- Casino Gambling: Not Legal
- Tribal Gambling: Legal
- Poker: Not Legal
- Horse Racing Betting: Legal
- Dog Racing Betting: Legal
- Lottery: Legal(State-Owned)
- Daily Fantasy Sports: Not Legal
- Charitable Gaming: Legal(Only in approved formats)
- Social Gambling: Not Legal
- Online Gambling: Not Specified(Players can use unregulated sites without fear of penalty)
- The United States government requires a 25% tax on gambling winnings that exceed $600 at a horse track, $1,200 at a slot machine or bingo game, $1,500 in keno, and $5,000 in poker tournaments. The same pertains to online casino winnings, no matter where the Internet gambling company is based.
- Gambling losses claimed as itemized deduction. 604 Federal estate tax on income in respect of a decedent. 605 Federal mortgage interest credit 607 Federal business and health coverage credit 609 Child Care Fund contribution. 642 Oregon Production Investment Fund contributions. 644.
Gambling in the United States is legally restricted. In 2008, gambling activities generated gross revenues (the difference between the total amounts wagered minus the funds or 'winnings' returned to the players) of $92.27 billion in the United States.
The information in the box below provides a comprehensive overview of Idaho’s complex gambling laws.
Despite its placement in the northern reaches of the U.S., Idaho’s gambling laws are more closely aligned with those of the “Wild West.”
That is to say, gambling is largely outlawed there today, despite Idaho’s longstanding history as a territory friendly to card sharps and players traveling the frontier. Even so, a slow but steady easing of those strict laws has seen Idaho gradually step into the 20th century – if not the 21st.
Residents and visitors in Idaho can purchase lottery tickets at the local convenience store, place pari-mutuel wagers on horse races, and even head to a tribal casino for some bingo. These tribal casinos even spread slot-machine styled video gaming terminals – much to the consternation of a few hard-line lawmakers – giving Idahoans a full complement of gambling options to choose from.
With that said, traditional casino table games like blackjack, baccarat, roulette, and craps are all banned by state law, so you won’t be doubling down or hitting a hard eight here anytime soon.
Idaho is also one of the only states to expressly prohibit poker, and predictably, online gambling options are nonexistent outside of the usual unregulated channels.
Overall, the status of Idaho’s gambling law is akin to a patchwork quilt, with new sections being stitched on, or removed altogether, as the years go by. While not a gambling-friendly locale by any means, Idaho’s previous resistance to all forms of action has waned recently, moving the state closer to the center in that regard.
- Age Requirements: 18 (for all types)
- Approximate Annual Gambling Revenue: N/A
- Approximate Annual Gambling Taxes: N/A
- Number of Commercial Casinos: 0
- Number of Racinos: 8
- Number of Tribal Casinos: 7
- Casino Regulatory Body: State Legislature
- Racing Regulatory Body: Idaho Racing Commission
- Lottery National Rankings: N/A
Transition to Legal Status of Gambling
After becoming the 43rd state admitted to the Union in 1890, its original state Constitution made Idaho’s gambling quite clear:
“The legislature shall not authorize any lottery or gift enterprise under any pretense or for any purpose whatever.”
That short and stern passage left little room for legal interpretation, but by the 1930s slot machines had made their way to the outskirts of locales like Garden City, Idaho Falls, and Pocatello. The fact that these machines were neither “lottery” nor “gift enterprise” put them in the proverbial grey-zone, legally speaking, and for nearly two decades Idahoans could take their shot at the one-armed bandits.
In 1947, a state statute was passed to expressly legalize slot machines, and for a few years, Idaho was home to a thriving industry of saloons and slot parlors.
By 1953, however, slot machines were declared to be unconstitutional by the Idaho Supreme Court, under the provisions of section 18-3804 of the Idaho Code. Slot machine owners were hounded down, their equipment destroyed by burning or, if they were fortunate, sold off to casino interests in Nevada.
In 1963 pari-mutuel horse racing was authorized by section 54-2501, which created the Idaho State Racing Commission. The state’s first Horse Racing Act had been approved by the legislature six years earlier, but it was shot down via veto from the Governor. The 1963 passage was the first legislative override of a Governor’s veto in over 20 years.
The ponies have been in action ever since and today Idaho is home to eight racetrack facilities.
In November of 1988, voters approved a bill authorizing the creation of the Idaho Lottery, which officially launched in July of the following year. As a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association, the Idaho Lottery offers popular nationwide games like Powerball, Mega Millions, and Lucky for Life, alongside several regional variants like Bingo and Weekly Grand.
