What States Are Online Gambling Illegal

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A few states have taken an extra measure to strengthen their enforcement of anti-gambling laws to keep their residents from engaging in any form of gambling on the Internet, including online sports betting: Washington. Legal Online Gambling In Wyoming - Wyoming has not made any attempts to make online gambling illegal in Wyoming. More About The Legality Of Online Gambling In The U.S. + Specific States. State Online Gambling Laws + Statutes. With respect to state laws relating to gambling in the United States, the biggest one relates to the legal gambling age.

In the United States, gambling is restricted almost everywhere, except in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City, New Jersey. If you do not know this and unwittingly participated in a gambling scheme that turned out to be illegal, you can still be charged with a gambling crime and may be slapped with significant penalties that may result in some serious repercussions. In these kinds of scenarios, knowing your rights and the gambling laws of your state can spell the difference between a safe trip home and a one-way ticket to prison.

The laws related to gambling are not only important for those involved in the industry operating such games like poker, bingo, and other casino-type games, but also for all those regular Joes who want to know whether he or she can start a fantasy football league, a home poker game, or an NCAA tournament betting pool at the workplace.

The words “gamble” and “gambling” are generally used to discuss an activity that may run afoul of applicable criminal laws. The word “gaming” is usually reserved for those instances where the activity has been specifically legalized by applicable laws or where the activity is exempted from the criminal laws. Thus, playing a casino-style game at a for-profit website online in the United States is referred to as gambling, since no state has yet to finalize any gambling law that specifically authorizes a for-profit website operator to offer any casino games.

The two words are not mutually exclusive. That is, a gaming activity could turn out to be gambling where applicable laws regulating that particular gaming are violated. Similarly, a gambling activity may turn out to be gaming if it is exempted from a given criminal statute. For example, playing a card game for money in a purely social setting where no one earns anything from the game other than as a mere player would be gaming if such social games were excluded from the reach of the criminal anti-gambling laws in the state where the game takes place.

The Spread of Legalized US Gambling

Decades ago, gambling used to be illegal almost in every part of the continental US, again, except for Nevada and New Jersey. However, as time flew by, more and more states have made various types of gambling legal, ranging from Indian casinos, bingo and poker rooms, off-track horse race betting, and more. While some states have approved certain types of gambling, there are other types that have remained “illegal”, so to speak, like online gambling. In fact, almost all states have laws that ban at least some form of gambling.

Gaming and gambling in the United States have undergone a great boom. During the past decade, most states have expanded legalized gaming, including regulated casino-style games and lotteries. There has been an explosion in opening Native American casinos. The popularity of online gambling and betting has increased exponentially.

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What States Are Online Gambling Illegal

Online Gambling in the USA

Online gambling has been more stringently regulated by the US government. Some of the federal laws that encompass online gambling include the Federal Act Wire of 1961 and the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) of 2006. The former outlaws interstate wagering on sports but fails to address the other forms of gambling. The latter did not specifically ban online gaming, however, it disallowed US-based payment processors from participating in any financial transactions involving online gaming services. These rigid regulations made most online gaming operators decide to move their businesses offshore where they can be left untouched by US federal laws.

It may seem that the United States has been very slow when it comes to reacting to online gambling. In fact, when online gambling sites started appearing in the early ‘90s, there were not even any legal guidelines set in place to regulate the operations of these sites, even though their services are easily accessed by US-based players.

This, however, changed in the year 2006, when then-US President George Bush signed the Safe Ports Act – a law that had a section that made it illegal for US banking institutions to allow their customers to send money to gambling sites offshore.

The fact is, before 2006, any US resident could quite easily gamble online for real money by using any of their US-issued debit or credit cards to fund their accounts. Then again, when the aforementioned law took effect on that year, all US banking institutions were legally required to block all these types of payments, making it extremely difficult for US-based players to fund their online gaming bankroll.

As the years have gone by, many US States have started to look at online gambling sites, and several of them have placed their own robust sets of regulations that will allow gambling sites located in certain US states to operate legally after applying for and being granted a gambling license, but only within state boundaries.

What

There are still a lot of websites offering casino-type games that are located offshore that accommodate US-based players, though. However, sending and requesting money from those sites might take some time and in doing such, players are encouraged to exercise extra vigilance in checking where the gambling site of their choosing is licensed and regulated before they start playing, because they will have very little protection should they encounter any kind of issues or problems with an unlicensed and offshore gambling website.

California gambling laws are a mess of state regulations and town-level laws, but in most cases participating in an illegal game of chance would be considered a misdemeanor. Nevertheless, the California code does not mention online gambling specifically and the state doesn’t really have all that many broad regulations that could be applied to online gambling. Consequently, most experts agree that Californians are free to enjoy their favorite iGaming sites, as there’s no law that would directly criminalize doing so.

