Verticals / Esports betting
Esports betting
Esports betting is legal and live in 14 states and DC, as of Oct 12, 2026. 6 states allow it in a limited form.
Wagering on esports events.
LiveLimitedContestedProhibitedNot authorized
By state
| State | Status | Launched | Model | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Live | Competitive | The 2021 event-wagering law (SB 1797) that created Arizona's sports-wagering framework expressly authorizes "accepting wagers on sports, including e-sports, or other events" by ADG-licensed operators or tribes under compact; ADG's event-wagering rule (R19-4-101) defines "Event Wager" broadly to cover "sports events or other events." | |
| Connecticut | Live | Hybrid | Esports wagering is regulated as sports wagering: DCP's own Gaming Division knowledge base defines an "intercollegiate tournament" as "an intercollegiate e-sports, sporting or athletic event involving four or more teams," and legislative analysis of HB 6451 (enacted as PA 21-23) found Connecticut's "sporting event" definition, like Maryland's, Arizona's, and Wyoming's, covers "electronic sports"/"e-sports"/"video game competitions." Offered by the three Master Wagering Licensees' sportsbooks. | |
| District of Columbia | Live | Hybrid | DC's statutory definition of "sporting event" for sports-wagering purposes expressly includes "esports event," so licensed sportsbook operators may take esports wagers under the same sports-wagering licenses. | |
| Florida | Live | Monopoly Tribal | The 2021 Seminole compact's sports-betting definition does not name esports specifically, but the Seminole-operated Hard Rock Bet sportsbook has live esports wagering markets in Florida: eSoccer (launched Nov. 2024, on EA Sports FC), eBasketball, eFootball (via SIS's H2HGGL league), and table-tennis (Setka Cup, via Beter's Florida vendor registration), with further esports content from Beter/EsportsBattle reported as forthcoming. No separate statute or regulator ruling addresses esports wagering specifically; it operates under the existing compact framework. | |
| Kentucky | Live | Competitive | Statute explicitly lists wagerable events to include 'Electronic sports, e-sports, and competitive video game events' alongside professional, college, amateur and international sporting events. | |
| Maine | Live | Competitive | Esports is an approved wager category under the MGCU-approved operator catalogs: the DraftKings Sportsbook Maine Wagering Catalog (as of 03.19.26) lists "19. eSports" with specific approved leagues/events (Call of Duty League, CS:GO incl. BLAST Premier/ESL/ DreamHack/IEM, League of Legends incl. LCK/LCS/LEC/Worlds, Dota 2, NBA 2K League, Overwatch League, Rainbow Six, Valorant). 8 M.R.S. §1202 does not itself define "esports," but sports wagering is permitted on any event approved through the operator-catalog process under Gambling Control Unit sports-wagering rulemaking (Ch. 51 "universal list"), and esports events have been approved via that mechanism. | |
| Missouri | Live | Competitive | Voters approved sports wagering via Amendment 2 in November 2024; regulated retail and online wagering launched statewide Dec. 1, 2025. Secondary reporting at launch confirmed that, under the new regulations, bettors can wager on esports in addition to other major sporting events; the Missouri Gaming Commission awarded the 2 untethered mobile licenses to DraftKings and Circa Sports, with other operators requiring an in-state partner.? | |
| Nevada | Live | Competitive | Regulation 22, section 22.1202 lets a sports pool accept wagers on esports events once it gathers and documents detailed information about the video game, the event operator, the event's integrity safeguards, and the technology used to determine outcomes, or once the event operator is already on the Gaming Control Board's list of approved sanctioning organizations. | |
| North Carolina | Live | Competitive | S.L. 2023-42 (H.B. 347) defines "sports governing body" to include, for electronic sports, the video game publisher of the title used in the competition (regardless of the publisher's location), and directs the Lottery Commission to license 10-12 interactive sports wagering operators to take wagers on events including "electronic sports," among other categories, plus any other event the Commission approves. In September 2024 the Commission approved Electronic Sports Guidance describing its Gaming Compliance and Sports Wagering Division's approach to regulating esports wagering and a petition process for adding specific esports events/titles to the state's approved wagering catalog (wagers on non-catalog events are prohibited). | |
| Ohio | Live | Competitive | Ohio's sports-gaming law defines "sporting event" to include "any esports event," which it in turn defines as an organized video game competition between professional players, regulated by a sports governing body. Esports wagering is subject to the same commission approval process as any other sport. | |
| Tennessee | Live | Competitive | Esports wagering is offered by licensed sports wagering operators under the Sports Gaming Act framework, treated the same as other SWC-regulated sporting-events wagering. | |
