Legal Washington Betting Sites

18+ and present in WA. When Gambling Becomes a Problem, There’s Hope. Help Starts Here. (800) 547-6133.

Washington Sports Betting Locations

The first Washington sportsbooks opened in Fall 2021, and others have launched since.

• (on-property mobile betting via BetMGM app)
• (on-property mobile betting via Caesars Sportsbook app)
• (on-property mobile betting via Snoqualmie Casino Sports app)

Washington Sports Betting Apps

Three casinos have launched online sports betting apps in Washington State to date.

Bettors can download Washington sports betting apps from anywhere in the state, but local laws require users to be physically located on casino property to place real-money wagers.

The Washington online sports betting market is limited as a result, but it still offers increased convenience for casino guests.

BetMGM Washington App

BetMGM Sportsbook in Washington offers online sports betting for customers physically present at Emerald Queen Casino through a mobile app for iOS and Android.

The BetMGM Washington app is only available to customers while on casino property, but it offers several advantages:

• Allows fans to view the odds and build bets from anywhere before submitting them at EQC Tacoma
• The BetMGM WA app offers in-play betting (place wagers with live odds during games)
• No need to stand in line to place wagers

The most important things to know about using the BetMGM Sportsbook app in Washington is that customers must register in person at Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, and may only place wagers while on casino property.

Additionally, bettors should note that BetMGM Washington is a standalone mobile app, separate from the “main” app most users see in the App Store when searching for BetMGM by name.

• iOS users can get install BetMGM in Washington by opening the App Store and searching for “BetMGM @ Emerald Queen Casino.”
• Android users can install the BetMGM Sportsbook app as a direct download from the

Caesars Sportsbook Washington App

Caesars Sportsbook offers mobile betting at Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn for fans who are 21+ and physically located on casino property.

Bettors can download the app and sign up for accounts from anywhere, but they must visit the casino in person for a one-time ID check to enable their accounts for real-money betting. After completing registration, fans can use the Caesars Sportsbook app to bet on sports from anywhere on casino property.

The Caesars Sportsbook app offers numerous advantages over the retail sportsbook at Muckleshoot, including:

• An expanded wagering menu
• Faster live scoring updates
• Extensive in-play betting markets
• Live-streaming sports feeds for select leagues and games
• Daily odds boosts and mobile-only sports betting promos

iOS users can get the app by opening the App Store and searching for “Caesars Sportsbook Muckleshoot.”

Android users can download the app directly from the Muckleshoot Casino website .

Snoqualmie Casino Sports App

Snoqualmie Casino launched the first online sports betting app in Washington State near the end of 2021.

It’s a very basic app for WA bettors without many features, but it provides the advantages of not waiting in line to place wagers, viewing the odds from anywhere in the casino, and convenient in-play betting.

Like all Washington State sports betting apps, the Snoqualmie Sportsbook app only offers real-money wagering to guests physically located on casino property.

However, bettors can download the app from anywhere to view the lines.

Washington Sports Betting Law

The Washington legislature legalized sports betting in March 2020 with a bill authorizing tribal casinos to launch retail sportsbooks under the authority of the Washington Gambling Commission.

Governor Jay Inslee signed into law on March 25^th, 2020.

Conflicts between would-be sports betting operators, typically state lotteries, commercial casinos, horse tracks and tribal gaming interests, thwarted legalization measures in other states as lawmakers struggled to appease certain groups without alienating others. In Washington, elected officials had a clear favorite and granted the tribes exclusive access to legal sports betting.

The law permits every Native American casino with more than 20 years of operations and in good standing with the state to open retail sportsbooks and offer mobile betting to customers physically located on casino property.

Fifteen tribes in June 2021 and received federal approval in September 2021.

Additionally, the law made Washington the 21^st state in the Union to legalize sports betting, and the third state with sportsbooks controlled exclusively by tribal casinos.

These allocations for the tribes angered the nearly 40 cardrooms in the state, which had pushed for a separate bill that would also permit them sports betting options. That bill died early in the 2020 legislative session, but the cardrooms, led by Maverick Gaming, filed a lawsuit to strike down the law on the grounds that it unlawfully granted tribal operators a “discriminatory tribal gaming monopoly.”

A federal judge in early 2023. Washington’s cardroom operators promised to pursue the case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, but the case has moved nowhere since then.

Currently, it seems retail sportsbooks in Washington cardrooms are a long shot anytime soon.

Key Points From The Washington Sports Betting Law:

• Washington Gambling Commission to oversee legal sports betting and issue licenses
• Tribal casinos with more than twenty years’ experience may apply for Washington sports betting licenses
• Washington sportsbook may accept wagers on professional and college sports, the Olympics, and esports
• Wagers on minor league sports prohibited
• Mobile wagers may only be accepted from customers who are physically present on casino property

The full text of Washington sports betting law occupies .

Washington State Sports Betting Taxes

Tribal casinos do not pay fees for sportsbook licenses or taxes on sports betting revenue.

Supporters in the legislature, as well as the tribes themselves, argued this was the most prudent way to introduce legal sports betting in Washington.