In total, 50 percent of the program’s net ticket take is distributed to Idaho’s public school systems, while the rest goes to the state’s Permanent Building Fund to support university and college infrastructure. To date, the Idaho Lottery’s official website lists more than $785 million as being “returned to Idaho” since 1989.
Idaho’s primary mode of gambling is the lottery program, which sells tickets, scratch cards (called “pull tabs” there), and other products at convenience stores, gas stations, bowling alleys, and a variety of other locations throughout the state.
The same year Idaho voters approved a state lottery saw the Congress in Washington D.C. pass the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1988. This sweeping reform to the nation’s gambling laws permitted any federally recognized tribal organization to forge gaming compacts with the states in which their lands are physically located.
Several tribes, including the Coeur d’Alene, the Kootenai, and the Nez Perce, entered into negotiations with Idaho’s state government in 1992, seeking to construct casino facilities where Class III gaming would be held.
Under IGRA, Class I and II games were defined as charity drawings and raffles, bingo, pull tabs, and other “social” forms of gambling. The act categorized casino-style games, such as blackjack, craps, and roulette, as Class III offerings.
Recognizing that IGRA held the potential to turn Idaho into thriving casino gambling market, one which would stand in opposition to long-held state laws, lawmakers went to work in blocking the tribe’s access to Class III games. The state constitution was amended in 1992, under Idaho Const. Art. III § 20(1)-(3), to limit Idaho’s legal gambling options to the state lottery program, pari-mutuel racing, and bingo / raffle games for charitable purposes.
Crucially, this amendment included the following language explicitly banning the casino games which comprise the Class III gaming category:
“No activities permitted by subsection (1) shall employ any form of casino gambling including, but not limited to, blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat, keno and slot machines, or employ any electronic or electromechanical imitation or simulation of any form of casino gambling.”
The Coeur d’Alene Casino and Hotel opened in 1993, offering a simple bingo hall to comply with the amendment. Other tribal casinos followed throughout the state, proving to be quite popular despite the lack of Class III games.
By 2002, however, the demand for conventional casino-style gaming had grown to the point that Initiative 1, the Idaho State-Tribal Gambling Compact Initiative, was placed on the ballot. If approved by voters, the bill would amend Idaho state law to allow tribal casinos to spread video gaming machines, which were defined as follows:
“Gaming machines used by Indian tribes which are not activated by a handle or lever, do not dispense coins, currency, tokens or chips, and which perform only certain defined functions, and defining such machines as neither slot machines nor imitations or simulations of any form of casino gaming.”
The ballot initiative was a compromise of sorts, allowing tribes in Idaho – and gamblers as well – to participate in gaming that closely resembled slot machines, while not actually breaching the law. Voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, and it passed with 57.8 percent of the vote, paving the way for a new era of tribal gaming in Idaho.
Today, despite a growing movement to rescind the 2002 law, tribal casinos in Idaho is home to thousands of video gaming machines that look and feel just like slots.
In 2011, the horse racing laws were amended to allow simulcasting of races at locations other than the actual race venue, expanding Idaho’s legal race betting industry through the introduction of eight such licenses.
Punters are free to bet on live races or historical races per the 2013 voter-approved referendum HB-220.
In 2013, lawmakers also approved highly controversial “instant racing” machines, which offer automated betting on race-like wagers using equipment and layouts that closely resemble slot machines. Prior races were recorded and presented to players with no identifying information, with the experience accompanied by bells, whistles, lights, and other accouterments common to slot game play.
The instant racing machine law was quickly repealed just two years later, with legislators claiming they had been “duped” by industry lobbyists into legalizing a loophole to the state’s slot machine ban.
In 2017, the Idaho racing industry launched a last-ditch effort to overturn the 2015 repeal, but little progress has been made on that front as of late April.
Where Can I Gamble in Idaho?
Does Oregon Allow Online Casino Gambling Money
Online Gambling Options in Idaho?
Like so many other states, Idaho suffers from a distinct problem when it comes to its online gambling laws. Namely, there aren’t any on the books.
Most of the foundational laws underpinning Idaho’s gambling industry – the 1890 constitution, the 1988 lottery act, and 1992’s constitutional amendment banning Class III gaming – were written well before the concept of online casinos or poker rooms were ever envisioned.
Complicating matters further is the federal law known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, which prohibits a business from engaging in transactions related to online gambling. Before the UIGEA was passed, online casinos and poker rooms operated in all 50 states, serving customers as unregulated entities. After 2006, most of the major sites fled the US market, and “Black Friday” in 2011 effectively shuttered the online poker industry in America.
And while a few progressively-minded state governments (Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware) have kept pace with technological advancement by regulating legal online gambling industries, progressive policy has never really been Idaho’s calling card.