| Vermont | Live | Jan 11, 2024 | Competitive | Vermont's sports-wagering catalog (effective with the Jan. 11, 2024 launch of DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics) includes 24 sanctioned esports events (e.g., World of Warcraft Arena World Championship, Madden Championship Series, FIFA Global Series, Overwatch World Cup, League of Legends, NBA 2K League), available to all licensed operators under 31 V.S.A. ch. 25 and the Dept. of Liquor and Lottery's Sports Wagering Procedures. |
| Virginia | Live | Jan 21, 2021 | Competitive | Licensed online sportsbooks offer esports as a wagering market under the same sports-betting permits since those permits went live; no separate esports statute or launch date exists. |
| West Virginia | Live | Competitive | HB 4826 (passed by the Legislature March 2022, per the enrolled bill effective roughly 90 days after passage) amended the Sports Wagering Act's definitions section to add "e-sports event" to the statutory definition of "sporting event" alongside professional, collegiate, and motor-race events, without added restrictions -- so licensed sports-wagering operators may post and accept esports wagers under the same framework as traditional sports. | |
| Wyoming | Live | Competitive | "Sporting event," the wagerable-event term used throughout the Online Sports Wagering Act, is statutorily defined to include "electronic sports" alongside professional/collegiate/Olympic/amateur sports. Esports wagering is therefore authorized under the same online sports wagering licenses, with no separate esports-specific licensing category. | |
| Colorado | Limited | Competitive | No standalone esports-wagering statute exists, but Division of Gaming Sports Betting Rule 1 (1 CCR 207-2) lets the Division approve specific esports events for wagering under the general sports-wagering licensed-operator framework, rather than creating a dedicated esports market. | |
| Massachusetts | Limited | Competitive | Esports wagers are permissible only if specifically authorized in the MGC's Sports Wagering Catalog under 205 CMR 247.01 ("Authorized and Prohibited Sporting Events and Wager Categories").? | |
| Michigan | Limited | Competitive | The Act's "athletic event" definition covers sports activity involving athletic skill and excludes casino games, youth sports and fantasy contests, but also allows wagering on "other events approved by the board." Esports is not separately named in statute.? | |
| Nebraska | Limited | Competitive | The NRGC's Authorized Sports Wagering Menu (July 22, 2026) lists "Electronic Sports" as an approved wager-event category under Title 296, 13.003.02, with an Esports section (p. 12) naming specific approved titles/leagues including Call of Duty League, League of Legends Worlds/LEC/LCK/LPL/LCS, Dota 2 (ESL Pro League, DreamLeague, Esports World Cup), Counter-Strike 2 (ESL Pro League; PGL CS2 is "NO IN-GAME WAGERS"), and others, several marked "NO IN-GAME WAGERS" as a wager-type restriction. The companion Rejected/Restricted Wagers document also has an Esports heading (p. 4), confirming some esports events/markets have been turned down even as others are approved. As with all Nebraska sports wagering, esports betting is retail-only, in person at licensed racetrack-casino sportsbooks; no online/mobile channel is authorized. | |
| New Jersey | Limited | Nov 2019 | Competitive | A 2021 amendment lets DGE-approved esports tournaments count as "sporting events" sportsbooks can take wagers on; operators must give DGE 72 hours' written notice per new event/wager type. DGE first approved wagering on the League of Legends World Championship in Nov. 2019 (capped at $1,000/bettor, no in-play betting). Esports Entertainment Group holds a transactional waiver as an esports-only operator affiliated with Bally's AC; standard per-bet/payout caps have been reported at $100 wagered / $500 payout, though DGE can adjust them. |
| Washington | Limited | Monopoly Tribal | HB 2638's statutory "sports wagering" definition (RCW 9.46, Sec. 11) explicitly lists "[a]n electronic sports or esports competition or event" alongside professional, collegiate, and Olympic events, and separately defines "electronic or esports event" as a live, publicly watched tournament where players or teams can win a prize based on performance. Esports wagering is therefore authorized on the same tribal-casino, geofenced-mobile basis as other sports wagering, not a separate unauthorized category. | |
| Mississippi | Contested | The Mississippi Gaming Commission's "sports pool" rule defines the term as the business of accepting wagers on "collegiate or professional sporting events or athletic events or other similar events," without naming esports, and the Commission has not published an interpretation of whether esports fall under "other similar events." A House-passed 2024 bill (H.B. 774) would have explicitly defined "sporting event" to include "electronic sports events, competitive video game events, and other events the Commission authorizes."? | ||
| Hawaii | Prohibited | No carve-out exists; covered by the general gambling prohibition. | ||
| Idaho | Prohibited | Wagering on esports is "gambling" under the general definition; no carve-out exists. | ||
| Utah | Prohibited | Wagering on esports outcomes is "gambling" (risking value on a chance-influenced contest outcome for return) under the same general ban as sports wagering. | ||
