It goes without saying that gambling is a pretty complicated topic when we are talking about the US. All of us know that gambling is strongly prohibited in almost all states in the country. It needs to be said that the situation is not general for the whole state, due to the various opinions coming from different states.

This is why online gambling is such an issue in the United States. Some states have come together to combine their player pools and it’s okay to take players from a wider gambling pool, but these agreements only apply to certain states and even certain games. It depends entirely on the kind of bets you take and the area you service. The states also have differing legal gambling ages, with some states requiring the same minimum age for all types of gambling, while for others, it depends on the activity. For example, in New Jersey, an 18-year-old can buy a lottery ticket or bet on a horse race, but cannot enter a casino until age 21. It varies by state. Some states allow it, some don’t. Some states don’t even allow the lottery, while other states have more than one. The county and state usually make a lot of money off of the gambling.

We all know the stories about Atlantic City and Las Vegas, who are, alongside Indian reservations the best-known regions where all the citizens of the US can freely gamble in real casinos, without any restrictions. However, with the majority of the country strongly opposing it, we can see that many citizens have been able to find an alternative with online casinos. In the last couple of years and increased popularity of digital currencies, mostly Bitcoin, we can see that situation became more complex.

Anyone who knows the basics of cryptocurrencies knows that these are completely decentralized currencies, who have the idea of completely replacing fiat currencies. This is the reason why pretty much all the financial institutions are strongly opposing this concept. Not only that, we can see that many people are still skeptical about this concept, even in this day and age.

We can see that more businesses and organizations adopt digital currencies by the day. Plus, we can see that there is even a country that has decided to completely legalize all the digital currencies and made them tax-free. We are talking about Belarus, of course. So, you surely have the question what is the connection between these two concepts?

Well, one of the ways of implementation of digital currencies was through online casinos. We can see that a majority of them allow their player to gamble with cryptos. So, check this list if you are interested in checking some of the best bitcoin casinos you can play at and who are registered in the US. Anyway, we would like to discuss this topic in greater detail due to its popularity and importance.

What’s the Regulation in the US?

We can see that the question of BTC regulation in the country is not completely finished on a federal level. So, it should be said that BTC or any other digital currencies are not illegal at a federal level. But, at the same time, we cannot say that this concept is completely legal. But the government has decided to implement a couple of different concepts in order to have proper regulation in the future.

With all this information in front of us, we can see that the government has a right to impose taxes on any kind of profit, which comes as a result of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. This means that investors and traders need to give some percentage of their profit to the federal government. We can see that it isn’t any serious difference between this concept and any other type of taxes that can be seen every day. It’s important to point out that different states have different opinions about the concept.

States Who are Friendly Towards Cryptos

We’ve mentioned that the federal government has a particular regulation towards Bitcoin and other cryptos. Even with this fact, we can see that some states are more pro-crypto than others. We are going to take a look at some of these states.

• Kansas
• Montana
• Tennessee
• Texas

States Who are Not Friendly Towards Cryptos

With having in mind that some of the states have a pro-crypto behavior, it makes sense to presume that there are other states who are not so welcoming to this concept. Now, we will name all of them.

• California
• Connecticut
• New Hampshire
• North Carolina
• Wisconsin

Bitcoin Gambling Regulation

Since we are talking about a pretty hot topic, we can see that regulations in different states towards crypto gambling are constantly changing. Some states are in the process of changing their regulation as we speak. So, anyone shouldn’t be surprised by the number of changes we are going to witness in the future. Even some of the states who were pretty rigid about crypto gambling are now introducing a new set of regulations in order to ease the process a little bit.

However, it should be said that there are absolutely no strict laws that make online gambling illegal. Add to that the fact that digital currencies are no prohibited, and you have a situation where you don’t have anything that prohibits the use of these for any kind of purpose. But, it’s of the utmost importance for players to understand that the anonymity provided together with the concept will not protect them in case there are some illegal activities going on.