Washington Online Sports Betting

Washington sports betting laws only permit on-premise sports wagering at authorized tribal casino sportsbooks. Statewide online sports betting remains prohibited in Washington State.

The narrower expansion, proponents argued, was the only palpable option for Evergreen State residents, many of whom oppose larger gambling expansion. That aversion was also used to justify an emergency clause resolution that precluded a public vote on the bill, which requires 60% support to come into law.

As lawmakers and residents grow comfortable with sports wagering at casinos, the likelihood of online sports betting increases as well.

Additionally, the increased tax revenue from retail sportsbooks may increase the state’s appetite for the even greater revenue mobile betting would generate.

A Washington State University study conducted in late 2021 estimated the state’s retail sports betting industry is on track to become a over the next five years.

That’s a sizable sum, but the same study also projects legalizing statewide online sports betting in Washington State would more than triple the industry’s potential to $322 million in revenue per year.

Washington Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily fantasy sports is not legal in Washington State.

There was a time when the legality of daily fantasy sports sites and apps in Washington State was open to debate. Some of the biggest daily fantasy sports sites accepted residents from Washington up until 2014.

However, the Gambling Commission has since clarified its stance on fantasy betting and declared that fantasy sports contests in Washington State are illegal according to the 1973 Gambling Act.

The Washington State Gambling Commission website lays it out clearly:

In 1973, when the Gambling Act was first passed, 100-square sports pool boards were authorized.

The NCAA basketball “Final Four” tournament and the associated bracket pools increased in popularity after 1979 when ESPN aired the tournament on television for the first time. However, bracket pools, office sports pools, and fantasy sports have never been authorized as gambling activities in Washington State and are illegal.

The fantasy sports industry has demonstrated a willingness to take calculated legal risks in some states, but the risk is too great in Washington State.

As a result, all daily fantasy sports sites remain closed to Washington sports fans until the law changes.

Currently, there are no active efforts to legalize daily fantasy sports in Washington State.

introduced in 2017 and again in 2018 proposed classifying fantasy sports contests as games of skill. The bill offered no regulations or rules apart from providing a legal definition of “fantasy competitions” and exempting such competitions from the state’s definition of gambling.

The bill failed to advance in both years, and there have been no efforts to reintroduce similar legislation since, leaving Washington as one of the few states in which daily fantasy sports contests are prohibited by law.

Washington Horse Racing Betting

Online horse racing betting, racetracks, and off-track betting facilities (OTBs) are legal and regulated in Washington.

State law requires fans to be 21 or older to bet on horse races online and 18 or older to place pari-mutuel wagers in person at race tracks and OTBs.

Learn more about horse racing betting in Washington, recommended online horse betting sites, and OTB locations:

• Washington Horse Racing Betting Sites

Washington Online Gambling

Online casinos and poker sites in Washington are prohibited by some of the strictest laws in the nation.

was passed in 2006 for the purpose of clarifying Washington’s stance on participation in unlawful internet betting.

The passage of this bill was alarming for the online poker community at the time because the law made it a Class C felony to participate in any form of unauthorized wagering over the internet.

A Class C felony in Washington can result in up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. This remains the most draconian online gambling law in the nation to this day.

The summary of the bill reads as follows:

The internet and telecommunications systems are added to the list of means over which a person is prohibited from knowingly transmitting or receiving wagers or other gambling information. The penalty for knowingly engaging in such illegal transmission or receipt is increased from a gross misdemeanor to a Class C felony. The Lottery Commission is prohibited from offering any game where they internet can be used to buy tickets or chances.

Nearly a decade later, nobody has ever been charged with a felony under this law. There appears to be no appetite or enforcement mechanism to identify and prosecute people who participate in unauthorized forms of online gambling in Washington State.

Even so, the mere existence of this law shows Washington has little interest in legalizing online casinos and poker sites any time soon.

A number of offshore gambling sites that already break federal gambling laws have even decided to stop doing business in Washington due to the additional legal risk.

Land-based poker and gambling games are legal at authorized locations throughout the state, namely tribal casinos. Live poker is permitted at licensed facilities under the following :

• No more than 5 betting rounds in any one game
• Each betting round permits no more than 4 wagers in any one round
• The maximum amount of a single wager does not exceed $40
• Class F licensees may permit wagers of up to $100 each

Social gambling is permitted under Washington law as long as the players compete on equal grounds, the house earns no commission and the only money earned by participants is a result of their personal winnings in the game.

has this to say on the matter:

“Player,” as used in this chapter, means a natural person who engages, on equal terms with the other participants, and solely as a contestant or bettor, in any form of gambling in which no person may receive or become entitled to receive any profit therefrom other than personal gambling winnings, and without otherwise rendering any material assistance to the establishment, conduct or operation of a particular gambling activity. A natural person who gambles at a social game of chance on equal terms with the other participants shall not be considered as rendering material assistance to the establishment…

introduced in 2015 and again in 2016 attempted to authorize and regulate Washington poker sites failed to gain any traction, and no other real efforts have been made since.

A hearing to discuss the issue of online poker was conducted in 2017, but nothing came of that effort either.

Washington State Sports Betting FAQ