sherr. I am currently working on setting up a online raffle business in Malta. It is very complex and I would love to talk with you about it and discuss the legality.
Sorry, I’m not a registered lawyer in Malta, you need to contact one there. I have no contact info, it’s not easy or cheap that’s for sure. Good luck.
Hi Mitchel Sherr, should you still need help with this, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]