22 states where online gambling is legal | Entertainment

Sports betting is the most popular—and the most widely legalized—form of online gambling, generating $4.3 billion in gross revenue in 2021, according to the American Gaming Association. Twenty-one of the 22 states featured below have approved it.

Among the other forms, six states have legalized online casinos, and online poker is now legal in another set of six states. Online gaming, or iGaming, brought in $3.7 billion last year. 

Legislators in four states not included on this list—Kansas, Maine, Maryland, and Ohio—have legalized online sports betting in recent months, but their laws have not yet taken effect. A fifth state, Florida, has also passed legislation legalizing online sports betting but has faced additional legal hurdles.

Gambling online was accepted in the United States from the late 1990s until 2006, according to The New York Times. That’s when Congress banned gambling companies from taking online bets for “unlawful” transactions.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal ban on sports betting in 2018, some states rushed to legalize it. By the following year, more than $11 billion had been legally wagered on sports games.

OddsSeeker researched 22 states where online gambling is legal using news reports and government resources from across the internet. For this list, three forms of online gambling were considered: online casinos, online poker, and online sports betting.