Is sports betting legal in Minnesota?

What the law says now

Minnesota hasn't legalized it. There is no state regulator for sports betting and no licensed book, in a casino or on a phone. What the statutes do have is the other side of it. Section 609.75 defines sports bookmaking as taking more than five bets totalling more than $2,500 on sporting events within 30 days, and section 609.76 says flatly that whoever engages in sports bookmaking is guilty of a felony. Receiving or forwarding bets on a smaller scale is a gross misdemeanor under the same section.

Don't read that as a free pass for the bettor. Section 609.755 lists making a bet among the acts that are a misdemeanor, so the man placing the wager is covered too, just with a smaller penalty than the man booking it. I'd keep that in mind before anyone tells you Minnesota only goes after the bookie.

The bills, as of today

The legislature has looked at it every year lately. Here is what its own records show on 28 October 2026.

SF 4139, the 2026 Senate bill on sports betting authorization and regulation, was introduced on 4 March 2026. On 23 March a motion to adopt its committee report failed, 22 to 44, and the record shows nothing after that. Its House companion, HF 4204, was introduced on 12 March 2026 and is still in the Commerce Finance and Policy committee. The text of SF 4139 would let the state's tribes that run casinos hold mobile sports betting licenses, one each, with bettors physically in the state. An earlier bill, SF 757, has sat in committee since 2025.

None of them is law. I won't guess whether one will pass, and I wouldn't plan a bankroll around a bill that hasn't cleared committee.

Where the offshore books fit

Offshore books take players from Minnesota. None of them is licensed by the state, because there is no license to hold, so no Minnesota agency can make one pay you or settle a dispute. A state-licensed book is the one a state can hold to account, and in Minnesota that book doesn't exist yet. Our offshore sportsbooks section explains how those books work, and the VPN question covers why hiding your location goes wrong at payout time.

If betting has stopped being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER, and our responsible gambling page has more.

*Checked against the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes on 28 October 2026. Laws change; this page is re-checked every quarter. This is not legal advice.*