Offshore Online Casinos in the US: Legal Status by State (Verified September 2026)

Short answer (verified September 28, 2026): only seven states run regulated real-money online casinos: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Maine legalized tribal-run online casinos in January 2026 but has not launched, and Nevada allows online poker only. In the other 42 states there is no legal way to play casino games online through a state licensee, and that is where offshore casinos operate: sites licensed in Curaçao, Anjouan, Panama or the Comoros that accept US players from states they choose. Whether that is legal depends on the state, and the honest answer is usually “illegal for the operator, rarely prosecuted for the player, and increasingly enforced through cease-and-desist letters.” This guide covers the seven states we have tested in depth, links to each state page, and lists every state we know of that has ordered an offshore casino out.

Which states have legal online casinos, and which do not?

Seven states have live, state-licensed online casinos as of September 2026: New Jersey (since 2013), Delaware (2013), Pennsylvania (2019), West Virginia (2020), Michigan (2021), Connecticut (2021) and Rhode Island (2024). Maine’s LD 1164, signed in January 2026, makes it the eighth state to legalize, but its tribal-exclusive model is tied up in rule-making and a lawsuit from Churchill Downs and Oxford Casino, so no site is live. Nevada licenses online poker but not casino games. Maryland’s 2026 bills died at the crossover deadline, Illinois’ HB 3080 and SB 1963 are pending, and New York’s S2614 was dropped in June 2026 when Governor Hochul declined to back it. We do not build pages for the seven regulated states, because a player there has a licensed option and should use it. Our state pages cover the places where the only real-money online casinos are offshore.

Is it illegal to play at an offshore casino?

Federal law targets operators and payment processing (the Wire Act of 1961 and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), not individual players. State law is where the player-level answer lives, and it varies more than most guides admit. Louisiana’s R.S. 14:90.3 makes “gambling by computer” a misdemeanor for the player (up to $500 and six months). New Hampshire’s RSA 647:2 and Wyoming’s Statute 6-7-102 also criminalize the act of gambling itself. Texas Penal Code 47.02 is a Class C misdemeanor for the bettor. New York’s Penal Law article 225 and Kentucky’s KRS 528 go the other way: both define “player” so that the person betting is not the one committing the offense, and Kentucky makes player status an explicit defense. We found no reported prosecution of an individual for playing at an offshore casino in any of the seven states we cover; every enforcement action we could document was aimed at an operator, a sweepstakes company or a payment processor. That is not legal advice, and it is not a promise; it is the record as of September 2026.

Louisiana: no online casinos, and Bovada is gone

Louisiana has no state-licensed online casinos and no bill to create them. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board ordered Bovada to stop serving the state on August 6, 2024, and Bovada complied; on June 17, 2025 the Board announced more than 40 additional cease-and-desist letters to offshore and sweepstakes operators. Acts 182 and 48 of 2026, effective August 1, 2026, brought sweepstakes casinos under the gambling-by-computer statute and the Racketeering Act. Online sports betting is legal in 55 of 64 parishes. Ignition Casino, Slots.lv and Café Casino still accept Louisiana players; the table of who accepts and who blocks the state is on Best Louisiana Online Casinos.

Texas: nothing regulated, nothing enforced

Texas has no online casinos, no sports betting and no online lottery; the 2025 constitutional amendments for sports betting (HJR 134, SJR 65) and casinos (HJR 137) died in committee, and the Legislature does not meet again until January 2027. The Texas Lottery Commission was abolished on September 1, 2025 and the lottery now sits under the Department of Licensing and Regulation. Texas Penal Code 47.02 makes betting a Class C misdemeanor, but we found no cease-and-desist letter to any offshore casino and Texas did not sign the August 2025 letter from 50 attorneys general urging the Justice Department to act on offshore gambling. Details and the verified operator list are on Best Texas Online Casinos.

New York: the state that killed its own iGaming bill

New York has mobile sports betting (since January 2022), licensed daily fantasy sports and lottery couriers, but no online casino: Senator Addabbo’s S2614 was referred to committee in January 2026 and abandoned in June. Penal Law article 225 punishes those who promote or profit from gambling, not the player. New York is also the most active state against sweepstakes casinos: Attorney General James sent cease-and-desist letters to 26 operators on June 6, 2025, Governor Hochul signed the S5935A ban in December 2025, and VGW (Chumba, LuckyLand, Global Poker) paid $8 million to settle in September 2026. Bovada left New York on its own in June 2021, and Ignition, Slots.lv and Café Casino all list New York as restricted, which shrinks the field considerably; see Best New York Online Casinos.

Kentucky: players are protected, operators are sued

Kentucky launched retail and mobile sports betting in September 2023, has sold lottery tickets online since 2016 and, under HB 904 (effective July 15, 2026, passed over the governor’s veto), now licenses daily fantasy sports and sets the wagering age at 21. Online casinos are not legal and no bill is pending. KRS 528.010 makes being a “player” a defense to any prosecution under the gambling chapter, which is as clear a player carve-out as any state offers. The Attorney General’s tool of choice is the civil courts: on June 17, 2026 he sued VGW, Kalshi and Polymarket under the Consumer Protection Act and the Loss Recovery Act. No cease-and-desist to an offshore casino has surfaced. Verified sites on Best Kentucky Online Casinos.