Today, the state has no laws specifically addressing online casinos or poker rooms (see the DFS section later on for that segment of the online gambling market). As such, many resources found online will tell readers that the lack of legal language effectively puts Idahoans in legal limbo, allowing them to access unregulated sites at their leisure – and risk.
And sure enough, somebody sitting on their computer in Boise right now can easily find a few US-facing online casinos or poker rooms willing to let them play for real money. That’s true in every state – the three iGaming-approved jurisdictions mentioned above aside – so Idaho’s online gambling legality debate isn’t all that unusual.
Unfortunately, a provision found within Art. III § 20(1)-(3) of the Idaho constitution, which was amended in 1992, includes the following passage (emphasis added):
“No activities permitted by subsection (1) shall employ any form of casino gambling including, but not limited to, blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat, keno and slot machines, or employ any electronic or electromechanical imitation or simulation of any form of casino gambling.”
This language obviously doesn’t refer to the internet as we know it today, given the era in which it was written. Even so, many legal experts who specialize in iGaming issues believe that online gambling could very well be interpreted as “electronic or electromechanical imitation or simulation” of casino games.
And unlike most states which don’t adequately address online gambling, Idaho actually makes playing a banned game a misdemeanor under the state penal code. That means an online blackjack fan in Idaho could, theoretically, be charged with a crime for doubling down via their laptop.
Of course, no such cases have been recorded, and chances are good that they never will be. Unless state lawmakers choose to explicitly ban online gambling, the current “grey zone” status quo will remain in place, leaving players free to make their own choices from the barebones selection of US-facing operators.
There are many off-shore gambling sites that offer services to Idaho residents and some of them are very good options for people looking to gamble online. We list highest recommended below.
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Find detailed information on US casinos in every state - both land-based and online. Our experts have compiled information regarding states who legalized online casinos and details about all legal USA online casinos. We have provided knowledge on gambling specifics for each state and what types of casinos are legal in each particular state. On American Casino Guide, you will find detailed lists of every US casino resort, riverboat casino and Indian casino in the country. Just choose a state from the below list of US casinos-by-state in order to bring up detailed information on what types of casinos are available in the respective state, a list of all casinos within the state borders, and slot machine payback statistics for all US casinos.
Click here to see a list of U.S. Casinos by city
Click here to see Maps of Casino Locations in Every U.S. State
Gambling Casino Near Me
Online gambling guide
The states who have now moved forward with legal online gambling are as follows:
Legal online casino:
- Delaware
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Legal online poker:
- Nevada
- Delaware
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
Legal Online Sportsbooks:
- Rhode Island
- West Virginia
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
USA online casinos
The online casino USA market is definitely starting to grow. The domino effect is taking place, now that states are seeing the financial benefits of legal online casinos. The laws surrounding USA online casinos are specific to the state where they are licensed. Ultimately it is up to the state to decide whether or not to legalize online casinos. We have seen the biggest impact of legalizing online casinos in the state of New Jersey thus far.
In New Jersey, the online casino market is flourishing. There is a long list of legal online casinos - all of which are remaining competitive in this flourishing market. The current list of legal NJ Casinos are as follows:
- Golden Nugget
- Virgin Online Casino
- Caesars Casino Online
- Borgata Online
- Tropicana Online
- SugarHouse Online Casino
- Betfair NJ
- 888 NJ
- Pala Online Casino
- Harrah’s Online Casino
- Resorts Online Casino
- Mohegan Sun Online
- DraftKings Casino
- Party Casino
- PlayMGM
- Ocean Resort Online
- PokerStars NJ
- Hard Rock Online
- BetAmerica
- Unibet Casino
Legal online casino gambling was recently just passed through legislation in Pennsylvania, meaning online casinos are on their way in the Keystone State. The projected list of online casinos in Pennsylvania are as follows:
- Harrah’s
- Hollywood at Penn National
- Mount Airy
- Parx
- SugarHouse
- Valley Forge
- Presque Isle Downs
- Sands Bethlehem
- Stadium Park Philly Live! Casino
- Mohegan Sun Pocono
- MGM Resorts
- Golden Nugget NJ
The only other state in America with legal online casino gambling is in fact, Delaware, and just like the state’s size, the list is quite small. The legal online casinos in Delaware are as follows:
- Delaware Park Online
- Dover Downs
- Harrington Online
Here at American Casino Guide, we have thorough reviews on each legal online casino in the USA. In our comprehensive online casino reviews, you will find useful information about each site and how it affects you as a player. Review briefs on the game selections offered at each site along with some of their most popular game titles. Learn about the software providers and interface design of these sites as well as their mobile apps and how efficient each application runs. See the banking options allowed at each site so that you can be sure your preferred withdrawal and deposit methods are available on your favorite online casinos. And finally, see what kinds of casino bonuses and special promotions are being offered at these casinos so that you can achieve the maximum amount of free play on your favorite casino games!