| Alabama | Not authorized | No statute authorizes esports wagering; would require the same constitutional amendment as other sports-betting proposals. | ||
| Alaska | Not authorized | No carve-out exists; falls under the general gambling prohibition. | ||
| Arkansas | Not authorized | Casino Gaming Rule 20.010(21) defines "sports event"/"sporting event" as a professional, amateur, collegiate, or motor-race athletic event, and restricts wagering to live events involving human athletes, expressly excluding "any virtual or simulated event." No esports-specific carve-out or Racing Commission approval was found, so esports wagering is not authorized under the current sports-wagering rule. | ||
| California | Not authorized | Not separately authorized by statute. California has no legal sports wagering of any kind (both 2022 ballot measures failed); esports wagering would fall under the same general Penal Code 337a prohibition on sports/event wagering that already makes conventional sports betting not_authorized, so this is resolved to not_authorized rather than left unknown. | ||
| Delaware | Not authorized | Delaware's "sports lottery" definition (29 Del. C. § 4805; 10 Del. Admin. Code § 204-2.0) is limited to "the outcome of any professional or collegiate sport or sporting event," with no reference to esports or electronic sporting events. House Bill 365 (152nd General Assembly, 2023-24) would have expanded the definition to include "amateur and electronic sporting events" as part of a broader mobile-sports-wagering overhaul, but it stalled in House Appropriations and did not become law. | ||
| Georgia | Not authorized | No statute authorizes wagering on esports; general gambling prohibition applies. | ||
| Illinois | Not authorized | The Sports Wagering Act's definition of "sports event" is not confirmed to include esports; no IGB guidance locating esports wagering under the Act was found. Treated as unauthorized absent explicit inclusion. | ||
| Indiana | Not authorized | Indiana's sports-wagering definition (HEA 1015, 2019) expressly excludes wagering on e-sports from "sports wagering," so esports wagering is not authorized under IC 4-38; no other statute authorizes it. | ||
| Iowa | Not authorized | Iowa Code ch. 99F defines "sports wagering" as wagers on an "authorized sporting event" (professional, collegiate, or international sporting events). Per a 2020 legal-industry analysis, the Iowa Attorney General's office opined that esports is a simulated contest governed by ch. 99E (fantasy/simulated-game wagering), not a "sport or authorized sporting event" under ch. 99F, so traditional esports betting (wagering against a sportsbook on match outcomes) is not authorized; a related proposal for IRGC-regulated "fantasy esports" under ch. 99E was reported approved instead. No later IRGC rule or AG opinion has revisited this position. | ||
| Kansas | Not authorized | KRGC's sports-wagering regulations (1 K.A.R. 112-201-1 et seq., permanently adopted 2026 per 2026 Senate Sub. for SB 356) define "sports event" and "sports wagering" without reference to esports in the portions located; a 2020 legislative description of the sports-wagering bill defines a sports event as excluding horse/greyhound races under the Parimutuel Racing Act and events where a majority of participants are minors, again without addressing esports. No KRGC guidance, license, or enforcement action on esports wagering specifically was found. | ||
| Louisiana | Not authorized | Louisiana's Sports Wagering Control Act excludes esports from authorized wagering: its "sports event"/"sporting event" definition expressly carves out a "prohibited event," defined to include "all high school sports or youth athletic events, electronic sports, and competitive video games."? | ||
| Maryland | Not authorized | No Maryland statute or regulator statement authorizes third-party wagering markets on esports match outcomes. Chapter 338 of 2019 (the 'eSports Act,' HB 48, signed by Gov. Hogan April 30, 2019, effective October 1, 2019) is a distinct, narrower enactment: it clarifies that skill-based esports competitions are not illegal gambling under Md. Criminal Law S 12-102 and lets competition sponsors award prize money/merchandise to winners. An earlier draft of that bill included language banning betting on results, but it was removed before passage -- commentary at the time read the removal as implicitly recognizing participant entry fees rather than as authorizing third-party sportsbook-style wagering on esports outcomes. No separate statute or SWARC/MLGCC action brings esports within the licensed sports-wagering framework (contrast with West Virginia's 2022 HB 4826, which did so explicitly). | ||
| Minnesota | Not authorized | Minnesota has not legalized sports wagering of any kind (see `sports_retail`/`sports_online`), so esports betting is likewise not authorized. "Sports bookmaking" remains a defined, prohibited activity. 2025-2026 legislative efforts to legalize statewide mobile sports wagering (e.g., SF 3414 in 2025; a bipartisan SF 4139, introduced March 2026, allowing up to 11 mobile sportsbooks at a 22% tax) have included esports in their proposed definitions -- the Dept. of Revenue's analysis of SF 3414 described wagering on "athletic events, esports events, college sports events, a fantasy sports contest, or other approved events" for 21-plus bettors -- but no such bill has been enacted. | ||