The Benefits of Bitcoin Gambling

Surely, you will ask why is it important to understand why the question of crypto gambling is so important? Well, crypto gambling makes it much easier for people to gamble than it was ever before. This approach alone covers a lot of steps that any player needs to go through in order to play at one of these websites. The only thing you, as a player, are required to do is to send the proper amount of coins from the wallet, which is connected to the website in question.

Plus, with digital currencies being known as the concept with pretty fast transactions, you can expect these transactions to be completely under an hour. Furthermore, every player has an opportunity to remain completely anonymous during this process. Naturally, it needs to be said that it is essential for some regulation to be set in order for the whole process to be completed within the law of the federal government.

The Wrap-up

In the end, we would like to say that gambling with Bitcoin, or any other crypto for that matter, is not illegal in the US. However, we’ve provided you with highly detailed information about all the particularities you need to be aware of before you can freely start playing at some of these websites. If you are from some of the states who are not so friendly towards cryptos, you need to be pretty careful about your steps, that’s for certain.

Every Wednesday and Saturday night at 10:59 p.m. five white balls are selected out of a drum containing 59 white balls, and one red ball is chosen out of a drum containing 35 red balls. The jackpot is won by matching all five white balls in any order and the red Powerball. Tickets cost $2.

After rolling more than 16 consecutive times without a winner, the Powerball jackpot shot up to $587.5 million, the second-largest in U.S. history, and the largest for Powerball, before two winning tickets with the numbers 5, 16, 22, 23, 29 and a Powerball of 6 were announced by the Multi-State Lottery Association, which has run the Powerball game since 1992.

The first winning ticket belonged to the Hill family of Dearborn, Missouri. They have already appeared at a press conference where they were handed an oversized check made out for their share: $293,750,000 (before taxes). Although the chances of any single ticket’s winning the jackpot were 1 in 175 million (making it more likely that someone would die from a lightning strike or a bee sting than win), the Hills bought five tickets on the day of the Powerball drawing at the Trex Mart gas station in Dearborn, a town of 500 north of Kansas City. “Tickets sold at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide — about six times the volume from a week ago. That pushed the jackpot even higher,” said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.

The other winning ticket was sold at a 4 Sons Food Store in Fountain Hills, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. The winner has come forward, but as of this writing his name has not been released.

About the same time the Powerball frenzy was taking place, the peaceful and voluntary actions of Americans who prefer another gambling medium were ended — thanks to the hypocritical and oppressive actions of the U.S. government.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil complaint in federal district court in Washington, D.C., on November 26 seeking an injunction against Intrade, a prediction market for non-sports-related events. Intrade is an exchange market that allows its customers to make predications (by buying and selling shares) on the yes or no outcome of real-world events: candidate x to win an election, actor x to win an Academy Award, contestant x to win on American Idol.

According to a CFTC press release, the complaint charges Intrade “with offering commodity option contracts to U.S. customers for trading, as well as soliciting, accepting, and confirming the execution of orders from U.S. customers, all in violation of the CFTC’s ban on off-exchange options trading.”

Said David Meister, the Director of the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement,

It is against the law to solicit U.S. persons to buy and sell commodity options, even if they are called “prediction” contracts, unless they are listed for trading and traded on a CFTC-registered exchange or unless legally exempt. The requirement for on-exchange trading is important for a number of reasons, including that it enables the CFTC to police market activity and protect market integrity. Today’s action should make it clear that we will intervene in the “prediction” markets, wherever they may be based, when their U.S. activities violate the Commodity Exchange Act or the CFTC’s regulations.

In its continuing litigation the CFTC seeks civil monetary penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and permanent injunctions against further violations of federal commodities law, as charged, among other relief.

This is the same government agency that earlier this year rejected an application by the North American Derivatives Exchange to operate a market for contracts relating to the U.S. elections. The commission argued that political event contracts constitute “gaming” that is “contrary to the public interest.”

Because of the CFTC complaint, Intrade issued this statement to its U.S. customers: “We are sorry to announce that due to legal and regulatory pressures, Intrade can no longer allow US residents to participate in our real-money prediction markets. Unfortunately this means that all US residents must begin the process of closing down their Intrade accounts.”

