Online casinos are licensed and regulated in five states today. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware all have legal gambling sites and mobile casino apps in operation right now. Michigan and West Virginia have passed legislation legalizing online gambling, but regulators are still making final preparations before authorizing the first gambling sites to go live.
US Online Casino Reviews
Most states that have legalized online gambling to date did so with legislation that fosters a competitive environment.
The end result is players in these states have numerous online casinos to choose from. Our legal US casino reviews go into great detail explaining what to expect from each gambling site so you can find the one that best fits your needs. Our reviews discuss strengths and weaknesses, types of games offered, welcome bonuses and much more.
US Casino Bonuses and Promotions
US online casinos offer valuable signup bonuses and other promotional offers in order to attract new signups and increase player retention. Visit any operator listed on this page or read our detailed reviews for more information on current signup offers, deposit bonuses, and promo codes.
States with Legal Online Casinos
Online gambling is regulated at the state level in the United States. This means there is no federal framework for online casinos in the USA, but rather each state has autonomy in determining if it would like to authorize online casinos and how those sites should be regulated.
As a result, the lay of the land is unique in each state. While New Jersey has established a competitive and fairly open market, for example, Delaware’s gaming laws grant a monopoly to the state lottery and three land-based casinos.
Gamblers can read more about the online casino landscape in each state below and find links for more in-depth information. BettingUSA is strictly dedicated to online casinos that are licensed and legal in the USA; any gaming site listed on this page or elsewhere operates in full compliance of federal and state law.
Map Key
- Blue = Online gambling is legal and operational
- Red = Online gambling is legal; waiting for launch

States with Legal Online Casinos
Legal Status of Online Gambling in the USA
In September 2011, the Department of Justice issued a memo clarifying its stance on the Wire Act in response to a query from lottery officials in New York and Illinois who wanted to authorize their state lotteries to sell tickets online.
The original question may have been specific to lottery games, but the response from the DOJ had major implications for online gambling and poker as well. The memo explained that the official DOJ opinion is that the Wire Act applies only to sports betting.
This interpretation of the Wire Act gave states the go-ahead to set up their own legal frameworks for online gambling, lotteries and poker. New Jersey and Delaware were the first states to take advantage of the new Wire Act interpretation and launched the nation’s first legal gambling sites in 2013.
The Department of Justice revised its opinion again in 2019 to revert back to the 2011 opinion, but the new opinion has actually had little impact on states’ efforts to legalize online gambling. Michigan and West Virginia passed legislation later that same year legalizing online casino games.
Right now, it seems the prevailing opinion is that online gambling does not violate the Wire Act as long as all wagers remain within state lines (the Wire Act is specific to the interstate transmission of wagers or wagering information). It is no coincidence that every state that has passed legislation requires customers to be physically located within state lines when placing wagers.
Conclusion
While the opportunity to play at legal online casinos won’t be available in nearly as many states as sports betting will, each new market contributes to the idea of the industry becoming more accepted and mainstream.
Our sister site USGambling.com, operating under the same licenses as BettingUSA.com, dives much deeper into the legal casino landscape and underlying issues preventing more states from entering the market.