The floodgates were suddenly open for states to pass their own sports betting legislation. New Jersey, which led the fight to overturn PASPA, was first to go live, with most Atlantic City casinos opening up temporary sportsbooks. In August 2018, DraftKings took the first online wager.
Since then, states like New York, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia have begun taking bets both in-person and online with many other states ready to follow suit.
What U.S. states have legal sports betting?
The U.S. sports betting industry is in a continual state of flux. Hardly a month goes by without new legislation being proposed, an active bill being passed, or an operator launching a live sportsbook or online sports betting site.
To find out more about the current legal status of sports betting in your state, as well as where you can bet on sports today, check out our map below:
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What types of sports bets can players make?
This will vary from state to state, and will partially depend on if a state offers online wagering, but generally speaking here are some of the more common sports betting formats that will be found:
- Point spread: This most basic bets allows players to wager on one side or the other, and usually pays $10 for every $11 wagered (-110). To balance the odds, the favorite “gives” a stipulated number of points, whereas underdogs “take” the same number of points.
- Money line: A wager where bettors choose one side of the other, without the use of a point spread. The favorite will have a minus (-) sign next to their name, and all money lines are based on $100. So if a team is -180, players will have to wager $180 to win $100. Likewise, underdogs will have a plus (+) sign next to their name. A +140 team will pay out $240 ($140 plus the original $100) should it win.
- Totals: Over/under bet where players wager on the combined score of a contest. Total wagers on quarters, periods, or halves are also available.
- Parlays: Players can combine two or bets in a single wager. In order to win, all bets must come in, with no exceptions. Parlays can range from the simple (two wagers) to the expansive (up to fifteen wagers), and payout in accordance with how many wagers are made.
- Teasers: Like parlays, only that the point spreads and/or totals are shifted to the player’s advantage. To offset this, the payouts are smaller.
- Props: Zany bets that allow players to bet on anything from an individual player’s performance to the outcome of a coin flip.
- Futures: Bet on the probability of a long-term outcome occurring, like the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl, or Lebron James to win the NBA MVP.
- Live/In-play: Not so much a betting type as it is a format, in-play wagers are those made throughout a contest, with odds changing constantly. In-play wagers encompass point spreads, money lines, totals, and more.
How can you bet on sports? Retail vs online
Pending what forms of sports betting are legalized in a state, there are two primary methods in which bettors can place wagers: at land-based venues or online.
Retail facilities
Retail, land-based properties include: commercial casinos, tribal casinos, racinos, horse racing tracks, and even select OTB parlors and retail facilities. Bets are placed at designated windows for sports bets or via an onsite kiosk. Lately, sports stadiums have been given sports betting licenses in a few states. It all depends on the state.
Online
Online wagering affords bettors with varying degrees of convenience, depending on how restrictive a state’s sports betting regulations are.
In-house only
Although this is more the exception than the rule, some states only allow mobile wagers to be transmitted from casino premises. In-house sports betting is by far the most restrictive form of online wagering, with only marginal benefits beyond placing bets with a teller or at an electronic kiosk, the main one being that players won’t have to wait on long lines (except possibly to register and fund their accounts).
In-house sign-up
Walking the middle line between in-house only and full online wagering is in-house sign-up, or the Nevada model. Nevada has no plans to move to remote registration, but Iowa mandated in-house registration until early 2025, at which time it moved to the much preferred remote online registration. Illinois waived the in-house registration requirement for much of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but recently switched from online registration back to the much-maligned in-house registration requirement. However, as of March 2025, Illinois moved back to an online registration procedure.
To get started, players are encouraged to download their desired Android or iOS powered app ahead of registration. Then, the next step is to head down to an affiliated app’s live sportsbook.
Once set up, it’s just a matter of navigating the app and placing bets. Mobile (not PC/Mac) wagers can be placed from anywhere in the state where the affiliated sportsbook is located, but not beyond. Savvy bettors may want to signup for multiple apps, as that will allow them to “shop around” for the best odds.
Online anywhere
Several states have gone online and allow remote registration, meaning you can sign up from your couch and instantly start betting with several of the top online sportsbook options in the country thanks to these states opening up partnerships between the states casinos and experienced operators to join up to create a top-notch sports betting product. These states are:
- New York
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
States with online sports betting run by one operator or the state lottery commission:
- Connecticut (two tribes and the state lottery)
- Montana (online available only in licensed establishments)
- Oregon
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
- Washington, DC
Unlike in-house sign-up, states that offer true online sports betting won’t force players to visit a live book to sign up and load their accounts. Instead, they can usually do so from just about anywhere (real-money wagers are still restricted to within state lines). They also won’t be restricted to placing wagers exclusively on mobile devices, as most operators in these states either already offer their platforms for desktops or plan on it.
