If you were to make a general search to check if online casinos are legal in the United States, the answer would be yes. However, it is not as straight forward as it seems and each state in the US is responsible for their own gambling laws. That means, while you will find states in the US that offer legal online casino gaming, there are plenty that have yet to legalize online casinos. Continue below as we highlight the current US states with legalized casinos.
New Jersey
You must go back to 2013 to find the introduction of online casino gambling in New Jersey. The Garden State was the first to accept legal online gambling and at the time of writing, you will find over 20 different online casinos at which to play. There is a good balance of online only operators, including Unibet, Betfair, Party Casino, and Stars Casino plus land-based casinos who have made the move to online gambling, such as Bally Casino, Borgata, Golden Nugget, WynnBET Casino, and Hard Rock.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania was the second state to offer legal online casinos in the United States, but players were forced to wait until 2019. The state legalized online casino gaming in 2017 but there was a long wait to bring the first casinos to the screens of players in Pennsylvania. There is now plenty of choice when it comes to legal online casino gaming in Pennsylvania. Brick and mortar casinos such as Rivers and Parx added online casinos to their land based offering and online brands like DraftKings and FanDuel are providing their casino games to the people of Pennsylvania.
West Virginia
Exactly one year after Pennsylvania, West Virginia passed a bill into law for real money online casino gaming. DraftKings Casino was the first to land on the market and they were quickly followed by BetMGM. There are five brick-and-mortar casinos in the state of West Virginia, and they can each host three online casinos. They land based casinos have yet to accept their full allocation but will do over time.
Michigan
The people of Michigan were forced to wait until January 2021 for online casinos to go live. Matching West Virginia, there is potential for a total of 15 online casinos in Michigan. One online casino for each of the 12 tribal casinos recognized by the federal state plus one online casino for each of three commercial casinos in the Detroit region.
Connecticut
The Constitution State is the latest US state to legalize online casinos. Having launched in October 2021, Connecticut currently has only two online casino operators in DraftKings Casino and FanDuel Casino but that is sure to change in the future as more brands move to the state.
Aside from the five states highlighted above where online casinos are legal, bills have been introduced in five other states. So, we could soon see the introduction of legal online casinos in Louisiana, Illinois, New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
Disclaimer:
- As per the Public Gambling Act of 1867, all Indian states, except Goa, Daman and Sikkim, prohibit gambling
- Land-based casinos are legalized, with certain guidelines, in Goa and Daman, as per the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act 1976
- Land-based casinos, Online gambling and E-gaming (games of chance) are legalized in Sikkim under the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Rules 2009
- Only some Indian states have legalized online/regular lotteries as per and subject to the conditions laid down by state laws. Kindly refer to the same here
- Horse racing and betting on horse racing, including online betting, is permitted only in a licensed premise in select states. Kindly refer to the 1996 Judgement by the Supreme Court Of India here and for more information
- This article does not endorse or express the views of Qrius and/or any of its staff.