Which States Will Legalize Online Gambling in 2021?

Online gambling is legal just in a couple of states in the US. By online gambling, we mean that every popular type of gambling you can find in land-based properties and on online gambling platforms. This includes online casinos, online poker, and online sports betting.

The good news is that many states’ lawmakers are working on legalizing at least some gambling aspects on the web. In this article, we’re going to present some of the states close to passing the online gambling bill — and some of them might even do it in 2021. Read on.

Which Stats Already Legalized Online Gambling?

One could say that only four states legalized all three popular types. It means that if you’re located within the borders of these states, you’ll be able to play any game you like on licensed and regulated online gambling platforms. Those states are New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania legalized all three types.

New Jersey was actually the first state to make all gambling legal on the web, whereas Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia did that a bit later.

But what about Nevada? Didn’t the home to the Entertainment Capital of the World legalize online gambling? Nevada is one of the few states that offer two out of three options. You can play online poker and bet on sports, but you cannot play online casino games in the Silver State — at least not at the moment. When you think about it, Nevada has the most developed land-based gambling industry in the world, so the reason why online casinos are not legal may be that they might affect the traditional type of gaming. 

Michigan is one of the newest states to legalize all gambling activities. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer initially opposed the legalization. Eventually, she decided to sign the bill and legalize online casinos, poker, and sports betting. 

It means you can now enjoy all these activities in MI. However, since this article is written only about a month after the signing took place, there are still very few gambling options at the moment. Nevertheless, operators already prepared everything, and it’s only a matter of time when Michigan will start offering all kinds of gambling options.  

States That Legalized Sports Betting

At the moment of writing this, a total of 20 states legalized sports betting. As soon as the federal authorities lifted the PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992) ban, many states seized an opportunity to start offering this brand new form of gambling.

Right now, you can legally bet on sports in Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Arkansas, New York, Iowa, Oregon, Indiana, New Hampshire, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Colorado, Washington DC, and Tennessee.

Each of these states paved the way for discussing the possibility of legalizing online gambling options. Some of them are more likely to do it than others, and some might start working on the legislative framework as early as 2021.

As you can see, sports betting is not frowned upon by anti-gambling organizations as much as casino gambling. That’s why lawmakers managed to pass bills legalizing this activity very efficiently. 

Therefore, many other states are currently in the process of legalizing wagering on sports. Some of the candidates that are taking the final steps and are likely to legalize online wagering in 2021 are North Carolina, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, South Dakota, and Louisiana.

Many states have also started the process of legalization but are one step farther from passing sports betting bills in 2021. They are Oklahoma, Maine, Nebraska, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, South Carolina, California, Ohio, Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Georgia, Vermont, Alabama, Florida, Alaska, and Wyoming.

In other words — almost all states in the US want to stay competitive in this industry. Only Idaho and Wisconsin still haven’t made any public announcements, and Utah is Utah, so it’s unlikely that it will ever legalize any kind of gambling activity.

But What About Online Casinos?

Both online casinos and online poker are perceived as gambling in the traditional sense, so many states are still not considering legalizing those activities online. Therefore, it’s really difficult to make any definitive conclusions on that. 

It’s important to know that online gambling was somewhat opposed by former President Donald Trump, who was supported by the recently deceased Sheldon Adelson, a land-based casino mogul and head of Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling. However, with the two out of the way, we could expect that the process of online gambling legalization could speed up in the near future.     

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