Your #1 guide to US online gambling

It's still relatively early days in terms of legal online sports betting and online casino in the US. But competition is already strong in the states that have launched.

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, and New Hampshire are home to many of the world's best gambling operators giving eager-to-wager Americans, like yourself, many options in terms of choosing an online sportsbook or casino site.

Too much choice can be a problem though, especially when you're not entirely sure what makes one different from another. That's where we come in.

We'll not only take you to the best online sportsbooks and casinos your state has to offer. But help you decide which one is best for your gambling needs.

We’ve identified the key factors you should consider when choosing the best online gambling site on the market.

Licensed and legal?

We only list sportsbooks/casinos that are legally permitted under state law and licensed to operate. It’s common knowledge which states have legalized sports betting and casino gaming in the US, and those still to do so.

Yet, you will still come across various ‘offshore’ sites we advise steering well clear of. While not illegal technically speaking, sites not operating within the US cannot be entrusted to return monies owed or act lawfully.

Wagering options

Does the site cater for your favorite sport or casino game? And does it cover in-depth? I mean, many sites will offer a range of sports or games but may only scratch the surface in terms of markets offered. Desirable aspects also worthy of consideration include top rated features such as live betting and live dealer games.

Bonus/Welcome offers

This isn’t important to everyone, granted. But for the majority the size of bonus as a free bet or free spin is a biggie. Choosing the one that suits your wants can provide a significant boost to your bankroll. The terms and conditions are worth reading here however with each offer carrying their own stipulations.

Mobile gambling

No longer do you need to be chained to a computer to gamble. Bet on a match or play your favorite game on the go via an app or mobile friendly site - how did we ever cope without such a luxury? Not every site will have their own app but the vast majority will.

Payment methods

Payment methods are fairly generic across the board, eg. VISA/Mastercard, Paypal, Skrill /Neteller, Check. This said, always double check your preferred way of paying is accepted, it's only hassle if you can't access the funds you want.

Terms and conditions

When somebody reaches for a magnifying glass and a cup of something strong, you know they're settling down to read those t's and c's. But in all seriousness, it’s vital you’re well versed with regards to bonus information and deposit and withdrawal limits. It may be five minutes of your life you won’t get back but it’s likely to save you time and disappointment in the long run.

Customer support options

An aspect often overlooked. Until you need to query something of course. For most, there will be few issues when wagering but means of assistance available nonetheless. The best online gambling sites prioritize customer service and not only offer support via email or a contact form but also via telephone or live chat. Actual human interaction, who would've thought!

It’s worth highlighting that throwing some websites together could be done by the average Joe. So why would you trust what we say especially?

It’s a fair question and one which will answer itself going forwards. But, in short, this is our profession and what we do.

We’re under no obligation to rate a sportsbook a certain way

For us, it’s about telling it how it is, period. We’d be doing the industry - and ourselves - a huge disservice if we were to do it any other way.

With this in mind, let’s look at how exactly we compare the best gambling sites in the US.

Need some tips choosing the best sports betting site? Then head over to our dedicated guide to get the ball rolling.

Once upon a time Nevada was the only place you could make a single games wager.

The Silver State became the first to regulate sports betting in 1949 and was effectively handed a monopoly of the industry when grandfathered in to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 1992, a law brought in to prevent the spread of sports betting in other states.

With more and more casinos becoming legalized and gambling expanding gradually across the U.S, PASPA was challenged by other states seeking an equal playing field.

Led by New Jersey, the 25-year-old federal law was contested and eventually brought tumbling down in May 2018 after a year's long battle in the Supreme Court.

The removal of PASPA permitted each individual state the right to introduce sports betting, or not.

Cue a new era for sports betting in the US

The industry has since exploded. A year on, nine states stand alongside Nevada with regulated sport betting industries.

And with every passing week, more and more states are beginning to recognize the benefits of legal online gambling for its residents and the state itself.

From the moment the power shift from federal to state level was rubber-stamped, the sports betting industry has been an ever-changing landscape.

Some states moved fast in showing their hand. Several even pre-emptied the decision in the Supreme Court, allowing for laws to be passed as soon as the taking down of PASPA was confirmed.

Many have bills on the table and will soon follow suit.

As it stands, the following states have joined Nevada in launching a regulated sports betting industry in some form.

Nevada

• Launched: 1949
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅ (in-person sign-up compulsory)

Las Vegas will always remain the fulcrum of gambling in the eyes of many and has one key asset in the famous Las Vegas strip, the ultimate experience for both casino and sports wagering.

But with an increasing amount of states now able to offer more convenient means of legal online gambling, there's every chance Nevada may lose its pulling power long term.

