Minnesota Sports Betting
Minnesota permits several forms of online betting, including daily fantasy sports apps and horse racing betting sites. In addition, lawmakers and tribal gaming operators are seriously considering proposals to authorize retail sportsbooks and online sports betting in Minnesota.
Bringing legal sportsbooks to Minnesota will require aligning the interests of a varied group of stakeholders, particularly tribal groups that operate numerous casinos across the state. Pro sports betting lawmakers have made significant progress by getting tribal casino operators on board, but difficulties remain in reaching an agreement regarding tribal exclusivity or the lack thereof.
Other forms of legal gambling in Minnesota include tribal casinos, cardrooms, the state lottery, and charitable gaming.
Legal Minnesota Betting Sites
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21+ and present in MN. T&Cs Apply. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700.
Minnesota Sports Betting Outlook
The 2024 Minnesota legislative session opened with a theme that’s become familiar to anyone following the state’s efforts to legalize online sports betting: a sense of optimism tempered by the knowledge that significant challenges lie ahead.
The good news for legalization proponents is that online sports betting has bipartisan support in the Minnesota legislature. There are enough lawmakers who support legalizing online sports betting to pass a bill into law if they can agree on the details.
However, lawmakers have expressed similar sentiments in each of the past few years only to see their Minnesota online sports betting efforts crumble due to friction between tribal casino operators, race track owners, and charitable gaming organizers.
Three online sports betting bills emerged in 2024, again indicating widespread support of legalization. There’s no question most lawmakers want to legalize online sports betting in Minnesota, but the big question is if they can reach a compromise that satisfies the state’s various stakeholders.
- HF 2000 / Senate File 1949: House and Senate companion bills that authorize up to 11 Minnesota online sports betting licenses for tribal gaming operators. Both bills also permit retail sportsbooks at tribal casinos, formally legalize daily fantasy sports, establish a 10-20% tax on net revenue, and formally legalize daily fantasy sports.
- SF 5330: Permits Minnesota’s eleven tribes to apply for sports betting licenses, seeks a 40% tax on revenue, and earmarks 75% of tax revenue for problem gambling resources.
Minnesota Daily Fantasy Sports
$100 Deposit BonusPrizePicks Promo Code: BUSADaily fantasy sports betting is offered in Minnesota thanks to an exemption found in the UIGEA and favorable state laws. Federal law considers fantasy sports games a contest of skill and fundamentally different than fixed-odds sports betting.
That being said, the Gopher state has also never gotten around to formally legalizing daily fantasy sports in Minnesota. This leaves the main DFS sites in a big of a legal grey area, although they do operate openly in Minnesota and have done so for years without any trouble.
State lawmakers have made several attempts to formally legalize and regulate Minnesota daily fantasy sports sites and apps but have been unable to get a bill passed into law.
In 2017, lawmakers introduced companion bills HF1415 and SF1402 to give the Minnesota DFS industry official legal status and implement a number of consumer protection regulations. The bills would have established a minimum age of 18, prohibited customers who would have a conflict of interest (such as athletes playing in contests involving sports events in which they participate), required operators to segregate customers’ funds from operational funds and devise voluntary self-exclusion measures for problem gamblers.
Unlike bills introduced in other states, these did not require expensive operating licenses. Daily fantasy sports sites in MN would only have had to register with the Department of Public Safety and pay a registration fee of $500. The bills also did not call for any additional taxes.
Both bills failed to advance in 2017 and were shelved the following year. Additional bills to regulate DFS in Minnesota were introduced in 2018 and 2019 but also failed to advance. Currently, DFS in MN remains unregulated but available to sports fans.
Minnesota Horse Racing Betting
$200 Deposit BonusTwinSpires Offer Code: BET200Online and in-person horse racing betting are legal and regulated in Minnesota. The Minnesota Racing Commission regulates pari-mutuel wagering throughout the state and requires all online racebooks to apply for licenses before offering their services to residents. In addition, fans can visit two race tracks to watch and wager on live races or visit the simulcasting room to bet on races held nationwide and abroad.
See BettingUSA’s Minnesota horse racing betting guide below for more information and a list of licensed racebook apps:
Minnesota Online Gambling
35 Free Sweepstakes CoinsWOW Vegas Promo Code: None NeededOnline casinos and poker sites are prohibited under Minnesota law and the legalization of those activities do not appear high on the state’s list of priorities. Lawmakers have declined to enact legislation to legalize online gambling in Minnesota and there are no indications they are planning to introduction such legislation anytime soon.
Minnesota does not appear to have legalizing online gambling sites high on its priority list. The state would have to enact new legislation to bring online casinos and poker sites to residents, and lawmakers have declined to introduce legislation to that effect.
Note: Online horse racing betting, Sweepstakes casinos, and daily fantasy sports remain the closest alternatives to full-fledged online gambling in Minnesota under current law.
MN Stat § 609.75-763 prohibits all gambling not authorized by the state, including the conduct of online gambling. State law also treats participation in unauthorized gambling as a misdemeanor offense. The law does not specifically mention participation in online gambling, but it could easily be interpreted as such due to the broad language of the law. MN Stat § 609.755 reads:
Whoever does any of the following is guilty of a misdemeanor:
(1) makes a bet;
(2) sells or transfers a chance to participate in a lottery;
(3) disseminates information about a lottery, except a lottery conducted by an adjoining state, with intent to encourage participation therein;
(4) permits a structure or location owned or occupied by the actor or under the actor’s control to be used as a gambling place; or
(5) except where authorized by statute, possesses a gambling device.
Clause (5) does not prohibit possession of a gambling device in a person’s dwelling for amusement purposes in a manner that does not afford players an opportunity to obtain anything of value.
Under some interpretations of the law, merely participating in unauthorized online gambling as a player could be considered a criminal act. There are no known cases of players being charged for gambling online, but the MN Division of Gambling Enforcement states that it is a crime to participate.
From the Division’s website:
Online sports betting and online casinos that take your money and offer prizes via the web are illegal in Minnesota. There are websites available that operate outside of the United States to purposefully avoid laws and enforcement. Not only is it a crime to participate, there are consumer protection concerns as well. When you send money, you are giving your personal financial and banking information to unknown persons that are not licensed or regulated in handling it. If you do win, there is no recourse if they do not pay you.
Minnesota Online Lottery
Ticket Discounts
$3 Off First TicketsMinnesota was one of the first states to take its lottery online, but the experiment was short-lived as lawmakers later took it into their own hands to shut down online purchases of instant win lottery games.
For a short time, MN residents could visit the official lottery website to buy individual tickets or subscriptions online. The state even sold instant scratch tickets that could be scratched and redeemed online instantly.
The addition of online lottery scratch tickets in Minnesota caused quite a bit of controversy when the new games were unveiled in February of 2014. State lawmakers immediately drafted a bill to end the scratch tickets and enact future limitations on what the state lottery may offer online.
The measure to end scratch tickets was supported by a group of lawmakers who oppose online gambling altogether, tribal casino groups and charity gambling groups. Eventually, the bill was presented to Governor Mark Dayton who decided against a veto.
Online scratch card games such as the one pictured below are no longer available for purchase in Minnesota.
Minnesota Sports Betting FAQ
Wes Burns has more than a decade’s worth of experience as a writer, researcher and analyst in the legal gambling industry and is co-founder of BettingUSA.com. As a former professional online poker player, Wes approaches his work from the viewpoint of players.