Updated on: March 12th, 2025
Gambling in USA is accessible for most states, albeit to varying degrees. As with most things in America, the gambling laws are unique to each state. Across the country most gamblers can enjoy the best casinos in USA locally.
Although the tide is moving more toward online casinos in the United States, there are still thriving casinos on land. In fact, Las Vegas is still the most sought-after casino city for gambling and all-inclusive casino resorts in USA. However not all land-based casinos are in Las Vegas, there are so many places with casinos in USA.
In fact, here we will outline us gambling laws by state. If you are looking for top casinos in USA whether on land or online, we have you covered. We are here to tell you that Sin City is not the end all and be all of gambling destinations.
There are more options than what you would think for those who enjoy playing casino games. For instance, the hundreds of native casinos in USA and casino resorts in places like California, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, Louisiana and more states. Included here are individual pages detailing the biggest casino towns in USA.
Additionally, we have provided a list of the best online casinos accepting US players.
:
Best Online Casinos for US Players
Gambling in USA
It has taken years for the government to widely accept gambling. The most common form of gambling in America is lottery gaming. Most other states also have commercial and tribal casinos. Sports betting is also widely popular amongst US gamblers, although it is allowed in fewer states.
Nevertheless, many states lawmakers have in recent times proposed bills or passed laws to legalize sports betting including online betting. We owe most of the new attitude towards sports betting and only gambling to the Coronavirus which nearly crippled a lot of the biggest casino towns in USA.
Therefore, in a bid to preserve and increase tax revenue new laws and bills to relax laws against online and sports gambling.
States Where Gambling Is Illegal
Utah and Hawaii are the two states that do not allow land-based or online casino gambling. Alaska has only two tribal casinos, which have very limited gambling games and 90 gaming machines in total, the fewest in the USA.
All other states at least have a state lottery if they don’t have casino operators. Some of these states even have iLottery apps, which residents can access and play online lottery games.
New Hampshire and Vermont are two states where gambling is illegal except for lottery games.
New Hampshire‘s state lottery also operates online, so players can access and play lottery games online. Vermont’s state lottery is not available online.
Online Gambling in USA
Like land-based gambling, online gambling laws vary by state in the USA. Only a handful of states have legalized the full scope of online gambling, while some states only allow online lottery games or sports betting.
The most common form of legal gambling online is sports betting, followed by iLottery gaming. A lot of US states are in a grey area legally where the law does not explicitly say where online gambling is illegal or not.
That is why you can still play at online casinos that accept US players even if your state does not have any internet casino operators based there. The following states permit online casinos to operate directly from those states.
- Delaware
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
States Where Sports Gambling Is Legal
- Nevada
- D.C.
- Arkansas
- Oregon
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Mississippi
- West Virginia
- New Mexico
- Delaware
Find out more about sports betting in USA
Gambling Laws by State
Like we mentioned previously gambling laws are unique to each state. A lot of these laws have in recent times started evolving to make room for more forms of gambling. In 2020 Michigan, West Virginia already passed laws that legalized online gambling, sports betting and online lottery games respectively.
State | Lotteries | Commercial Casinos | Tribal Casinos | Horse Racing | Pari-mutuel |
Alabama | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited | Legal | Legal |
Alaska | Prohibited | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Arizona | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Arkansas | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
California | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Colorado | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Connecticut | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Delaware | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Florida | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Georgia | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited | Legal | Legal |
Hawaii | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited |
Idaho | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Illinois | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Indiana | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Iowa | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Kansas | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Kentucky | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Louisiana | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Maine | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Maryland | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Massachusetts | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Michigan | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Minnesota | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Mississippi | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Missouri | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Montana | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Nebraska | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Nevada | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
New Hampshire | Legal | Prohibited | Prohibited | Legal | Legal |
New Jersey | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
New Mexico | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
New York | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
North Carolina | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
North Dakota | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Ohio | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Oklahoma | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Oregon | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Pennsylvania | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Rhode Island | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
South Carolina | Legal | Prohibited | Prohibited | Legal | Legal |
South Dakota | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Tennessee | Legal | Prohibited | Prohibited | Legal | Legal |
Texas | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Utah | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited | Prohibited |
Vermont | Legal | Prohibited | Prohibited | Legal | Legal |
Virginia | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Washington | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
West Virginia | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Wisconsin | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |
Wyoming | Legal | Prohibited | Legal | Legal | Legal |