California Casinos

Tribal casinos in California are spread across 30 counties, so residents enjoy fairly even access to them. The largest such venues are located in Temecula (Pechanga Resort and Casino), Highland (San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino), Lincoln (Thunder Valley Casino), Cabazon (Morongo Casino Resort and Spa), Brooks (Cache Creek), and Pala (Pala Casino Resort and Spa). In addition, certain card rooms offer casino-style card games, such as blackjack or pai-gow poker, but the tribes are doing everything in their power to shut those games down.

Californians don’t have access to any state-sanctioned online casino options, and playing on offshore sites likely constitutes a violation of California Penal Code Sec. 330.

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California Poker

California is an important hotspot on the US poker map. Many of the tribal casinos operate large poker rooms that can host major tournaments, and poker is the main attraction at local cardrooms. For this reason, many local politicians have tried passing favorable internet poker laws since 2008, but each of the proposed bills has been abandoned due to the local gaming industry’s atomized nature and the opposition from powerful anti-gambling lobbyists, such as Sheldon Adelson. The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel tribe tried launching an online poker site under the existing regulations, but this attempt was shut down by the courts.

As a result, there’s no way for a California resident to play poker over the internet legally.

California Sports Betting

Sports betting in California is limited to on-site pari-mutuel horse race betting. Off-track betting is prohibited. When the Professional and Amateur Sports Betting Act, which banned sports betting in the United States on a federal level, was defanged by the Supreme Court, California lawmakers began working on a new sports betting bill, which is expected to be introduced in 2020. The new bill will likely include additional provisions expanding the array of games that can be offered by cardrooms. If this proves to be the case, the Indian tribes will fight it tooth and nail, which might prolong the legislative process or even sink the bill altogether. Still, the United Auburn Indian Community already signed a partnership deal with MGM-GVC Interactive to provide sports betting at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

The new bill might introduce online sports betting to California, but at the moment, local sports enthusiasts don’t have access to any state-sanctioned betting platforms. Using offshore sportsbooks is a risky proposition as it could constitute a violation of California Penal Code Sec. 330.

California Daily Fantasy Sports

These days, California lawmakers can’t seem to agree on anything regarding gambling, which is demonstrated by the 2015 DFS bill’s fate. Bill A 1437, was introduced in September 2015 by Asm. Adam Grey. It passed through all the committees and was approved by the Assembly in a 62-1 vote, but the Senate never took it up. Thus, the legal status of DFS contests remains undetermined. As usual, this doesn’t seem to bother DFS companies such as FanDuel or DraftKings, which continue to offer their services to California-based sports fans. However, this doesn’t mean that using these platforms is 100% legal – it merely means that this issue hasn’t been settled by a California court.

California Lotteries

The California State Lottery offers local and multi-state draw games, including Mega Millions and Powerball, as well as scratchers and Second Chance games. Unfortunately, the Lottery doesn’t sell any tickets online, so if you want to join the action, you need to visit one of the land-based retail shops.

California Bingo

Bingo is available both as a charity game and commercially in casinos. The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel tribe used to operate an online bingo site called Desert Rose Bingo, which was shut down by a court decision in 2016. At the moment, California residents don’t have access to any legal online bingo platforms.

California Online Gambling FAQ

What types of gambling are available in CA?

California is a great state for poker enthusiasts and casino game fans, as the Golden State is packed with tribal casinos, card clubs and prestigious poker rooms. In fact, the Commerce Casino is believed to host the biggest live poker room in the world. If that wasn’t enough, California also has horse racing, a state lottery and bingo. However, when it comes to internet play, California is yet to follow in Nevada’s footsteps and introduce new laws that would create a regulated intrastate iGaming industry.

What laws cover online gambling in CA?

All of the laws that deal with gambling and games of chance are listed in the California code. The most important thing about California regulations is the fact that none of them apply specifically to iGaming services, which means that California-based players are pretty much free to join the action on Bovada or any other offshore site.

Is real money online gambling legal in CA?

In all likelihood, real money gambling conducted via offshore sites doesn’t break any California laws.

Which offshore gambling sites accept CA residents?

If you’re a California resident, you should be able to join all the important offshore gambling sites.

What are the most popular banking options supported by California-facing sites?

In many cases, the only available deposit method is debit/credit card payment. MoneyGram or Western Union is sometimes an option with the biggest sites, such as Bovada. Offshore sites offer cash-outs via a wire transfer and via a check by courier.

Does CA offer any intrastate online gambling?

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No. While California lawmakers don’t really care about individual players, they do care about keeping all the local gambling operations in check. Consequently, the current regulations make it impossible for local businesses to operate iGaming sites and to offer internet gambling services.

Is it likely for CA to regulate online gambling?

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California is guaranteed to regulate online gambling in 2015 or 2016, as the local lawmakers are more than interested in creating a new source of income for the state that way. However, negotiating the shape of the new bill is very hard and time-consuming, as the Californian land-based gambling operators and other interest groups proved to be unwilling to compromise and reach an agreement that’d be acceptable for every party involved.