You must use a smartphone or tablet to place online sports bets.Īll sports betting apps have to work in conjunction with a sportsbook that has a physical location. This means that none of Nevada’s sportsbooks allow betting through a website on your desktop computer. Today, you can legally bet online on almost any sport but only via an app after an in-person registration process. By 2013, all forms of online gambling were legal, including poker and other interactive games. In 2010, as the internet started to become ubiquitous, Nevada officially legalized online sportsbooks. Almost 20 years later, they finally extended the regulation to cover sports betting, which was legalized statewide in 1949. Nevada first made general gambling legal in 1931 in an attempt to wiggle out from under the thumb of the Great Depression, which was in full force at the time. The detailed regulations are strictly enforced, and you can get into trouble if you try to wager outside the lines. In the more than 70 years since, the legislation has evolved into a potpourri of various policies and amendments added throughout the decades, some of which make more sense than others.Īlthough gambling is legal and encouraged in the state, it’s far from a free-for-all potluck where anything goes. Nevada’s laws allowing sports betting were the first to be passed in the U.S.
