United States

The United States has no federal gambling regulator; online casino and betting are governed state by state, so market structure varies enormously by jurisdiction. Online casino (iGaming) is live in a handful of states - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and others - each requiring a state-issued licence tied to a land-based or tribal casino, such as a New Jersey Internet Gaming Permit, a Pennsylvania Interactive Gaming Certificate or a Michigan Internet Gaming Operator Licence. Taxation differs sharply between states: New Jersey applies 19.75% to online casino and sports betting (a uniform rate from July 2025, after the governor's 25% proposal was rejected); Pennsylvania levies 54% on online slots, 16% on table games and 36% on sports betting; and Michigan taxes iGaming at 20-28% of GGR and online sports betting at 8.4%. Two policy battles define the current landscape. First, a wave of sweepstakes-casino bans is spreading, led by Montana's SB 555 (in force October 2025) and California's AB 831 (from January 2026), with around eight states banning and more expected in 2026. Second, a prediction-markets dispute pits state cease-and-desist orders against Kalshi's claim of exclusive CFTC jurisdiction, unresolved as of 2026, while Pennsylvania joined MSIGA online-poker liquidity pooling in April 2025. For operators, the US is a patchwork of high-value but individually regulated markets with widely divergent tax rates, land-based licensing tie-ins and unsettled questions over sweepstakes and prediction markets.