US Sports Betting Legislation Tracker - State by State

Betting on sports in the US

Mobile or online sports betting is not allowed in all US states, and for example, some states allow in-person wagering, or betting on horse races, but placing bets online is still considered illegal. So, even though the market is steadily opening up in the US, the overall gambling-related legislation might be still unclear for many sports fans.

To bet on sports online, you need to download a sportsbook app to wager in most states, as geo-fencing is usually used to limit mobile gambling within the borders of a particular state. Therefore, these sports betting apps function only in the states that have legalized this type of online gambling. In other words, you don't have to be a permanent resident of the state that has legalized sports betting, but you still have to be physically in that state to place wagers online.

Also, the availability of remote registration is one subject that provides its nuances to the field of legalized sports betting in the US. Most states that have permitted sports wagering allow bettors to open their accounts to sportsbook sites and apps within the confines of their homes. However, some states still require the users to register their accounts physically located in retail sportsbooks or casinos.

In the states that allow sports wagering, you can place a bet on almost every sport in the US and wager on all professional leagues worldwide. However, betting on high school, college, or non-sport events is still illegal in some states. For example, Nevada and New Jersey specifically restrict wagering on amateur events like high school sports, and few states do not even allow bets placed on college sports.

Other legal betting options

As with traditional sports wagering, the legality of other types of betting activities also varies quite heavily between each US state. Within this scope, wagering on horse races is the most widely available option, as only a few states have prohibited it. In addition, even though not featured in the table below, greyhound race betting is also legal in over 30 states.

When moving on to the wagering of college sports, the field narrows. Many states that have legalized sports betting allow the placing of such bets, but some restrictions are often in place. One of the most common ones is prohibiting betting on in-state college teams.

Aside from this, only a handful of US states allow esports betting for different reasons. One of them is that the state's gambling laws allow wagering only on sports events, and in some cases, esports events and tournaments still aren't considered "traditional sports."

Most recent legislative updates from the US sports betting scene

• November 6, 2024: Residents of Missouri voted in favor of Amendment 2, which means the state will soon be offering legalized sports betting both online and in retail formats.

• October 10, 2024: Sports betting handle in the Post-PASPA era has officially hit over $400 billion following the release of Maryland and Kentucky's most recent monthly revenue reports.

• October 8, 2024: The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration came out with a report citing close to 149,000 Americans with gambling winnings over $15,000 did not file them on taxes between 2018 and 2020, resulting in $13 billion in unreported winnings.

• August 6, 2024: Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and a handful of other lawmakers call for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to outlaw gambling on US elections and other nation's political betting markets.

• July 31, 2024: Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) file a new bill to remove to eliminate the federal 0.25% excise gambling tax, which is levied on the amount of any wager staked in the US as it puts all legal sportsbook operators in huge a competitive disadvantage compared to offshore bookmakers. All US-based sports betting operators favor removing the tax.

• July 30, 2024: New gambling bill Bill 10658, tabled by Assemblyman Clyde Vanel in New York, aims to expand and strengthen the overall rules regarding sports betting-related advertisements in the state. According to the proposed bill, the gambling help hotline number should be visible in every betting ad.

Casino gambling and online poker in the US

Even though online sports wagering is becoming increasingly available in the US, the same cannot be said about online casino gambling, also known as iGaming, as only a few states have legalized online casino apps. While lawmakers in many states are actively pushing for new gambling bills centered around allowing iGaming, these law proposals either move painfully slow or are basically dead in the water from the very beginning.

As the table below shows, the legalization of online poker goes almost entirely hand in hand with the availability of iGaming. However, retail casinos, either commercial ones or tribal gambling locations, can be found very widely in the US.

Latest updates regarding the US casino and iGaming legislation

• October 25, 2024: On November 5, 2024, residents will be able to vote on Amendment 5, which, if passed, would increase the number of gambling boat licenses from 13 to 14, therefore allowing for a new casino near Lake of the Ozarks.

• October 25, 2024: According to a study by the American Gaming Association, iCasinos have accounted for 39% or $6 billion of the total revenue reported by licensed operators in 2024.

• October 15, 2024: The permanent facility for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol will open on November 14, 2024. Blake Shelton will be at the grand opening of the $515 million casino, as he'll help ring in the new facility, as the temporary facility, which has been open since 2022, will be closed.

• October 14, 2024: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has announced his intention for PA to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, an agreement for the states involved for interstate poker. An online poker bill is already being discussed in PA, as HB 2078 has support from both political parties.

• October 9, 2024: A nonprofit charity in Kentucky, "Empathy in Action," has filed a civil lawsuit against the Kentucky gray gambling machine industry. These machines were outlawed in 2023, and the nonprofit is citing the Loss Recovery Act, which allows for a lawsuit to be filed within six months to recoup lost money from illegal gambling.

• August 7, 2024: A new law proposal arises from Utah, a state with possibly the strictest restrictions regarding all gambling, by State Rep. Kera Birkeland, which aims to legalize lottery in the state. According to Birkeland, UT residents already spend over $200 million on lottery games in neighboring states.

• July 16, 2024: Three Ohio House Republicans, Jay Edwards, Jeff LaRe, and Cindy Abrams, publicly call for the state to legalize online casinos and lottery on top of online sports betting, which was allowed in the states already back in January 2023.

Taxes on sports betting winnings - state by state

Each US state treats sports betting winnings a bit differently when it comes to taxes, as some see such winnings as ordinary income, while others have set direct tax rates on gambling winnings alone. The following table shows the tax on bettor's sports betting and gambling-related winnings state-by-state.

Note: The sportsbook operators themselves will, of course, also pay taxes to each state based on their own revenue, but such figures are not presented here.

As a reminder, the federal 28% tax rate of all wins may apply to your winnings regardless of your home state, depending, for example, on the winning amount, the possible deduction of gambling-related losses, and your other reported income. As many factors go into taxes on winnings, and not every case is the same, we highly advise everyone to consult a tax attorney or an accountant no matter the state you live in, especially if you win big in sports betting or any other form of gambling.

US sports betting market - Yearly revenue data

The table below shows how the US legal sports betting market has evolved over the years, based on total bets placed (handle) and total revenue and tax income generated by each state reporting such figures. The bracketed percentage indicates how the handle and revenue figures have changed compared to the previous year's totals.

The brackets in each year's cell show how the total number of US states that have legal sports betting has evolved during the year in question. For example, the 2023 calendar year started with 27 states with legalized sports wagering, but at the end of that year, a total of 32 states made such activities legal, at least at some level.

Legal age for sports betting & gambling by state

As we have established, the sports betting and gambling legislations vary quite vastly between each US state, so obviously, the age limits for different types of gambling are also alternate nationwide. While 21+ is the most common legal sports betting age in the United States, a few states, namely New Hampshire, Montana, Rhode Island, Wyoming, and Kentucky, as well as Washington DC, allow sports wagering for 18-year-olds and above.