Where is Online Gambling Legal in the US?

Online casinos remain a controversial topic in America. At least from a legal standpoint. Online gambling in all forms has been on unsteady grounds since around 2006, but things are finally looking up for casino fans.

The legalization of online gambling in the US seems to be just around the corner. Generally, it has to do with states taking their own stance, but there are other factors. The value of the potentially massive North American market is drawing in gambling operators willing and able to power through the restrictive regulations.

Federal Legislation (and Its Issues)

Before we dive into state-wide regulations, we need to take a look at the history of gambling legislation in the country. It holds some important clues as to why online casinos in the US seem to be decades behind their European counterparts.

The first legislation worth mentioning is the Federal Wire Act of 1961. What this law did was prohibit gambling businesses over the phone to cross state lines. Specifically, gambling-related wire transactions may not cross state lines.

Things have changed a lot since 1961, but this poorly-worded law left deep marks on remote gambling even in 2022. We can note two important things:

1. Remote gambling may not cross state lines.
2. Most regulations target the flow of cash rather than the gambling itself.

Now, it’s important to understand that last year, the US Court of Appeals ruled that the Act only applies to sports betting. While the situation is grim as ever for sports punters, this opened up the floodgates to many legal US online casinos.

Secondly, we have the infamous Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). This act prohibits anyone from  “knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet.”

Again, the problem isn’t the gambling – it’s accepting payments. Especially over state lines. Within a single state’s borders, local laws may apply rather than the Federal Act.

US Online Casinos and You

So online gambling has been banned on a federal level since 2006. That means no one can gamble in America, right?

Not exactly. Offshore casinos are still as active as ever, and they all want a piece of the huge profit potential of American gamers. Over the years, they used some creative solutions to circumvent the whole issue. Some of these ways are legal, some less so. For instance, cryptocurrency gambling in the US exploded over the past few years. In legal terms, crypto exchanges aren’t monetary, so they get around the whole “no payments” thing. Other gambling sites used shady so-called sweepstakes.

Thankfully, those days are behind us. Well, some of us, at least. How did the gambling operators get around the laws, you may ask?

First of all, some states decided to take matters into their own hands, spearheaded by New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In practice, the lack of market regulations only meant that gambling businesses were not properly taxed.

Secondly, some major casino software providers such as Evolution figured out ways to keep the whole production chain in one state. They make/stream the games from, say, New Jersey. Then they offer them at a casino legally registered as a company in New Jersey. Then they accept strictly residents of New Jersey.

No state lines crossed, no international transfers, no law-breaking. Simple.

So nowadays you can play at online casinos from the US, and you don’t even need legal grey areas. If you need some more help with doing just that, check out Casino Bloke’s USA casino page. It holds all of the information we discussed today, and then some. It’s also a great site to find reviews of both slots and online casino table games, as well as great US-friendly sites to play them at.

US States That Allow Online Gambling

We hopefully explained enough to make it clear that this is not a yes/no kind of question.

In theory, online gambling is legal in a total of 14 US states. In practice, though, only a handful actually allow people to gamble online for real money. This either comes down to other laws in other areas standing in the way (such as the UIGEA) or states not caring to enforce regulations properly.

Once we weed those out, the final list of online casino-friendly states in the US is:

• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Michigan
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia

Among these, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have by far the most developed online casino markets. They’re also the states that most gaming providers focus on.

As far as Charleston and South Carolina are concerned, things are not looking good. This is one of the most restrictive states in the country – not even gambling for charitable purposes is allowed. In fact, state-sponsored lotteries are the only legal way to gamble in South Carolina, online or otherwise.

On the bright side, both the Carolinas are apparently considering ways to move forward. Some residents have been lobbying for allowing online sports betting, and casinos are likely to follow suit soon enough. There’s no guarantee at this point, unfortunately, so Atlantic City is still probably your best bet.

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