• Online Sports Gambling Legal
• Sports Betting Legislation
• States With Legalized Sports Betting

The Tennessee state legislature approved a sports betting bill in the spring of 2019 that will only allow betting online and on mobile apps. The state expects to launch its gambling operations no. Online sports betting is legal in the United States, and it is fully regulated in a few states so far (i.e. Nevada, New Jersey, West Virginia). This aspect is naturally taking longer to roll out than most states’ brick-and-mortar sports betting ventures.

When discussing legal online sports betting, the majority of America's government has a very regressive, prohibition-style attitude towards it, buying into a negative perspective concerning the morality of gambling entertainment. This is what has led to a variety of state gambling laws in the past.

There are no US federal laws that make it a crime for Americans to place bets at offshore sportsbooks that are operating legally within the industry. There are two states that legally prohibit all online gambling, domestic or offshore, leaving residents in Connecticut and Washington without legally sanctioned online betting options, though they have yet to start enforcing those restrictions.

For the most part, state lawmakers are becoming more progressive concerning betting entertainment and recognize the value that this type of revenue stream can bring to a state. Individual states are actively analyzing what the legalization of domestic sports gambling can provide them with in terms of opportunities, tourism, and tax revenue, and many have already taken action one way or the other through new legislation.

Iowa, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia currently permit state-regulated online sports gambling, with nearly two dozen additional states having launched land-based sportsbooks. Individual territories began embracing sports betting the moment that PASPA was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the infamous NJ case, with multiple states having had their legislation ready and waiting should the ruling go in the Garden State's favor.

Below we'll take a look at the relevant US federal gambling laws, and explain how state gambling laws intersect with federal laws to impact online and brick and mortar sportsbook gambling, as well as what these laws have to say about the legal status of offshore sports betting entertainment.

The Federal Laws on the Books

The sections below will detail and explain how each major federal law affects domestic gambling opportunities in the US.

The Federal Wire Act

Passed back in 1961, the Federal Wire Act was made law in an effort to curtail the illegal gambling activities taking place over the phone by organized crime syndicates. It prohibited the transmission of wagers or betting information from being carried across state lines via telegraph or telephone. The Federal Wire Act targeted these illegal bookie operations as a means to curb the mafia from manipulating games and making a profit through these tactics.

This law was strictly focused on interstate gambling, and only targeted those accepting bets and not the individuals placing the bets. The goal was to crack down on illegal gambling services, not prosecute bettors. Between the DOJ Legal Opinion of 2011 and the repeal of PASPA, today's application of the Wire Act prohibits any gambling business from accepting bets across state lines or from foreign sources.

With the changes still being implemented, we are not sure yet how this will affect those states that had entered into interstate gambling pacts with one another, sharing player pools for their online gambling initiatives. Once that aspect of the legal situation becomes more clear we will update that information here.

The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act

Also known as the Bradley Act, or just PASPA, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was a sweeping federal regulation that passed in 1992, with the supposed intent of protecting the integrity of sports by making sports betting illegal.

At the time the bill was passed, there were sports lotteries in Delaware, Montana, and Oregon, as well as licensed and regulated sports betting in Nevada, so those four states were exempt.

The law effectively prevented the expansion of the sports betting market throughout the United States in what many categorized as a discriminatory law that favored a few states while restricting others.

New Jersey took on the mission of challenging the law and after several years of court battles, was given a favorable outcome by the highest court in the land as SCOTUS ruled PASPA as unconstitutional, nullifying the law.

As of May 14, 2018, each individual state now has the authority to dictate sports betting laws within their borders. They can now choose to authorize or prohibit sports betting at their pleasure. Following PASPA's repeal, we have seen multiple states move forward with legislation that legalizes sports gambling at the state level.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act

This is the big one that shook the gambling industry to its core. Online gambling really started to explode during the early 2000's, especially in the realm of online poker. In 2006, then-President Bush signed into law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, known all over as the UIGEA. In a nutshell, the UIGEA placed very stringent regulatory restrictions concerning how gambling-related transactions could be processed.

The most reputable sites started a countdown and allowed Americans to withdraw and closeout their accounts. Many trusted gambling sites left the US market at this time. After the dust settled, and the financial and gambling industries learned how to comply with the regulatory oversight provided by the UIGEA, many of these reputable gambling sites have returned to provide services to US sports bettors.

The UIGEA did end up making the online gambling market safer for both the bettors and the operators by imposing a more reliable and stricter regulatory structure for how gambling-related transactions are processed. Gambling sites invested in top tier payment processors while all parties implemented higher-level security protocols to ensure the validity and safety of those transactions that are processed.

While US online gambling funding options are still somewhat limited in some regards, things have stabilized. The emergence of cryptocurrencies have filled the void left by the elimination of US-friendly e-wallets and failed credit card transactions. The UIGEA does not make it illegal for Americans to gamble online. The law simply regulates how online gambling transactions are processed.

The 2011 Department of Justice's Interpretation of Federal Laws

With the growth of online commerce, several states became interested in offering lottery game services online. This raised questions concerning the application of the Federal Wire Act, driving the DOJ to issue a clarification of the law's reach.

Online Sports Gambling Legal

The Department of Justice ruled, and accurately so, that the federal government had no right to tell states that they could not sanction online gambling and therefore established that each US state has the authority to determine their own fate concerning online gambling with the exception of sports betting.

The repeal of PASPA took care of freeing sports gambling as the last remaining federally prohibited form of state-regulated online gambling. As of now, all 50 states have the legal ability to legalize and offer online gambling such as casinos, poker, bingo, and sports wagering. To date, only a handful of states have taken advantage of legal domestic online gambling. However, many states have pending bills to allow various forms of sports betting.

The 2019 DOJ Interpretation of Federal Gambling Laws

Following the repeal of PASPA in 2018, the reach of the Federal Wire Act has again come into question. In a new interpretation, which many believe was coerced by anti-online gambling activist Sheldon Adelson, the Department of Justice has indicated that the Wire Act prohibits not only interstate wagers but also the sharing of information across state lines.

This determination will certainly harm those states that have entered into interstate gambling compacts to share player pools and resources with other states. The opinion is being formally challenged through a lawsuit headed up by New Hampshire. As the situation unfolds, we will provide updates here.

What You Need to Know Going Forward

All of this legal information is good knowledge to have under your belt, no doubt about it. However, all you really need to know going forward is that there are no federal laws making gambling illegal in the United States either online or offline, and this includes domestic and offshore sports betting. States now determine the legal status of all gambling entertainment within their borders. As a sports betting resource guide, we want to make this point clear.

For those of you interested in betting on sport but who live in a state that has not authorized state-regulated sportsbooks, you'll have to either travel to a state with legalized sports betting or use a legitimate offshore sportsbook such as the ones you find listed on this site. You can check out our list of states that allow sports betting here or follow our list of recommended online sportsbooks.

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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
• Louisiana**
• Maryland**
• Michigan

Sports Betting Legislation

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

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

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

States With Legalized Sports 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 2021. 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.

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.

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.

To learn more about state gambling revenue, see our guide to sportsbook revenue by state, where we go into detail about each state's services and the money the local gambling industry is generating.

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