States That Have Legal Sports Betting
There are two ways in which sports betting is able to take place in the United States: at land-based sportsbooks, usually housed in casinos but occasionally housed in standalone shops, and at online sports betting sites. We’ll address both here so that you know exactly which states have legal sports betting in the US. For decades, residents of the US had extremely limited options for land-based sports betting. In fact, only one state was able to offer single-game wagering in the US at land-based facilities. This state was Nevada.
The rest of the states had heavily restricted or completely prohibited sports betting because of a single federal law, called PASPA, or the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The law prevented 46 states from being able to regulate sports betting on their own, essentially eradicating sports gambling at land-based venues in those states. Fast forward to 2018, which saw PASPA and the landscape of USA sports betting forever change. The state of New Jersey fought tooth and nail with the sports leagues (NCAA, NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB) for years regarding their efforts to legalize sports betting. The NCAA and pro leagues petitioned to various courts that sports betting regulation would negatively impact the integrity of their sporting events, all the while violating the federal prohibition on sports betting.
On May 14th, 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled that PASPA was actually a violation of the 10th Amendment – a clause relating to state sovereignty. Now, each state has the power to determine which forms of gambling are permitted within their respective jurisdictions. Even before the Court came to their decision, many states had written preemptive sports betting legislation. While there were only two states pre-ruling that could offer legalized sports wagering, experts predict that at least 32 states will regulate sports betting by 2023.
Over a dozen states currently have up and running sportsbooks: Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Arkansas, New York, Iowa, Oregon, and Indiana. Other states have laws on the books but are still awaiting their launches, such as Montana, Washington DC, Illinois, and Tennessee.
There are also numerous states that have sports betting bill proposals making their rounds. Many of these bills also include language for legal online sports betting, which most states seem to be in agreement on concerning its necessity for the health and reach of the industry as a whole. We are continuously reviewing the latest happenings in the industry to keep track of which states are expected to offer sportsbooks and legal betting sites.
Which States Are Allowed To Bet Online?
When it comes to betting online, it’s easier to ask which states aren’t allowed to bet online than it is to ask which states are allowed to bet online. This is because most states have absolutely no laws standing in the way of using online gambling sites, sports betting sites included. Without this legislation, there’s nothing to say that online sports betting is unlawful or prohibited. Furthermore, states like New Jersey, Tennessee, and others have started to regulate their own online sports betting markets, giving locals even more avenues to place bets.
Because of this, the states with legal sports betting are functionally now any states that don’t have restrictive legislation. You just need to make sure that you are using a legal betting site. Legal betting sites are those that are based in other countries. This is how they can legally provide betting to states all over the US without breaking federal law, as US law does not and cannot apply to other nations’ industries and activities. It’s also worth pointing out that many states are in the process of regulating sports betting, which means more state-licensed online sportsbooks will begin to surface across the nation.
To date, the only states with legislation that prevents the use of online gambling sites are Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. Every other state has remained silent on the issue, and again, without any laws preventing the use of online gambling sites, they can be considered states that have legal sports betting.
Below is a table that includes every state in the US. The table will lead you to pages that have much more in-depth information regarding sports betting in that specific state, including state legislature that may affect where you can bet and other pertinent information.
Find Out More About Legal Sportsbooks In Your State - Online + Land-Based Betting Options / Laws
Other Things To Know About Betting In U.S. States
There are a couple of other aspects of sports betting online that you should keep in mind, like the legal sports betting age and deposits and payouts. To play for real money at an online sportsbook, American players will have to make deposits into their sports betting accounts. We go over the common deposit and withdrawal methods below, as well as the legal age to place bets in each state.
Legal Betting Age
While online sports betting can be legally done by American players, what is a universal 'no-no' is underage gambling. Betting age laws prevent underage gambling from taking place. In the United States, the legal age to bet is decided at the state level. This means that the betting age has the potential to vary from state to state, and does.
Ages in different states can be 18 or 21 years old (or, in the case of Alabama, 19 years old for some reason). Even though these offshore sites are located outside of the United States, many defer to state betting ages to be met. Technically, however, regardless of your state’s gambling age laws, if you are using an offshore sportsbook, you will not be breaking any laws by signing up and gambling at 18 years old.
One point to remember is this. Even though signing up and gambling on sports at offshore books under the age of 18 is not illegal, it is a financially unsound move. If you’re caught gambling underage at any reputable offshore book, you can expect to have your payouts and your deposit holdings confiscated and your account permanently closed.
Deposits + Payouts
There will be a number of both deposit and payout methodsat online sports betting sites for you to choose from. The most common are credit/debit cards, wire transfers, money orders/checks, Bitcoin, and altcoins like Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and DASH. Depending on the sportsbook you’re using, there may be more deposit and withdrawal methods available to you.
While there is nothing at the state level that can affect your banking method, there are a couple of banking methods that legal betting sites accept that cannot be accessed by US residents. The most common of these are Neteller and Skrill. These UK-based online currency conversion sites cannot offer services to US residents at this time. With the number of other banking methods available to US bettors in all 50 states, there’s nothing to worry about. We just wanted you to be aware of the limitations associated with these two products if you happen to use a sports betting site that uses them.
How To Get More Information About The Legality Of Sports Betting Where You Live
We want to take this opportunity to state that we are not lawyers. While we have taken the time to go over each state’s legal code, we do not nor have we ever claimed to be experts in the field of sports betting law. We are only relaying these laws as we have interpreted them.
State laws are consistently being updated and revised by state legislatures. Again, we are the relaying the information that we found at the time that this page was written. If you would like to verify what has been stated on this page for yourself, we recommend going to your state’s legislative homepage. There, you will be able to look into the full collection of their laws and state statutes, just like we did.
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