American Casino Guide - land-based establishments
There are many different kinds of casinos throughout the United States. Depending on your location in the country, there could be a mix of the following casinos:
- Indian casinos
- Pari-mutuel casinos
- Land-based casinos
- Riverboat casinos
- Casino boats
Just choose a state from the American casino guide below, organized by state, and have a look at the detailed information of each. The information provided includes:
- List of every casino in the state
- Details about each casino
- Forms of casino gambling available in that state
- Slot machine payback statistics for all U.S. casinos
Each casino listing will explain its hours of operation, games offered, hotel rates, buffet prices, minimum gambling age, photos, maps, directions and more! You can even read and write your own review for each casino.
Indian Casinos
Indian casinos, also known as Tribal casinos, are usually located on federally recognized Indian reservations. They range in size from small truck stops and convenience stores to some of the largest casinos in the country. At a small truck stop casino, you would generally find a handful of machines and these would be located in places such as Oklahoma or Wisconsin. Connecticut is home to one of the world’s largest casinos - Foxwoods Casino.
Different states have different legal agreements regarding Indian casinos. Depending on the agreement made, these Indian casinos can offer either Class II gaming or Class III gaming.
Class III (Class 3) gaming is what most people would describe as “normal” casino gaming. This is kind of casino gambling you would find at the majority of casinos in the country, such as Las Vegas. Class III gaming involves the player playing against “the house” like in blackjack, craps, roulette, or any other table game, as well as slot machines.
Class II (Class 2) gaming, on the other hand, is slightly different. These are games where players compete against other players such as in poker and bingo. Over the years, casinos have found ways around this to offer other casino games similar to Class III games, however, adhering still to Class II rules. A great example of this would be Class II slot machines that closely resemble a normal, Class III machine but you will notice a small bingo card in the corner of the screen. So, in essence, you are actually playing a quicker version of virtual bingo against other players in the casino. The reels spin and you can see winning combinations. The reels, however, are “for entertainment purposes only” and your chances of winning are based entirely on the bingo card in the corner.
Another example of Class II games would be player-banked table games where a player would compete against other players rather than against the casino. These look identical to traditional table games. The difference lays in the fact that players have to pay an ante of around $0.50-$1 per hand. In most cases there is someone who supplies the money to be the “bank” and the only money the casino receives is the ante made by each player.
Pari-Mutuel Casinos
Some states such as Arkansas or Delaware only allow casinos in pari-mutuel facilities. Pari-mutuel refers to locations with legalized wagering on horse or dog races; or in Florida, jai-alai games. Since a vast majority of pari-mutuel facilities in the United States are racetracks, these types of casinos are often also known as “racinos,” a combination of the words racetrack and casino.
Besides having legal on-property betting on horse racing, dog racing or jai-alai, these casinos are almost identical to most other land-based casinos. However, depending on the laws of the states where they are located, some may not offer live table games, or may only have slot machines.
A somewhat new development at pari-mutuel facilities in states where traditional casino gambling is illegal is something called “historical racing machines.” These are considered Class II machines similar to the bingo-based machines at many Indian casinos but instead of being based on a bingo card, the results of these games are based on racing results from previous horse races.
Land-Based Casinos
Land-based casinos refer to the typical casinos that people often think of when they think of a casino. An example of this would a popular casino in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Casino gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931 and it was the only state to offer that type of gambling until 1977 when New Jersey legalized casinos for its seaside resort town of Atlantic City. It is these land-based, stand-alone, casinos that were the original forms of casinos until riverboat and Indian casinos came along in the 1990s.
Riverboat Casino Locations
Riverboat casinos are exactly what they sound like - casinos located inside riverboats. These are found in many states throughout the South and the Midwest such as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Mississippi. However, they have evolved over the years as the laws and regulations have been quite relaxed. Originally, they were required to leave the dock and cruise for several hours periodically throughout the day. In the beginning, some states even required the casinos to enact loss limits during these cruises.
Eventually, the loss limits were lifted, as were the requirements for them to cruise periodically, and they began operations constantly docked on the river. Some states later allowed the casinos to be built on floating barges in man-made lagoons fed from the rivers. That is where most of the states are now, however some states such as Mississippi have now allowed their “riverboat” casinos to operate on land. As much as that does not make sense, the rules still require these facilities to be built within a certain distance from the water.