North Dakota: charitable gaming, tribal sportsbooks, nothing online

North Dakota’s Attorney General states plainly that internet gaming is prohibited except for licensed charitable online raffles. Sports betting exists only in person at tribal casinos (Dakota Magic since December 2021, 4 Bears, Sky Dancer); the 2025 resolution to put online sports betting on the ballot (HCR 3002) failed in the House. The lottery does sell online through Pick & Click. NDCC 12.1-28-02 reaches individual gamblers only in narrow private-premises cases above $25 per game, and operating a gambling business is a Class C felony. No offshore cease-and-desist letters that we could find. See Best North Dakota Online Casinos.

New Hampshire: an iLottery state that ordered Bovada out

New Hampshire has had iLottery since 2018 and DraftKings-exclusive sports betting since December 2019, but SB 168, the 2025 online casino bill, was tabled on March 6, 2025 and nothing replaced it in 2026. RSA 647:2 makes unlawful gambling a misdemeanor for anyone who gambles, with carve-outs for fantasy sports and licensed sports wagering. On December 12, 2024 the Lottery Commission and an assistant attorney general sent Bovada a cease-and-desist citing RSA 287-I:3, and Bovada restricted New Hampshire in January 2025. That makes New Hampshire one of the few states where the operator list on Best New Hampshire Online Casinos is shorter than it was two years ago.

Wyoming: online sports betting since 2021, online casinos stalled

Wyoming legalized mobile sports betting and daily fantasy sports in 2021 (W.S. 9-24-101 et seq., regulated by the Wyoming Gaming Commission), but HB 162, the 2025 iGaming bill, died on February 3, 2025 when no committee member would second the motion to work it. In 2026 the interim Select Committee on Gaming could not agree on a sweepstakes ban either. Wyo. Stat. 6-7-102 makes gambling a misdemeanor (up to six months and $750) and professional gambling a felony. No cease-and-desist to an offshore casino has been reported; Wyoming did sign the 50-AG letter to the Justice Department. Verified operators on Best Wyoming Online Casinos.

Which states have sent cease-and-desist letters to offshore casinos?

This is the list that actually changes what you can do, because operators comply. Louisiana: Bovada, August 6, 2024, plus more than 40 letters in June 2025. New Hampshire: Bovada, December 12, 2024. Florida: Bovada, BetUS and MyBookie, February 3, 2025. Michigan: BetUS, May 7, 2025, and 45 operators including BetOnline and SportsBetting.ag on April 7, 2026. Massachusetts: Bovada and BetOnline, June 2025. Bovada’s own restricted list now runs to 20 states plus Washington, DC. On August 5, 2025, attorneys general from 50 states and territories asked the Department of Justice to prioritize offshore gambling enforcement. We maintain the running list, with the letters themselves, on State Cease-and-Desist Letters to Offshore Casinos.

How do you check whether an offshore casino accepts your state?

Do three things before you deposit. First, read the operator’s own restricted-territories page, not an affiliate’s summary; Bovada, Ignition, Slots.lv and Café Casino all publish one, while BetUS and Super Slots do not, which is itself a warning. Second, check the licence: a licence number you can look up (Curaçao Gaming Authority OGL numbers, an Anjouan registration, the Panama Gaming Control Board) beats a footer that just says “fully licensed”. Third, look for a withdrawal that someone actually measured. We deposit, verify our identity and cash out at every site before we rate it; the process is on How We Determine Legitimacy, the measured payout times are on Fast Payout Online Casinos, the sites that failed are on Blacklisted Casinos, and every test is in our Gambling Site Reviews. All seven state pages, and the ones we add this quarter, live under US Online Gambling by State.

If gambling stops being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER. This site earns a commission if you sign up through some of our links; it does not change which sites we recommend, and it never overrides a failed withdrawal test.

Sources checked September 28, 2026

• Louisiana Legislature, R.S. 14:90.3; Louisiana Gaming Control Board, Bovada compliance statement and June 17, 2025 release
• New York State Senate, S2614, S5935A and Penal Law 225.00; New York Attorney General, June 6, 2025 and September 2026
• Kentucky Attorney General, June 17, 2026 lawsuit announcement; Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation, khrc.ky.gov
• North Dakota Attorney General, Gaming Division; North Dakota Legislative Branch, NDCC chapter 12.1-28
• Wyoming Gaming Commission, Online Sports Wagering; Texas Attorney General, 2016 DFS opinion
• National Association of Attorneys General, 50-AG letter to DOJ, August 5, 2025
• Operator restricted-territory pages for Bovada, Ignition Casino, Slots.lv and Café Casino, read September 28, 2026