2024 U.S. Legal Online Betting Guide

There are only three major US federal gambling laws that affect US players who wish to participate in online casinos, poker rooms, sportsbooks, and racebooks. Fortunately, the act of gambling with offshore sites doesn’t violate any of the following, nor do these laws target individual gamblers in any way:

• Federal Wire Act of 1961 – This law, discussed above, prevents domestic sportsbooks from accepting wagers across state lines. Because the best offshore sports betting sites all operate outside of US jurisdiction and are fully licensed and regulated in their home countries, US residents are able to use these services safely and legally.
• Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 – The UIGEA is also discussed above, and it is a banking regulation that applies to domestic financial institutions, preventing them from knowingly processing payments to or from non-US-regulated online casinos and sportsbooks. The UIGEA does not target individual players, but it can cause a credit or debit deposit to be declined on rare occasions.
• The Interstate Horse Racing Act of 1978 – This law allows horse racing betting to take place via OTBs and simulcast services across state lines. The Wire Act, at one time, prevented this, but the pari-mutuel nature of horse betting allowed legislators to put it in a different category with its own regulations. Not all states allow access to domestic online horse betting, however. The IHRA does not criminalize US residents from betting with offshore racebooks in any way.

Yes! Domestically, fewer than 10 states allow online casino gambling, while over half of all US states allow online sports betting and over 40 states allow online horse racing betting. Online poker is only available in six states, despite being arguably the most popular form of gambling in America.

However, if you use a reputable offshore gambling site, you can safely and legally enjoy all these markets – and more! – from the convenience of your own home, 24/7.  

Yes, it is. And it’s also the fastest-growing legal betting market in the country.

However, it will be many years before all (or even most) US states have their own sports betting regulations in place, so for the foreseeable future, legal offshore sportsbooks are the best way to bet on your favorite players and teams.

Additionally, online sportsbooks in America do not offer political betting odds or entertainment betting, which means offshore sites are polling higher – and have better ratings – than ever!

There are some extra hoops that online betting sites must jump through in order to legally service the United States gambling market. It is a hefty investment and a lot of work to offer US-friendly online gambling, and not all brands are in a position to meet the standards necessary for success. 

Gambling-related financial transactions for US gamblers must be done using only reputable, US-friendly funding options that utilize reliable payment processors in order to operate successfully within the confines of the UIGEA, and only the most established and committed gambling sites are going to be able to pull that off.

For many less popular sites, its just easier to stay out of the US market altogether.

Offshore gambling is simply the act of participating in real money casino games, poker games, sports betting, and horse racing betting at casinos, poker rooms, sportsbooks, and racebooks that operate from outside of the United States.

These companies are often headquartered in places like Costa Rica, Curacao, the Isle of Man, and other global regions that allow them to offer such amusements to an international clientele.

There are no US laws that criminalize offshore gambling, and there are no domestic online gambling sites that even come close to offering the variety of games, odds, and lines that offshore operators provide.

If you use the legitimate gambling services listed here, you are guaranteed a safe, secure betting experience.

Because these sites use state-of-the-art SSL and TLS encryption standards – and because they never share or sell private information with third parties – you can rest easy knowing that your gambling hobby is not only legal but secure, as well.

All the operators we recommend are legit online gambling sites with years of experience in the industry and millions of satisfied customers.

These sites may not be bound by US law, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have to be licensed or comply with regulations in their own home countries.

We will never suggest playing with an operator that doesn’t meet these standards, and you should make sure that any site you choose is totally transparent about all its licensing credentials.

Not if you use the best online casinos and sportsbooks in the business!

These sites all employ sophisticated, audited RNG (random number generation) technology in their computer-controlled games, and they’re all regularly audited to ensure that your chances to win are identical to the odds you’d get at a state-regulated brick-and-mortar establishment.

All the best online casino games at the top offshore sites are created and maintained by developers like Realtime Gaming, Rival, and Betsoft.

These are world-class, highly respected brands in the casino industry, and retail casinos the world over employ their services to design the RNG electronic slots and casino titles you see at the best Vegas, AC, Monaco, and Macau casino resorts.

Yes!

If you’re looking for a fair casino online experience, all the sites listed here offer that – and more! Every offshore gambling site we recommend is dedicated to fair play, and they employ third-party auditors to ensure full iGaming certification and compliance.

For casino games, that means that the chances you have to win are exactly the same as they would be in brick-and-mortar casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, while for sports betting, it means that the lines you see are the lines you get.

Poker, like the above casino games, is governed by provably fair RNG technology, and the racebooks also pay out exactly as they would at any real-life racetrack.

Most reputable gambling operators in the offshore industry offer a number of banking options to US players. While each comes with different fees, minimum and maximum limits, and transfer times, you can usually select from the following for deposits and withdrawals:

• Deposits – Bitcoin, altcoins (Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, USD Coin, Chainlink, Dogecoin, Cardano, Solana, Tether, etc.), credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover), international gift cards, cashier’s checks, money orders, bank wires, retail money transfers, gambling vouchers, MatchPay (Bovada only), Zelle-to-BTC
• Withdrawals – Bitcoin, altcoins, courier checks, money orders, bank wires, vouchers, MatchPay (Bovada only)

Note: Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto are the only ways to deposit and withdraw offshore gambling funds without incurring any added fees, and they're also the only same-day payout methods available from any offshore operator. You can occasionally get same-day payouts via vouchers, player transfers, and MatchPay at participating sites. 

Vouchers, player transfers, and MatchPay allow players to indirectly use popular P2P instant-pay money transfer apps like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, Apple Pay, etc. to make deposits and receive withdrawals.

Nobody knows for sure, as the political climate in the US – and the social attitude towards accessible online gambling – is constantly changing.

While states are embracing online sports betting in large numbers thanks to the PASPA overturn, they are less likely to legalize online casino gambling and online poker. We don’t think this is going to change any time soon.  

Yes! But if you’re new to cryptocurrencies, you might first ask:

“What is Bitcoin?”

Well, in technical terms, its tough to explain, as it’s a new paradigm in digital currency and is the most secure banking method in history. Essentially, Bitcoin (BTC) is a financial transaction and trade platform that uses an open-ledger blockchain system to process transfers in a way that is quantum-hacking resistant.

For those interested in Bitcoin betting, there is no more secure way to fund your account, and BTC offers the only way to claim same-day payouts (as do other cryptocurrencies supported by the top sites).

Plus, Bitcoin/crypto gets you the very best casino bonuses and sportsbook bonuses, so not only can you wager with these alternative currencies, but all the top sites prefer that you do!