Delaware

• Launched: June 2018
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ❌

New Jersey had been expected to become the first state outside of Nevada to ring the sports betting bell. But nobody told Delaware. “The First State” certainly lived up to its nickname, pipping NJ to the post and rolling out full, legal sports betting in super quick time.

DE had been one of a few states to already offer a form of legal sports betting with parlay wagering originally exempt from the federal ban. But the legislation passed now means sports betting is permitted. Mobile wagering is not however.

New Jersey

• Launched: June 2018
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅

NJ were never going to be too far behind considering they were the instigators in the taking down of PASPA. No more than a month after the favorable ruling, NJ became the third official state to offer legalized sports betting.

Bettors can wager at the state’s ten land-based racetracks and casinos, and most crucially, the fourteen mobile platforms online.

Mississippi

• Launched: August 2018
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅ (from land-based casino only)

The Magnolia State adjusted their own state legislation to legalize daily fantasy sports in 2017, a move which paved the way for the introduction of sports betting.

Online wagering is restricted in the traditional sense (i.e being able to bet at your own leisure from wherever). This is likely to hold back the industry in the short-term.

West Virginia

• Launched: September 2018
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅

WV became the fifth to offer legal sports betting but lawmakers had in fact legalized the industry in March of 2018 in anticipation of a favorable Supreme Court ruling.

The gamble paid off with the law, inclusive of online wagering, taking effect just a few months later. DraftKings and FanDuel are both live in The Mountain State.

New Mexico

• Launched: October 2018
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ❌

Rather against the odds, New Mexico became the sixth state with legal sports betting. The Tamaya Nation operate the sportsbook at Santa Ana Star Casino after discovering a loophole in the state’s gambling law.

The Native American tribe remains the only place within NM a sports wager can be made.

Rhode Island

• Launched: November 2018
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅ (bettors must activate mobile accounts in person)

Two referendums four years apart indicated a strong desire for RI sports betting leading to its eventual introduction in November 2018.

Mobile and online betting arrived just in time for NFL 2019, on the condition bettors activate an account first.

Pennsylvania

• Launched: November 2018
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅

PA has eight sportsbooks for bettors to visit and wager money on sports. Mobile wagering launched officially in May 2019 with SugarHouse becoming the first to roll its sports betting app, followed by FanDuel and BetRivers.

A whole host are expected to follow suit, reshaping the entire gambling market in the Keystone State.

Arkansas

• Launched: July 2019
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ❌

Come in number nine! Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort will always be known as the place where sports betting officially kicked off in AR.

An additional three brick-and-mortar sportsbooks are scheduled to follow, as is some form of mobile betting. Quite when this occurs is anybody's guess though.

New York

• Launched: July 2019
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ❌

Who else but New York to bring up double figures! Six long years on from permitting sports betting, the first legal NY sports wager has been placed, finally.

Rivers Casino in upstate Schenectady gladly played history makers, with FanDuel launching not long after, positioning themselves nicely for when NY mobile sports betting pops up in 2020.

Iowa

• Launched: August 2019
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅ (in-person sign-up compulsory until January 2021)

It took just 94 days after passing legislation for the Hawkeye state to launch legal sports betting, showing the rest how to go about the task.

Iowa become the first Midwestern state and the 11th state in total to roll out a regulated industry comprising mobile betting.

Indiana

• Launched: September 2019
• Sports betting: ✅
• Online sports betting: ✅
  

Mobile sports betting is GO in the motor racing capital of the US, the industry launching just in time for the NFL season.

Bettors can wager from anywhere within The Hoosier State from a mobile device.

Las Vegas, Nevada, is the gamblers paradise.

The opportunity to wager is there morning, noon or night with around 170,000 slot machines located in hotels, airports, grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations. You name a place and should a slot machine fit, you’re good to go.

This knowledge isn’t limited to Americans of course.

Over 43 million tourists insist on ticking the famous Vegas strip off their bucket list each year

As the only place in the US with a regulated gambling scene for the best part of forty years, Nevada’s monopoly of the gambling industry is no surprise. It is the gambling capital of the world and this will remain the case for some time to come.

But the changes seen within the sports betting industry are beginning to filter through to the casino industry. Going forwards, it appears the casino industry will also undergo a facelift.

Online Casinos in the US

Nevada may be the most open-minded place on earth when it comes to gambling but with the state’s gambling laws designed with casino resorts in mind, online gambling outside of casino premises is strictly off limits.

This makes perfect sense, I mean, an online industry will only be at the detriment of the most famous gambling place in the world and will take something away from the overall experience.

Online poker is legal in Nevada but you can only use an app within the four walls of a casino

Whilst the undisputed gambling capital of the United States lies on the West coast, it’s the East Coast leading the way when it comes to online casino gambling.

