Is online gambling legal in United States?

It seems that the confusion surrounding the topic of online gambling in the United States will never end. Because of endless media hype talking about "illegal gambling" there are quite a few players out there who are convinced that online gambling is against the law in the US. This is not true.

State vs federal

First of all, when it comes to casino games and other forms of offline gambling, each state in the US has the right to decide its own laws. But things work differently when determining what states allow internet gambling. This is actually decided (for now) on a federal level, so online gambling laws are the same across all states.

Current federal laws

Here is the current situation in a nutshell. Online gambling in the US is completely legal. There is a bill called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which intends to force banks to stop processing financial transactions between US banks and US players. This is the American government's only course of action – most online casinos that accept US players are operated outside of the country, so the government cannot do anything to stop Americans from using them.

By going after banks, authorities hope to make it difficult for US players to fund online gaming accounts. Fortunately, there are plenty of other ways to transfer money. It is also important to note that while legal action has taken against online gambling in the US, authorities only go after US-based gambling companies that offer online gambling services to US players. Individual players, on the other hand, have never been targeted.

Which states allow online gambling?

Technically, all of them do! However – some US states have tried to enforce rules that expressly forbid online gambling. These rules clash with federal regulations, complicating the matter. The following US states prohibit internet gambling:

Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin.