How Long Will it be Until the US Legalizes Online Gambling

As for today, the 30 April, there is no legal limit for Americans to gamble online, according to the federal laws, but it doesn’t mean every citizen can do that. As you can see on comparecasino.com, there are legal USA casinos available, but the background is not that simple as it seems.

Can I legally gamble in the USA?

That depends on the state you live in, or you are based at the particular moment. Even though the federal laws aren’t against it, the state laws can completely forbid online casinos, or approve just a part of them, like some games, or set a time limit for playing. In many cases, the laws go against the operators, not the gamblers, but if online gambling is not allowed in your state, your actions may be considered as a felony against the laws, and you may face some legal consequences.

Also, you need to know that they are categorizing gambling differently, including online casinos, online poker, and online betting. And while in some states they can be all approved, others can set limits, so you can play one of them while the two others are banned, and similar scenarios. But, that doesn’t mean the US gambling market is small or underdeveloped – just the opposite. The developers and providers are trying to follow the trends and provide exceptional service to US clients.

A lot of states ate already trying to adapt the gambling resolutions, knowing that it’s a huge market that can bring a lot of profit and recover the economy that was ruined because of the ongoing pandemic.

US States where you can gamble

New Jersey is the biggest online gambling market, and all three forms of recognized gambling are approved there. It’s the same with Pennsylvania too. In Nevada, sports betting and poker are legal, and even though it’s the motherland of the casinos, you must be very careful with that, since they are trying to protect their current market. In Indiana, sports betting is legal and approved, but it’s a matter of time when all the forms will be legal. In Oregon, you can bet online, but you must be careful with casinos and poker.

As of 2024, right after the first hit of the coronavirus, online gambling became probably the biggest Internet industry in the world, together with cryptocurrency trading and investing.

The United States is well-known as open for changes, and they give a chance for every industry, by adapting the current laws, or bringing new ones, so they can make things legal for the citizens. But, the most confusing thing is that every state has responsible authorities, who can adapt the federal laws, but also can accept some parts of them, or even completely deny them as suggestions. So, before you start gambling in the USA, you must check the state’s laws, regulations, and policies, even though the general law says you can do that.

Keep in mind that online gambling is a pretty new activity for the world, even though it exists for decades. The huge popularity brought a lot of interested people to the market, and that’s why all these laws can be changed and adapted to the current situation. But, no matter how popular is it in the rest of the world, if your state doesn’t approve of it, then you should be respecful of that decision.

The American Acts

There are a lot of acts in the US laws, like the Wire Act of 1961, that regulate online activities. It wasn’t invented for online gamblers, but it applies until today. Another important activity is the Interstate Transportation Wagering Paraphernalia Act, that is dedicated to the bookmakers, and prevents transporting record, certificates, tokens, and any other thing that is used in betting. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act is all about the companies that provide these services, and the regulations over their job.

If you explore them deeper, you will get to know them better, and recognize if they apply to your state or not. Every state may have a separate act, and even though the federal laws apply to all of them, they still have a right to accept what seems good for them and deny some suggestions that they find inappropriate, disturbing, or not applicable to their work.

So, how long will it be until the US legalizes online gambling?

First, we need to summarize that there is no federal law in the USA that forbids any form of online gambling, but only a few states approve them all. In most states, the laws applicable to both online and offline gambling. In the areas where it’s illegal, the gamblers and providers can face some penalties.

Together with New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the states of Michigan, Delaware, West Virginia, and Nevada have explicitly approved at least two forms of online gambling. In some cases, the laws don’t exclude this action as a separate form of gambling, but it goes together with all the other similar activities in the same basket.

In many states, there is an ongoing process of legalizing online gambling and include it as an option to their citizens, including California, Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts. You may e surprised to find Nevada in this group too, but as we said above, they approve betting and poker, but casinos are in a process of approving.

In the states we didn’t mention in the previous paragraph, online gambling isn’t allowed, even though there are some signs they will at least try to do something. So, the answer to the question in the title is that maybe we will have to wait a few years more until every state accepts and legalizes this activity.

Final words

It’s important to be aware that some states don’t forbid it as long as you don’t earn money on gambling on the Internet. They don’t set limits for those who only play entertaining games, like poker, which doesn’t include real money. But, when it comes to real money, most of the states, and countries around the world too are trying to protect the citizens from illegal activities that may lead to losing everything they have.