Depending on where you live, gambling may be legal or illegal. States regulate what types of gambling are permitted within their boundaries, who can gamble, and where the gambling can take place.
Over the years, states have expanded gambling operations and facilities to raise additional revenue. However, long-run revenue growth slows or reverses in many cases. This deterioration may be due to saturation or substitution between forms of gambling.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state that has legalized a wide variety of casino gambling. This includes traditional casinos that can be found both in Atlantic City and online. Players will find a range of table games like blackjack, roulette, and poker as well as slot machines.
The state also offers legal sports betting and daily fantasy sports contests. These games are popular among residents and visitors to the state and have been regulated by the state since 2017. Some of the most popular DFS sites include DraftKings, FanDuel, and Boom Fantasy.
Gambling in the state is regulated by the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement and the New Jersey Racing Commission. These agencies regulate the casino, horse racing, and lottery industries. They license and regulate both land-based and online casino operators.
Licensed land-based casinos in Atlantic City and online casinos offer many traditional casino games, including blackjack, roulette, and video poker. These games can be played with real cash or virtual currency.
Aside from gambling, New Jersey also has a self-exclusion program that can help problem gamblers. This program can be accessed through the Division of Gaming Enforcement.
In addition to gambling, the state is home to several professional and amateur sports teams. The Garden State is a great place for sports fans to watch live events.
It is also a top destination for poker lovers, with many of the best rooms available in Atlantic City and online. These rooms host tournaments, freerolls, and high-limit tables.
The state also offers a number of other types of legal gambling, including pari-mutuel and fixed-odds betting. These activities can only be conducted by individuals over 18 years old.
North Carolina
North Carolina gambling laws are relatively conservative when compared with other states in the country. The state has taken a long time to legalize casinos and has largely avoided sports betting. But in the past few years, it has started to open up gambling opportunities.
The state has some forms of gambling on the legal scale, including bingo and raffles for charity. However, the prizes in these raffles and bingo games must be less than $10. In addition, they can be held only twice a week.
Many people from North Carolina travel to offshore casino sites when they want to gamble, despite the fact that these sites are illegal in the state. But these offshore casinos are notoriously hard to prosecute and come with numerous legal and logistical challenges that make them dangerous for players.
There are also a few tribal casinos in the western portion of the state that offer retail sports betting. These include Caesars-operated casinos at Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort and Harrah's Cherokee Valley River.
Another tribe, the Catawba Indian Nation, also has plans for a land-based casino. They opened the temporary Catawba Two Kings Casino in 2021 and have a lot of momentum for a full-fledged casino.
While North Carolina has a long history of gambling restrictions, it is now taking steps to legalize online sports betting. The General Assembly passed a bill last summer that would allow people to bet on sports from their computers and mobile devices.
The law would allow for up to 12 operators to get licensed and pay an 8% tax on their adjusted gross revenue, one of the lowest tax rates in the United States. Sports betting would be regulated by the North Carolina Lottery Commission, and could start as soon as Jan. 1, 2023.
Arkansas
The state of Arkansas offers a wide variety of gambling opportunities, including horse race betting, lottery games and casino gaming. The minimum age for wagering is 18 in the lottery and horse races, while players must be 21 to gamble in casinos.
There is a strong push to expand gambling in Arkansas, with a constitutional amendment that would allow three new casinos to open in the state. The money generated by the casinos could be used to fund highway projects and would earn the state 12 percent of the gross revenue.
In the past, the only legal form of gambling in Arkansas was pari-mutuel horse racing, which is limited to two tracks within state lines and is regulated by the State Lottery. However, there are plans to expand casino gaming and online sports betting.
Currently, the state only allows gambling at licensed casino locations, but a constitutional amendment to permit online gambling was approved by voters in November 2019. The vote paved the way for Southland Racetrack and Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs and Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff to begin offering sports betting.
Since then, the state has passed a number of laws that regulate online daily fantasy sports and mobile wagering. The law was designed to protect people from being scammed by illegal operators who take money from people in Arkansas and do not follow the rules of legal online gambling.
Those looking for an alternative to online gambling should consider social casinos like WinStar, LuckyLand and Chumba. These sites are free to join and offer a variety of slots and table games. In addition, they offer sweepstakes prizes and real cash prizes. They’re a great alternative to traditional online casinos because they are legal in Arkansas and they don’t require any financial commitment.
Colorado
Colorado is a state that has a wide range of gambling options, including casinos, tribal casinos, daily fantasy sports, horse racing, online casinos, bingo, social and charitable gambling. The state allows players who are at least eighteen years old to play casino games and card games like poker, baccarat, and blackjack.
The state has also a lottery that has been in place for over a century. However, lottery sales are not permitted online.
Gambling laws in Colorado are regulated by the state’s Division of Gaming. It is responsible for licensing, inspecting and monitoring gaming facilities, while also enforcing the state’s gambling laws.
One of the most popular forms of gambling in the state is social gambling, which covers events where friends and family gather for a game of poker or to watch a sporting event. This type of betting is allowed at a growing number of social casinos, the top-rated of which are listed above.
A key component of the Colorado sports betting law is the ability for casinos to partner with a land-based and online sportsbook. The casinos can apply for a master license and pay a nonrefundable $10,000 fee.
While this is a major step toward allowing sportsbooks to expand into the state, it also puts Colorado in a difficult position when it comes to regulating online sports betting. The three Rocky Mountain towns with casinos, Black Hawk, Cripple Creek and Central City, have a history of fighting online gambling expansions.
The new sports betting law is set to take effect in May of 2020, and will allow the 33 casinos in the state to offer both online and retail sports wagering. The bill also includes a tax rate of 10%, which will be used to fund water projects. The new law will increase tax revenues in the state by a large margin, and it is expected to push Colorado past the $10 billion handle mark in 2023.
Virginia
Virginia is a state that is home to many attractions and events. It is a great place to visit to see the countryside, and you can also enjoy the many beaches along the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay.
Until recently, the Old Dominion was not home to any casinos or cardrooms, but that changed in 2020 when lawmakers passed legislation that allowed the opening of land-based casinos. In addition, Virginia voters approved sports betting in November 2020.
A total of 12 sportsbook licenses are available. Four of these are expected to be awarded to casinos in the five cities authorized to have them, while eight will likely go to established operators like DraftKings and FanDuel.
The other two licenses will be awarded to professional sports teams based in Virginia, which can open brick-and-mortar sportsbooks in their stadiums. The Washington Football Team, for instance, has its headquarters in Ashburn and is planning to relocate to Virginia to open a sportsbook.
The state is also home to Colonial Downs, a horse track that offers live racing and pari-mutuel bets. The track opened in 2019, and there are several online horse betting sites to choose from, including TVG and TwinSpires.