In order to ensure player security and keep accounts secure, online bettors will go through a brief identity verification process, where they enter personal information such as their name, address, phone number and the last four digits of their social security number. The whole process only takes a few minutes and approval is instant. This is a small inconvenience for the ability to wager from anywhere in the state from which the online book operates.
What are the key differences between live and unrestricted online sports betting?
Besides the rather obvious convenience factor of not having to travel to a land-based sportsbook and potentially wait in long lines, unrestricted online sports betting affords players a host of benefits unavailable, or only available in a limited capacity, to retail bettors:
- Payment options: Online sportsbooks in the U.S. are positioned to accept a variety of deposit options, including Paypal, VIP Preferred (eCheck), MasterCard/Visa, PayNearMe, Play+ cards and Skrill. This level of flexibility is simply unmatched at retail venues, where bettors will generally have to pay with chips, cash, or a prepaid card (mobile wagering only).
- On-the-fly wagers: Players looking to bet on games already in progress from a retail sportsbook have limited options. Yes, in-game wagering — where players can bet on a game in progress — is gaining in popularity, but the odds generally only change during periods of downtime, such as commercials or injury timeouts. Mobile wagering apps and online sites take matters a step further, by offering in-play wagering. In-play odds change in real-time, often from possession to possession, affording players a level of flexibility that they simply won’t find elsewhere.
- Promotions: Aside from the very generous online sportsbooks welcome packages, online sportsbooks have packed promotional schedules, including boosted odds, parlay insurance, free bets and more.
- More, more, and more: Simply stated, online sites generally have a far greater expanse of wagering options than retail books. If you can imagine it, an online site probably has it.
What is the current legal status of sports betting in the U.S.?
Thanks to the favorable ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court case Murphy v. NCAA, there is nothing preventing individual states from passing legislation to legalize sports betting. In other words, it’s up to the states whether they want to have sports betting at their land-based gaming facilities, online, or not at all.
That said, there is currently one universal restriction that applies to all states: Mobile and online bettors are not allowed to place interstate wagers. As an example, bettors who sign up for a New Jersey online sports betting site or mobile app can only wager real-money if they’re physically located in the state of New Jersey.
This restriction is due to the Federal Wire Act of 1961, which explicitly prohibits the processing of wagers across state lines. However, several legal commentators believe that wagers over interstate networks are fine if state law doesn’t expressly prohibit them. If true, then wagers could technically be transmitted between states where sports betting legal, opening up a whole slew of possibilities. Interstate betting hasn’t been introduced yet, but time will tell.
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Benefits of legal sports betting
Until now, bettors looking to place a wager on their favorite sports team had two unattractive options: open an account on a black market site, or seek out a corner bookie. In both cases, the party taking wagers was doing so illegally, and because illegal bookies are working in an unregulated space, there is nothing preventing them from offering poor lines, refusing to pay out winnings, or banning players without cause.
By contrast, legal sportsbooks are regulated by a state’s gambling or lottery commission. This ensures the following:
Safety of funds
Due to the laws and regulations governing the industry, bettors that deposit on an online sportsbook or mobile sports wagering app can rest easy knowing that their funds are being held securely. Players on black market sites or those who wager through independent bookies have no such assurances.
Identity protection
In order to play for big bucks at a land-based venue, or at all on internet sites, sports bettors will have to prove that they are who they say they are. Legal online sportsbooks, in particular, require that patrons verify their identities and banking information. This process of verifying bettors identity is the only real way to truly safeguard a player’s sensitive info. Black market sites have little incentive to protect a player’s identity, as they don’t have to answer to a governing body.
Fairness
Don’t expect illegal online sportsbooks to act ethically. Bonus structures are often set up so that players have little chance of ever withdrawing their winnings. Even worse, black market sites may decide to only honor withdrawals in dribs and drabs, or not at all. And there’s really nothing stopping them from saying the lines are actually different from what’s displayed on the site.
Players on legal sites won’t be subject to ambiguous policies and on-the-fly changes, as the law requires that all terms be listed on the site and that any changes be first approved by the state’s regulatory agency — which is, again, usually the same agency that oversees all legal lottery or casino operations in the state.