There is no U.S. National law against Gaming online
There’s no U.S. national law against gaming online. At the national level, betting online is perfectly legal, due to the absence of a law against it. It is likely to run afoul of state legislation (especially in extremely conservative states), however even there prosecution is extremely uncommon, and penalties are usually minor.
U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway confessed in a House hearing that only placing wagers online does not violate federal law. No American has ever been arrested, indicted, or prosecuted by the feds for gaming online, since there’s no law against it. If online gaming were illegal I would not be running his site for nineteen decades, as an American citizen, residing in the U.S., with my actual name. And I sometimes gamble on the internet, also, and I acknowledge that publicly, like I’m doing right now.
This may be confusing as the other outlets erroneously noted that Congress banned online gaming in 2006. These reports are simply erroneous. The 2006 law makes it illegal for banks to maneuver gambling money when the bets are already prohibited (like from a country law), but doesn’t make it illegal for players to make bets. The law just does not make or expand any ban on gambling itself. In fact, the law states quite clearly,”No provision of this subchapter shall be construed as altering, limiting, or extending any Federal or State law or Tribal-State compact prohibiting, allowing, or regulating gambling within the USA.” You can see for yourself by checking out the full text of the law.
Despite the fact that you don’t violate any federal laws from putting bets online, it is not legal to run a gaming operation (i.e., to accept bets), except in those few countries where it’s explicitly legal and the operator is licensed. Therefore don’t believe you can start an internet casino or operate Facebook raffles.
And yes, the FBI published a frightening warning online in which they claimed that placing bets online is against the law. In summary, they lied, and the DoJ eventually reversed that place anyway. (more on that)
States where online gambling is explicitly legal
Very few states have specific laws against online gaming, although many have laws against gambling in general, which apply equally to online and offline gaming. A small handful of countries have legalized online gambling, provided that you play at one of the handful of approved online casinos. In some states, only certain types of gaming may be legal (e.g., poker). The states That Have legalized some form of Internet gambling are:
Delaware became the first state to legalize online gambling, in June 2012, and the next to launch (Nov. 26, 2013). (USA Today, Delaware Online, Casino.org)
Nevada became the first state to legalize online gambling (nicely, poker ), on Feb. 21, 2013 (CBS) and launch on April 30. (LVRJ)
New Jersey became the third state to legalize online gaming (poker casino), signed into law in February 2013, and launching on Nov. 25th. (NJ Poker Online)
Be aware that Bovada will not accept players from these states, nor will they take players from Maryland or New York.
The District of Colmbia became the first jurisdiction to legalize online gaming in the U.S., in April 2011. However, the measure was repealed in February 2012 until it ever became active. (NY Times)
State violations of gaming are often misdemeanors
Even if countries don’t permit players to gamble, the penalties are almost always light. The only nations where simple gaming is a felony are the two Washingtons: Washington, DC, and Washington state. (source) In most states simple gambling is just a misdemeanor, and in Arkansas and Colorado it is a simple petty crime, like a traffic ticket. (source)
States with an online gambling prohibition
Even countries that prohibit gambling in general usually don’t have a particular ban on online gambling. If it’s against the law to bet on your nation, that applies offline and online, even if the law doesn’t mention online. However, a few states do specifically outlaw online gambling. Those countries are:
Illinois
Indiana
Louisiana
Montana
Nevada (go figure)
Oregon
South Dakota
Washington
Wisconsin
Source: Gambling Law U.S.
Participants convicted of violating State laws I know of only two cases where a participant ran afoul of state legislation (in extremely conservative states), both of whom were billed under their state’s overall anti-gambling legislation, no special anti-online-gambling law:
North Dakota. Jeffrey Trauman paid a $500 fine on what was probably over $100,000 in online sports bet winnings, in 2003. (Betting & the Law)
Oklahoma. Online sports bettor Roland Benavides was charged in 2011 and in 2012 received a deferred sentence (meaning that when he doesn’t violate the conditions of his probation, he’ll likely face no jail time). (Information OK)
Kentucky seized domains A Kentucky judge consented to allow Kentucky seize 141 gambling-related domain names, on the spurious grounds that a domain name constituted a”gambling device” under state law. But even if it had been clear that gaming domains broken Kentucky law, the seizure was still absurd, due to that logic any nation could grab any domain anywhere in the world if the site happened to violate its own regional law. In any case, as FlushDraw said,”Just a small number of US-based registrars complied, and the seizures themselves were rendered somewhat moot when most of the affected domains jumped to non-US registrar services and stopped using”.com” domains”
The Kentucky Court of Appeals promptly chased the seizure action, but the State appealed. I could not find any updates between 2014-2018 (EFF 2008, KY appealed in 2009, 2014 ruling)
Taking bets is illegal It has always been contrary to federal law to take sports bets over the Internet (to not create them). In other words, you can not set up a site and take sports bets out of the general public. The law which prohibits that is known as the Wire Act. For many years the feds stated that the Wire Act applied to accepting casino and poker stakes also. Then in 2011 they reversed themselves and said the Wire Act applied only to athletics. (Forbes) Then in 2019 they reversed themselves again and returned to the previous position that the Wire Act actually applies to taking casino and poker stakes as well. (origin ) Though again, putting bets stays perfectly legal under national law. The challenge is finding a reputable place to play. Due to the legal problems, there are not many operators serving the whole U.S., and many of those that are kind of sketchy. That is why I advertise only Bovada on this site, since they’re the best one for U.S. players.
States can currently offer sports betting In May 2018, the Supreme Court overturned a law that illegal sports betting in all states but Nevada. This permits individual countries to legalize sports gambling should they choose to do so. On the other hand, the court’s ruling does not talk to the Wire Act, therefore online sportsbooks nevertheless violate federal law (for the operator, not the player). (Forbes)
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