Hawaii Takes Another Run at Legalizing Gambling

After coming up just short of bringing legal sports betting to the shores of Hawai’i in 2025, the Hawaiian legislature will try again to pass some form of legalized real-money gambling into law in 2026.

Prior to the Jan. 28 deadline for new legislation, Hawaii’s legislators filed three new bills and carried over four expired bills from 2025 related to different forms of gambling. Among the options on the table are establishing a new casino in Honolulu, allowing gambling on cruise ship in Hawaiian waterways, bringing legal sports betting to the islands and creating the state’s first lottery.

Additionally, Hawaiian legislators are taking a look at prediction markets, which have attempted to skirt gambling laws. Currently, prediction markets are legal in all 50 states, but Hawai’i is one of several states considering shutting them down.

Sports Betting Bill Came Close in 2025

House Bill 1308, sponsored by Rep. Dan Holt (D-Honolulu), has garnered much of the attention after both chambers of the Hawaiian legislature passed a sports betting bill last year. However, the chambers couldn’t agree on things such as tax rates and legislative fees. With both chambers on board with the main idea of sports betting in Hawai’i, proponents believe this year might see the bill reach the desk of Gov. Josh Green, who says he’d sign a bill into law.

Holt’s bill would authorize the creation of up to four legal sportsbooks on the islands. The original bill called for a 10% tax rate, but other legislators suggested raising that to 15 or 20%. The chambers couldn’t agree before May 2 last year, but will now have roughly 12 weeks to figure out a compromise.

The bill would also explicitly authorize daily fantasy sports as a form of legal betting.

What Other Bills Are Up For Debate?

The earliest form of betting in Hawai’i would come on the water, as HB 1945 would permit cruise ships to offer casino gaming while in Hawaiian waters in 2027. This would come in the form of allowing existing cruise lines to offer gambling while traveling in Hawai’i, with games required to close within one hour of arriving at a dock.

It would not establish cruise ship casinos, as the legislation specifically defines a cruise ship as a vessel taking a voyage of at least 100 hours. In practice, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises would be most affected, as both offer inter-island cruises that would legally be allowed to offer gambling.

The other main bills that would bring gambling to Hawai’i came in pairs: HB 2222 and SB 893 focus on adding a casino in Honolulu, while HB 1434 and SB 1507 would establish a Hawai’i Lottery and Gaming Corporation to regulate gaming and bring the lottery to Hawai’i.

Currently, Hawai’i is one of five states that does not offer a lottery, along with Alabama, Alaska, Nevada and Utah.

How Soon Could Casino Gambling Come to Hawai’i?

Even if HB 2222 and SB 893 pass, a casino wouldn’t be established on Oahu until 2029 at the earliest. Hawai’i has dragged its feet on the closure, demolition and rebuilding of Aloha Stadium, which was condemned in 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic. The site has been used for swap meets since then, with demolition finally beginning in late 2025.

Hawai’i plans to conduct a new Aloha Stadium on the site, creating an entertainment district in the process. This would include a casino if approved by the legislature, but the entertainment district likely wouldn’t open until 2029. That’s the current projected opening date, and that could be pushed back further with the state still in the process of demolishing the old stadium and clearing the site.

The casino has additional hurdles: a competing bill, SB 1527, would explicitly ban gambling in the New Aloha Stadium District.

How Are Prediction Markets Affected?

HB 2198 is Hawai’i’s final potential bill addressing gambling in 2026, and would target prediction markets, such as Kalshi and Polymarket. This bill would explicitly make prediction markets illegal, and depending on the timing, could make Hawai’i the first state to do so.

How Likely Are These Bills to Pass?

Hawaiian legislators appear to be taking these bills very seriously. The state has created a 24-person commission to study the costs and benefits of legalizing gambling in Hawai’i, and Mike Lambert, director of Hawai’i’s Department of Law Enforcement, estimates that between $700 million and $800 million in illegal gaming activity takes place in Hawai’i already each year.

That has spurred the state to take action to try to bring that revenue to its coffers. Gov. Green has said that he’d want to take a good look at the bill before signing it, but he’d lean toward signature based on what he’s heard from the legislature.

“As you see, the legislature is being cautious, and that’s smart,” Green said in April 2025. “But it was interesting to see. We got a survey or poll of people, and about two out of three in our state wanted to do gaming as long as the monies went to an important set of projects, mostly housing.”

When Would Gambling in Hawai’i Become Available?

If any of these bills pass, gambling wouldn’t be available until the end of 2026 at the earliest. HB 1308 requires the launch date of sports betting to take place within 180 days after its signature, but that timetable assumes sportsbooks would have framework in place by that date. More realistically, passing the bill would see betting in Hawai’i available in January or February 2027, in time for the 2027 Super Bowl.