New Jersey Online Casino

Legislation: Introduced and in place since 2013

Online Casino gambling: ✅

New Jersey has the most online casinos of any other state. As a matter of fact, just about every major casino operator owns a NJ based online casino site, going to show the size of the market thought to be worth more than $225 million a year.

Since its inception the industry has grown steadily year on year with revenue rising by $50 million in each of the past two years, pushing earnings close to the $925 million mark.

The arrival of sports betting is likely to push casino figures through the roof further still with sport bettors destined to be drawn towards casino games when visiting the site.

Delaware Online Casino

Legislation: Legalized in 2012, law active since 2013

Online Casino gambling: ✅

DE became the first state to make online gambling legal for its patrons in 2012, a trend they were to repeat a few years later with sports betting. The market went live in 2013 with casino sites operated by the state’s three racinos at Delaware Park, Dover Downs, ad Harrington Raceway.

Pennsylvania Online Casino

Legislation: Introduced in 2017

Online Casino gambling: ✅

Issues have arisen in PA online casino gambling surrounding the high tax rate which is easily one of the highest in the country. Operators are quite rightly asking the question if a monstrous rate of 54% - note NJ has a tax rate of 16% - can genuinely turn a profit.

After some toing and froing, ten online casino licenses have been snapped up. For $10 million an operator will be permitted to offer online slots, online table games and online poker as part of a one-time package deal. Some of the names to have committed include MGM, Golden Nugget and SugarHouse.

It’s fair to say, the race to legalize online gambling isn’t motoring at the same speed witnessed with sports betting with states curbing their interest in fully committing to online gaming until they see what transpires with wagering on sports.

But there’s a more pressing issue in need of resolving first. Ladies and gents, allow me to introduce the Wire Act.

What is the Wire Act and how does it impact online gambling?

Introduced to combat organized crime within sports betting, the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 prohibits the use of wireless facilities to transmit wagers and removes the prospect of cross-state betting. In other words, online betting cannot cross state lines.

Originally, it was thought the act applied to sports betting only hence why, today, Geolocation is used to determine the exact location of the bettor.

But a different take on the act from the Department of Justice is now seen to include all online gambling, leading to conflicting claims as to whether the act covers just sports betting, or, all forms of online gambling.

As you can imagine such ambiguity is having a direct impact on the online casino industry moving along. Many states are open to playing the waiting game to see what transpires, hence the slow(er) progress in the online casino industry than we’ve seen with sports betting.

With nobody none the wiser as to whether the act will be overturned, upheld or relaxed, it’s a case of waiting it out, for now.

In the meantime, you can rely on United Gamblers to trudge through the ton of uncertainty!

It’s true that the US gambling scene would appear to resemble a complexed mish-mash of laws currently.

But it hasn’t always been like this. Or, has it? Well, seen as the pivotal shifts seen in the gaming history almost mirror US history itself, you could say yes!

Merci France

Another country with red, white and blue in their flag are viewed as being responsible for the birth of the gambling industry in the US.

It’s believed settlers from France, in search of the land of opportunity, brought with them ‘poque’, or, as you would know it in its final form today, Poker.

Roulette also carries French roots with the two games becoming part of the American fabric faster than you could say ‘full house’.

While the notion of gambling became more widely received in this period, it wasn’t until the 20th century when it was clear there would be an industry boom. Las Vegas, Nevada and New Jersey fast became known as major gambling destinations but it was the former in particular that led the way.

Viva Las Vegas

Arguably responsible for gambling standing as tall as it does in the US today. The city underwent a serious facelift in the early 90’s with casino upon casino being built, dominating the skyline in the process.

The relocation of casinos into prestigious hotel complexes hasn’t stopped Vegas losing its tag as the number one place in the world for gambling.

Even with Nevada losing its monopoly of the industry recently, this is highly unlikely to change anytime soon.

Online industry part 1

Many gambling sites popped up out of nowhere in the late 90s midst a boom in technology resulting in a hike in online gamblers. This had ticked along nicely for the early naughties but things were to change rapidly when legislation was introduced seeking to put a stop on money laundering.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is seen as one of the most significant events in the history of US online gambling. It’s no surprise either given the effect it had.

Many global gambling sites were left unable to process payments, resulting in a sharp exit from an industry in shock at a dramatic turn of events.

Online industry part 2

The laws surrounding online gambling were relaxed at the start of the tens, leading to the point where we find ourselves now - states moving to launch their own frameworks for regulated online gambling.

Nevada - who else - were quickest off the mark in offering legal online gambling in 2013.

Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania did likewise, with West Virginia and Michigan coming close. The current impasse centered on the interpretation of the Wire Act leaves the online industry, not for the first time, shrouded in doubt.