Sports betting in the US is a massive industry worth billions of dollar. Yet, it is still not regulated across the country and the states are slow to catch up with regulations to make sports betting in the US legal and safe. Let’s take a look at US betting sites.
1 | Bet365 |
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2 | Unibet |
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3 | Betway |
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4 | 888sport |
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5 | BetVictor |
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Visit New customers only |
Sports betting is not legalised on a federal scale. For many years, sports betting was either illegal or made so difficult as to be virtually illegal. There was no single governing body that regulated betting or gambling in the US and even now this is regulated on a state level.
When the Supreme Court struck down PASPA, more and more states decided to make sports betting legal in the US. Still, some states are not there yet, and you will only be able to legally place sports bets within the borders of your own state as long as there are regulations in place.
States allowing or regulating sports betting and online gambling are:
Each and every one of these states has their own rules and regulations, taxation laws and restrictions. Betting sites that want to offer their sports betting of these states, will need to be licensed through each one of them.
Since each state regulated sports betting and/or online gambling according to their own legislation, there are governing bodies in each state.
In New Jersey, for instance, that is the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).
But there is no overarching federal jurisdiction of governing body that decides gambling regulations or betting laws. However, federal laws can certainly influence sports betting or online gambling across the US.
Of course, being a country of baseball and American football fans, US betting sites will focus on these sports when it comes to their betting offers. Another favourite is ice hockey, of course, as well as the NBA.
Betting on college football is also incredibly popular, but tennis and golf are also interesting options. Betting on events with participants under the age of 18 is illegal everywhere that we know of.
Horse races are another popular sport to bet on and whilst that is possible online, many still prefer to place their bets trackside.
In fact, betting shops aren’t much of a thing outside Las Vegas and can usually only be found at sports venues, especially horse tracks. Most sports betting takes place online, however.
Another thing to be aware of when betting on sports in the US is that you need to pay taxes on your wins. US residents winning on their bets at US betting sites must declare their wins on their tax return forms.
Finally, since sports betting is regulated on a state level, geo-blocking is a very real thing. You won’t be able to place sports bets as a New Jersey resident whilst you are in Florida on holiday. Your sports betting app will block access and that’s that.
A few of our featured betting sites offer their services in US states where it is legal to bet on sports online. Among them are:
Other sites we don’t currently feature but consider safe options are:
Again, whether these sites are available for sports betting is different from state to state, so always check in advance.