With lotteries in more than 40 states and the District of Columbia, one would think that customers of Intrade would have no trouble finding another gambling option. But aside from state lotteries, Americans’ gambling options are somewhat limited unless they live near, or are willing to travel to, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, or the Mississippi River. True, some states have casinos run by Indian tribes, some have horse or dog racing that one can wager on, and some have legalized slot machines or poker rooms in selected areas, but Nevada is the only state that has legalized casino-style gambling statewide.

All forms of gambling that have been legalized throughout the United States have one thing in common: they all exist only with government permission. It is the state governments that license and regulate casinos, pari-mutuel wagering, slot machines, and poker rooms. It is the state governments that maintain a monopoly on lotteries. In most areas of the country, private, unlicensed gambling is simply illegal.

For example, in my state of Florida: “Whoever plays or engages in any game at cards, keno, roulette, faro or other game of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, for money or other thing of value, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083” [s. 849.08]. An exception is made for a penny-ante game of “poker, pinochle, bridge, rummy, canasta, hearts, dominoes, or mah-jongg in which the winnings of any player in a single round, hand, or game do not exceed $10 in value” [s. 849.085, 2, a].

And no one in Florida had better try to compete with the Florida Lottery, for it is unlawful in Florida to set up a lottery; dispose of property by a lottery; conduct any lottery drawing; assist in conducting a lottery; attempt to operate, conduct, or advertise a lottery; possess any lottery implement; sell or offer for sale any lottery ticket; possess any lottery ticket; assist in the sale of a lottery ticket; possess any lottery advertisement; or possess any “papers, records, instruments, or paraphernalia designed for use, either directly or indirectly, in, or in connection with, the violation of the laws of this state prohibiting lotteries” [s. 849.09, 1, a-k].

But why is that the case in Florida and elsewhere? Why are the peaceful, voluntary actions of consenting adults prohibited? Why is gambling illegal?

We are told by opponents of legalized gambling that gambling is psychologically addictive, that it leads to financial ruin, that it leads to compulsive gambling, that it harms families, that it leads to criminal activity to support one’s gambling habit, and that it increases crime in areas where gambling venues are located. Religious people add that gambling is immoral, that it is a vice, or that is it a sin. Even economists weigh in on the subject, telling us how great the odds are against winning the lottery and that gambling is a type of regressive tax that hurts low-income people. Every time someone wins a substantial lottery jackpot, there are news stories about how bad it is to win such a large sum of money.

Those things may all be true, but none of them can legitimately be said to be a reason for gambling to be illegal.

Forty-three states and the District of Columbia have state-run lotteries. Forty-seven states allow charitable gambling such as bingo. Thirty-nine states permit pari-mutuel wagering. Nineteen states have legalized commercial casinos. Thirty states have Indian casinos. Only the states of Hawaii and Utah forbid all forms of gambling.

If gambling should be proscribed by governments because it is harmful, ruinous, crime-fostering, or immoral, then governments — to be consistent — should outlaw all forms of gambling and certainly not be running lotteries. How can the 48 states that allow certain forms of gambling justify any of their laws that make other forms of gambling a criminal activity?

The real reasons so many forms of gambling are illegal in so many states are that governments are grossly hypocritical and arbitrary when it comes to their gambling laws and governments see themselves as nanny states with their citizens as children who need to be protected from vice and their own stupidity.

In a genuinely free society (as opposed to a relatively free one), people have the freedom to make any wager or bet any amount of money they choose on sporting events, horse races, casino gambling, pari-mutuel wagering, lotteries, prediction markets, private poker games, or any other gambling activity.

That does not mean that gambling is good or that it has no negative consequences. There is a distinction between favoring a thing and favoring the legalization of a thing. It is perfectly consistent for someone to disdain some or all forms of gambling and yet fully support the legalization of all gambling enterprises and activities. The issue is one of freedom, not preference.

It goes without saying that there should be no federal or state laws that relate to gambling in any way. Not because the gambling industry provides people with jobs or the states with revenue, but for the simple reason that there should be no federal or state laws prohibiting any voluntary activity between consenting adults.

Why Is Gambling Illegal In Some States