US Online Gambling by State

“Live” means an authorized platform was accepting real-money play under the state or compact framework on August 12, 2026. It does not mean the market is open to every applicant. “Authorized, not live” means the law creates a route, but the launch gate is incomplete. “No route classified” is a stop signal, not permission to rely on an offshore license or weak enforcement.

The online casino column covers house-banked virtual slots and table games. The poker column covers player-versus-player online poker, not video poker, poker-themed slots, or a live-dealer table. The sports column states whether wagering is statewide mobile, bounded to specified places, or unavailable through a current state or compact route. The iLottery column identifies selected direct official online sales; it does not classify every subscription or courier model.

Retail casino gaming, charitable gaming, fantasy contests, advance-deposit horse wagering, sweepstakes, prediction markets, and social casino products are outside the state matrix. None should be folded into a casino or sportsbook answer without its own classification.

The table is a launch-screening tool, not a substitute for the underlying statute, compact, rules, and current regulator record. “No live” is intentionally narrower than “illegal”: it means there was no production route for the named product on August 12, 2026.

The iLottery column marks only active direct official online sales. “Separate review” does not mean a state lacks a lottery, subscription, courier, or online purchase option; it keeps those different models out of one combined answer.

Seven states have live online casino play: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. Maine belongs in the authorized-not-live column until applications open, required licenses are issued, and production starts. Its definition names poker and card, dice, and table-style games but does not name online slots, so no slot route is assigned.

Poker is not a synonym for online casino. Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada have live peer-to-peer online poker. Connecticut and Rhode Island operate casino products without a live peer-to-peer network. West Virginia is not classified as live poker without an approved operating network.

The market-access models are materially different. Connecticut connects online casino to tribal master wagering licensees. Delaware uses state video lottery agents. Michigan pairs authorized operators with named platform providers. New Jersey ties sites to casino permit holders. Pennsylvania keeps product-specific operator directories. Rhode Island uses a state-controlled model. West Virginia starts with a licensed gaming facility. Maine reserves the operator license to a federally recognized Maine tribe while allowing separately licensed management-services and supplier roles.

Maine Public Law 2025, chapter 538 created Internet gaming licenses for federally recognized Indian nations, tribes, or bands in Maine. The regulated definition includes blackjack, poker, dice, craps, roulette, baccarat, and other director-approved games offered through an approved mobile application or digital platform. It does not name online slots, so no slot route is assigned in this guide. The operator category is tribal; management-services providers and suppliers use separate licenses.

Application forms are available only for preparation and will not be accepted until a submission date is posted. The July 2026 proposed-rule process remains incomplete. Production cannot begin even though the statutory route exists.

Commercial planning can begin, but it must be framed as prelaunch work for an eligible tribal operator. Revenue forecasts, supplier reservations, certification plans, and management-services agreements should depend on final rules, open intake, completed investigations, issued licenses, approved platforms and games, and a completed production launch.

Sports wagering states do not share one channel model. A statewide mobile market allows remote wagering only after the required state or compact approvals. A bounded market ties wagering to a casino property, approved lottery retailer, Deadwood, reservation, or tribal casino. Florida is a separate statewide mobile compact model, and Louisiana requires a parish-level geofence even though mobile wagering is live across most of the state.

The current nationwide total is 39 states plus Washington, D.C. with some form of authorized sports betting. That number must not be converted into 40 statewide mobile markets. Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin have retail, tribal, or location-bounded facts that prevent that description.

Product limits also vary inside a live state. College events, in-state teams, individual college player props, amateur events, esports, awards, drafts, and other event classes can be approved, restricted, or excluded separately. The state matrix answers the channel gate only; the wagering catalog needs its own regulator-approved event and market review.

An official lottery app may sell draw entries, eInstants, keno, or a limited combination. Those products remain inside the state or district lottery structure. Similar screen design, instant outcomes, wallet funding, or geolocation does not make an eInstant an online casino license and does not make an outside casino supplier eligible to take wagers.

The matrix includes selected direct official sales channels. Connecticut offers online draw games and keno. Illinois offers online draw games and Fast Play. Pennsylvania offers internet instant games and selected draw-game purchases. West Virginia offers digital instants and draw games. Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts also have active direct online lottery products.

Subscriptions, ticket couriers, second-chance entries, ticket scanners, and loyalty apps are different services. A courier may be licensed or restricted under a separate state rule, while an app that scans a retail ticket may not sell a ticket at all. Classify who sells the entry, who holds the player funds, where the ticket exists, how prizes are claimed, and which state record authorizes the service.

Federal law does not issue a general online gambling permission. The federal definition of unlawful Internet gambling turns on whether the wager is unlawful under applicable federal or state law in the state or tribal lands where it is initiated, received, or otherwise made. Its intrastate exclusion requires express state authorization plus age, location, data-security, and other safeguards. Those conditions constrain an authorized state system; they do not authorize a state that has not created one.

The Wire Act is a separate federal constraint involving wire communications and bets or wagers on sporting events or contests. An operator should map transmissions, wager acceptance, routing, settlement, pooled liquidity, and vendors with counsel instead of treating a state license as a federal safe harbor.

IGRA governs gaming on Indian lands and divides gaming into statutory classes. Class III gaming requires an approved tribal ordinance, a state that permits the gaming, and a tribal-state compact in effect. A tribal casino, compact, server, or commercial partnership does not automatically create statewide online access. North Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin show bounded compact routes; Florida's 2021 Seminole compact is a distinct statewide mobile model that should not be generalized to another state or tribe.

The phrase “operator license” hides the relationships that decide whether a launch is possible. A state can reserve the operating position to a casino, tribe, lottery, racetrack, or other eligible entity while licensing or registering the consumer brand, platform, management-services provider, supplier, key people, and games separately.

Michigan pairs each operator with a platform provider and specific authorized activities. Some relationships include casino and sports, some include casino only, and poker applies only where named. Pennsylvania likewise keeps sports wagering, iGaming, online poker, and fantasy operator approvals separate.

The contract architecture must follow the regulator architecture. Put the regulated role, exact legal entity, brands and domains, product permissions, approval dependencies, subcontractors, data access, control functions, change notices, audit rights, suspension consequences, and exit assistance into the market schedule.

Turn the state row into a controlled launch file. The owner of the decision should be able to show why the product is permitted, which entity holds each permission, which regulator record is current, which technical controls enforce the boundary, and which open issue can still stop launch.

Run the workflow separately for casino, poker, sports, lottery, racing, fantasy, and any embedded side game. Run it again for every additional state. Reusing a memo or configuration is acceptable only after confirming that the legal category, applicant model, product approval, and geography are the same.

The status date is August 12, 2026, and the next scheduled update is due by September 9, 2026. Recheck sooner after any legal, compact, rule, license, launch, suspension, or enforcement change.

Reopen a state immediately when a bill is enacted or vetoed, an effective date arrives, final rules replace proposed rules, application intake opens, a compact or amendment is approved, a license or platform launches or closes, an operator or domain changes, a court order changes the route, or the regulator issues an enforcement or technical notice affecting the product.

Preserve the previous decision, new primary record, effective date, affected products and entities, operational change, owner, and go-live or shutdown decision. Do not silently overwrite an old status or backdate a review to the date of a press release.