Can I Bet On The Super Bowl In My State?

As we close in on Super Bowl LVI, wagering on the big game is the dominant conversation when it comes to the betting industry in the United States. The primary question for US residents, though, is whether or not they live in a place where it's legal to wager on the game.

Legal sportsbooks of some kind, retail and/or mobile, are currently operating in over two dozen states (plus Washington, D.C.), and many of those states offer statewide online wagering - meaning residents of bordering states without legal options can travel to them to make their bets. Thus, the majority of the US population now has some access to legal betting channels - even if some aren't the most convenient.

For these purposes, we'll break down the 50 states into five groups. The groups will divide by how accessible sportsbooks are currently. We'll start off with the places where you're just a few taps on your mobile device away from betting on Super Bowl LVI.

Where legal Super Bowl betting is super easy

In this class of jurisdictions, you can find both online and retail sportsbooks. Most of the brick-and-mortar books are at casinos, off-track betting sites, racinos, and sports stadiums. While there are some differences from one place to another in terms of how online betting coincides with doing the same in-person, you can do either in all of these places:

• Arizona
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Louisiana (early 2022 online launch)
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Montana
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Washington
• Washington, D.C.
• West Virginia

There are a few caveats that bettors should be aware of in this list. In Mississippi, Montana, and Washington, online wagering is only allowable while you're on casino grounds.

In Nevada, you have to visit the retail component of an online sportsbook to register your account before you can place bets online.

Florida also launched online sports betting in 2021 before legal challenges forced the state to shut down operations. Things could pick back up again in 2022.

Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming in a class by themselves

In Virginia, Tennessee, and Wyoming the only legal choice is to place wagers online. There are no casinos or racetracks in TN. In VA, there are currently no casinos, although multiple cities approved casino gaming last year. When those facilities open, they will have retail sportsbooks inside of them.

Wyoming tribal casinos can offer Class III gaming, making them eligible to offer sports betting on tribal lands, but none have launched so far.

For now, online books are the only option.

States with retail sportsbooks only

If you're in the following states, your only options are to visit either commercial or tribal casinos. While online sports betting may be legal in some of these areas, it has yet to launch.

• Arkansas
• Deleware
• Maryland
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• South Dakota

In Delaware and Maryland, online sports betting is legal but there are no online operators currently accepting wagers. Right now, there is also no movement towards launching any mobile books.

Recent betting updates

In six states, recent changes to the law have allowed for the legalization of sports betting in some way. All six have some unique circumstances, so it's best to break them down individually.

• Louisiana sports betting - In 2020, voters in almost all of the state's 64 parishes went to the ballot box and approved sports betting within the borders of those divisions. The state's first legal retail sportsbooks launched in the state in October 2021, with online sports betting pending an early 2022 launch.
• Maryland sports betting - Similar to Louisiana, Maryland voters approved sports wagering with their ballots in 2020 but did so statewide. The first legal bet in the state was placed on Sept. 9, 2021. There is no current timeline for when online will launch in Maryland, but officials are eyeing September 2022.
• North Carolina - The state legislature approved a change to gaming compacts with tribal casino operators to allow them to run sportsbooks. You can currently wager on sports at two Harrah's properties in the state.
• North Dakota - Tribal casinos in the state got the green light to start taking bets anytime they're ready to do so. Currently, only one of the three tribal casinos, Dakota Magic, is currently taking bets.
• South Dakota - Add this to the list of states where voters said yes to sports betting. As of September 2021, you can bet at four retail casino locations in Deadwood.
• Washington - Like in NC and ND, tribal casino operators have clearance to offer sports betting. They began opening up retail books in September 2021.

There's another group of states working to get on the same level as those in this group. It isn't a foregone conclusion in any of them, however. In fact, in some of them, the efforts seem doomed from the start.

Legislative pushes currently ongoing

Places where there are legislative initiatives toward the launch of sports betting, with varying degrees of probable success this year, are:

• California
• Georgia
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Ohio sports betting

Our final group is the rest of the country, where residents shouldn't expect to see legal sportsbooks anytime in the near future. Not only are they illegal, but there is currently no real momentum to change that situation.

Where sports betting is a pipe dream right now

In all of these states, you have a better shot at winning a lottery jackpot than you do of placing a bet at a legal sportsbook anytime in the next couple of years.

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Maine
• Oklahoma
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Wisconsin

This is a comprehensive look at where Super Bowl betting is legal before the big game in 2022.

State-by-state list

Here is a state-by-state list of where things currently stand when it comes to whether or not you can legally bet on sports.