| Montana | Not authorized | No statutory carve-out; the Lottery's sports-wagering monopoly covers traditional sports only, and esports wagering would otherwise fall under the general internet-gambling ban. | ||
| New Hampshire | Not authorized | N.H. Code Admin. R. Lot 3000 (sports wagering rules under RSA 287-I) never defines "sporting event" and requires the Lottery Commission to approve wager categories only for events whose outcomes are verifiable via a reliable, independent process, citing bodies "such as the NBA, NFL, and NCAA" as examples (Lot 3003.02(b)-(c)); esports is not named anywhere in the rule. DraftKings is the state's sole licensed sports-wagering operator (both retail and the mobile platform) under its 2019 contract with the Lottery Commission, and no esports event category has been approved for New Hampshire under the Commission's approval-based wagering framework. | ||
| New Mexico | Not authorized | No statute authorizes wagering on esports specifically; same absence of any sports-wagering statute applies as for sports_online. | ||
| New York | Not authorized | New York has not authorized wagering on esports. Sportsbooks may only take bets on sports, leagues and wager types the Gaming Commission has specifically approved, and no esports league or event appears on any published Commission approval list.? | ||
| North Dakota | Not authorized | Mirrors sports_online/sports_retail: no North Dakota statute authorizes sports wagering of any kind outside the five tribal casinos' Class III compacts (interpreted by the tribes as already covering retail sports wagering), and the state constitution limits legal gambling to lottery, licensed charitable gaming, and tribal compact gaming, so statewide commercial sports or esports wagering would require a constitutional amendment (per a 2026 tribal-gaming-industry report, the earliest realistic path is a Nov. 2028 ballot measure). No source reviewed describes any of the tribal sportsbooks (Dakota Nation Sportsbook, Spirit Lake, Sky Dancer, 4 Bears) as offering esports wagering specifically, so esports betting is treated as not_authorized rather than limited. | ||
| Oklahoma | Not authorized | Not a covered game under the compact and no separate statute authorizes esports wagering. | ||
| Oregon | Not authorized | The Scoreboard/DraftKings sports-betting rule's own "sporting event" definition covers "a game, match, race, or similar competitive event associated with a governing body," with no explicit mention of esports either including or excluding it. A 2022 Oregon State Lottery legislative presentation described the sports-betting program as digital-only, 21+, geofenced, and limited to professional sports, and both the program's 2019 launch and later DraftKings-era coverage name only traditional leagues such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, NWSL and NASCAR.? | ||
| Pennsylvania | Not authorized | Pennsylvania's sports-wagering statute defines "sporting event" as "a professional or collegiate sports or athletic event or a motor race event"; the Gaming Control Board has opined that because esports is not listed in that definition, the Board lacks statutory authority to approve esports wagering (per a 2021 law-firm legislative alert and the sponsor's own bill memo: "Our laws do not provide the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) with this authority"). Rep. Ed Neilson has a bill to add esports to the "sporting event" definition (first introduced around 2021, reintroduced as House Bill 1636 in 2025).? | ||
| Rhode Island | Not authorized | Rhode Island's sportsbook does not currently offer esports betting. Coverage of Bally's securing the state's second online sports-wagering license (2026) says esports "could appear on the app when it launches" once Bally Bet goes live in Rhode Island, but that is a forward-looking plan rather than a current offering. | ||
| South Carolina | Not authorized | No statute authorizes wagering on esports; would fall under the general prohibitions on betting and gambling machines. H.3625 would permit esports wagering if enacted but has not passed. | ||
| South Dakota | Not authorized | South Dakota's approved sports-wagering catalogue is confined to major professional and college sports, UFC, CFL, PBR, MLS, and international leagues; esports is not among the Commission's approved categories, and no statute or catalogue entry authorizes wagering on esports.? | ||
| Texas | Not authorized | No statute distinguishes esports wagering from traditional sports wagering; it falls under the same general prohibition. | ||
| Wisconsin | Not authorized | Wisconsin sports wagering exists only through tribal-state gaming compact amendments (9 of 11 federally recognized tribes as of late 2024), which authorize wagering on professional leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, etc.), pro drafts, and nationally televised awards shows, with an under-19 participant-age restriction; no amendment or source reviewed mentions esports. Gov. Evers signed AB 601 (2026-04-09) authorizing a statewide online/mobile hub-and-spoke model routed through tribal-land servers, but statewide online sports wagering (and any esports catalog) had not launched as of October 2026, pending further compact amendments. |