Where is sports betting legal?

There is no national answer. Each state decides, and each that allows betting picked its own shape: open markets with a dozen apps, a single book run by the lottery, betting only on tribal land, or only at a counter in a casino. "Legal" covers all of those, so I'd always read the column that says how you can bet, not just whether you can.

The table covers every state we have written up so far. Each links to its own page, with the law, the regulator and the official sources we read. Where a page couldn't confirm an age, I've left it that way.

State by state

State	Legal?	Online	Minimum age
Alabama	No	No	n/a
Arizona	Yes	Yes	21
Arkansas	Yes	Yes, through the casinos	21
California	No	No	n/a
Colorado	Yes	Yes	21
Connecticut	Yes	Yes	21
Delaware	Yes, Lottery-run	Yes	21
Florida	Tribal only	Yes, one operator	21
Georgia	No	No	n/a
Illinois	Yes	Yes	21
Indiana	Yes	Yes	not stated
Iowa	Yes	Yes	21
Kansas	Yes	Yes	21
Kentucky	Yes	Yes	21
Louisiana	Yes, by parish	Yes, in approved parishes	21
Maine	Yes	Yes, through the tribes	21
Maryland	Yes	Yes	21
Massachusetts	Yes	Yes	21
Minnesota	No	No	n/a
Missouri	Yes	Yes	21
Montana	State-run, in person	Limited, at licensed locations	18
Nebraska	In person only	No	21
Nevada	Yes	Yes, inside Nevada	21
New Jersey	Yes	Yes	21
New York	Yes	Yes	21
North Carolina	Yes	Yes	21
Oklahoma	No	No	n/a
Oregon	Yes, Lottery-run	Yes, one app	21
Pennsylvania	Yes	Yes	21
South Carolina	No	No	n/a
South Dakota	In person only	No	21
Texas	No	No	n/a
Vermont	Yes	Yes	21
Virginia	Yes	Yes	21
Washington	Tribal only	Limited, on casino premises	18
West Virginia	Yes	Yes	21
Wisconsin	Tribal only	Limited, tribal land	not stated
Wyoming	Yes	Yes	18

That's 31 states with legal betting of some kind and 7 without. The "Yes" column hides a lot. In Nebraska and South Dakota you have to walk up to a counter, and in South Dakota only in Deadwood. Montana's app only takes a bet at one of its licensed locations. Washington's tribal apps stop working once you leave the casino property. Florida and Oregon each give you one legal app, so there's no shopping the price. Wherever online betting is allowed, the app checks that you are inside the state when the bet goes in. Cross the line and it stops taking your action (in Louisiana, crossing into a parish that voted no does the same).

The age is 21 almost everywhere we checked. Montana, Washington and Wyoming set it at 18. More on that in how old you have to be to bet on sports.

The states we haven't published

Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee and Utah aren't in the table, and neither are New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island or the District of Columbia. We haven't published those yet, because we couldn't read their official sources when we checked, and I won't write a state's law from somebody else's summary. If you live in one of them, go to that state's gaming regulator or lottery and read what it says itself.

Where the offshore books fit

Offshore sportsbooks take bets from people in these states, including where betting is not legal. They are not licensed by any of the states in this table, so no state regulator can make one settle a dispute or pay a withdrawal it is holding. A state-licensed book is one the state can hold to account. Some states go further: Florida's regulator says on its own site that betting with an unlicensed offshore website could lead to charges. I'd know which kind of book I was dealing with before sending a dollar. Our offshore sportsbooks page explains how those books work, and the page on using a VPN to bet covers what happens when you hide where you are.

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

*Each state's page links its official sources, checked on 28 October 2026. Laws change; these pages are re-checked every quarter. This is not legal advice.*