US gambling licenses: the register, state by state

What US gambling licenses cover

There is no national gambling register. Each state that allows online casino games, sports betting or poker keeps its own list of licensed operators, in its own format and on its own schedule. New Jersey and Pennsylvania publish theirs as documents that anyone can download. Other regulators publish a page, a press release or nothing a visitor can find. This site reads those lists, puts what they say in one place and dates every read.

The status tables show seven states with live, state-licensed online casinos: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia. A further state, Maine, has legalized online casino games, and its rules were still pending in the newest source we read. Sports betting is wider: industry trackers count 31 states plus the District of Columbia with statewide online betting and eight more with retail betting only. Online poker is live in six states. These counts come from trackers and trade press, which are secondary sources. Where a statute or a regulator page says something different, the statute or the regulator page decides, and the state pages say so.

Licensed operators and sweepstakes casinos

The operator list above holds operators that appear on a state regulator's own list. For each one the page shows the holder as the regulator names it, the permit or certificate, the websites the list shows, the date printed on the list and the day we read it. A name on a list is a fact about a license. It is not a rating of the operator.

Sweepstakes casinos are a different case. These brands run on sweepstakes law and hold no state gambling license, because no state issues one for that model. There is therefore no register to check them against, and the site treats them through the law instead: are sweepstakes casinos legal sets out the legal theory and why regulators now contest it, and how sweepstakes casinos work describes the model. Ten states ban these brands by statute, four more block them through existing law or enforcement, and twelve show regulator or attorney general action without a ban. The banned and restricted states page has the full table.

How to read a state page

Every state and the District of Columbia has a page with four statuses: online casino, sports betting, online poker and sweepstakes casinos. The table at the top of the page gives the status in one line. The text below explains what the status rests on: the statute or constitutional rule, the regulator, recent changes with dates and what a resident can and cannot do. States with a live online casino market also have a page on the casino market and a page on the regulator.

A status of "Not authorized" means that our sources show no state authorization for that product. It does not say the product is a crime. What happens to a player or an operator in a state without authorization depends on state and federal law, which the federal gambling law page summarizes from the statutes themselves.

Where the information comes from

Regulator lists and pages are read with an ordinary client, and a site that blocks it is reported as blocked rather than worked around. Statutes are read on legislature or governor sites. Enforcement is taken from attorney general and court pages. Every date on a page is either a day we read a source or a date the source itself prints, and the two are never mixed. The method page explains the rules in full, including how we treat figures that only trade press reports.

We do not rank operators, list offers or send visitors to play. Links to operator sites are plain domain names marked nofollow, shown only where a regulator list or the operator's own pages prove the domain. We link to regulators, statutes, attorneys general and the national help line, never to review or affiliate sites.

Frequently asked questions

Is online gambling legal in my state?

It depends on the product and the state. Open your state's page for the status of online casino, sports betting, poker and sweepstakes casinos, with the law behind each. The by-state table shows all fifty states and the District of Columbia on one screen.

How do I know an online casino holds a US license?

Look for the operator on the licensing state's own regulator list and match the holder name and the website. The license check guide walks through it with the New Jersey and Pennsylvania lists as examples.

Do sweepstakes casinos have a license?

No state issues a gambling license for sweepstakes casinos. Their legal position rests on sweepstakes law, which several states now reject. Read are sweepstakes casinos legal for the legal background.

What if gambling stops being fun?

The national helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), and the responsible gambling page lists other help.