Louisiana Online Gambling Sites
Legal gambling in Louisiana is not just the lottery, chugging along, it’s not just horse racing, but it is, in fact, so much larger than that. In Louisiana, you can play online poker legally, you can bet on sports legally, and you can play online slot machines legally as well. Some of the types of gambling discussed in this article are types of gambling that are regulated by the state of Louisiana, while some are only available to Louisiana residents courtesy of casinos and sportsbooks located outside of the state. The fundamental reality is that gambling is popular, and if the state is unwilling to provide it as a service, other actors will.
At USAOnlineGambling.com, we take pride in providing information to you. We aren’t lawyers - we’re just gambling aficionados, sharing what we’ve learned. On this page you can find information on legal gambling in Louisiana, where to do it, what the laws are about it, and what we recommend as best practices.
StateLouisiana
Population4.65 Million
Largest Gambling CitiesNew Orleans, Baton Rouge
Number Of Land Based Casinos53
Gambling RevenueOver $700 Million
State Licensed DFSYes
State Licensed Sports BettingNo
Land Based Poker Rooms12
Lottery ServicesYes
Mobile Betting OptionsNo
Best Louisiana Gambling Sites
We review a ton of Louisiana online gambling websites, and we look at a couple things before anything else. The first thing we look at is licensing. Licensing is probably the single most important thing any sportsbook can have - they aren’t legal unless they’re licensed. To us, it doesn’t matter too much where they’re licensed, as long as they are regulated, legal, and trustworthy. Licensing brings all of those things to the table.
The next thing we take a look at is reputation. We want to be able to trust the websites that we recommend, and word of mouth is a great way to learn what people think about each website. We put a lot of trust in the wisdom of crowds - we believe people know best. For this reason, we take reputation into account heavily when recommending sportsbooks.
Best Louisiana Gambling Sites
How We Pick The Best Louisiana Gambling Sites
Different Types Of Online Gambling In Louisiana
When people think of online gambling, usually they think in much more limited terms than what actually is out there. The fact is, online gambling in Louisiana comes in all different kinds of forms, from online casinos to online slot machines and poker games, to online sports betting, horse race betting, and more.
There are even some gambling-adjacent activities like Daily Fantasy Sports that allow bettors to take a break from the normal and try out something new. Many states allow lottery play online as well, and there are even things like online Bingo. Basically, online gambling in Louisiana is much more far reaching than you think, probably.
Louisiana Online Casinos
The way online casinos tend to work in Louisiana is they are full service online gambling websites, usually located offshore for legal reasons. This means that they can offer sports betting, table games, live dealer games, slot machines and more, all in the same place. Basically, anything you can do at a brick and mortar casino, you can do at an online casino - just don’t expect any free food or drink tickets!
Benefits of Louisiana Online Casinos:
Louisiana Online Sportsbooks
Louisiana’s voters voted for online sportsbooks, but they must wait for the state legislature to draw up the rules and regulations. They’re expected to be available in early 2022, with some estimates placing online sportsbooks' arrival in December. For now, bettors can stick to the online sportsbooks that are available internationally, which offer some great upsides. Additionally, retail sportsbooks are available in LA as of Nov. 1 at certain locations.
One potential upside is live betting, which lets you keep up with the game in real time, and place your bets instantly. Another is that online sportsbooks allow you to diversify your bankroll easily and quickly with large varieties of bets. Finally, while local sportsbooks tend to have skewed lines on hometown teams, online sports betting sites do not have hometown teams, which makes their lines better.
Benefits of Louisiana Sportsbooks:
Louisiana Online Poker Sites
Online poker is one of the most interesting types of online gambling and gaming entirely. Poker is a true gamblers game, a game of luck and skill, where the twist of fate and the fall of a card can determine your entire future. Online poker is the same game, but done through online clients, and, sometimes, with live dealers.
You can play online poker however you’d like - in a dark room with twelve screens playing 36 different games, or playing one hand at a time at a table with a live dealer. It’s a very customizable experience, so players of all skill levels and interests can find something to do when it comes to online poker in Louisiana.
Benefits of Louisiana Online Poker:
Louisiana Online DFS
Daily fantasy sports are a gambling adjacent activity that is fun and potentially profitable. The basic idea is that you draft a fantasy team with a fantasy roster limit, and this fantasy team then competes in large scale tournaments to win cash prizes. Entry fees are low, and so this type of sports gambling can be done quite cheaply. The largest tournaments have prizes up to a million dollars, but there are a large amount of entrants in them, so this is truly a game of both luck and skill. Many of these tournaments are now being shown live on TV as well.
Benefits of Louisiana Online DFS:
Louisiana Online Bingo
Many people think of bingo as that game that old people in retirement homes sit around and play to kill time. Online bingo, however, can be very different. The key selling point of online bingo is that it can be whatever you want it to be. You can sit down and take your time and enjoy a game of bingo, or you can play a fast paced lottery style game buying multiple cards and playing them simultaneously, which feels a lot more like scratch offs than bingo. Basically, whatever you want to do with your online bingo time, you can get done.
Benefits of Louisiana Online Bingo:
Louisiana Online Lottery
Louisiana does not offer lottery tickets online - you can only play the Louisiana lottery by going down to your local lottery retailer in the state of Louisiana and purchasing lottery tickets in person. The answer to the question “does Louisiana offer an online lottery?” is, unfortunately, “No”. Some online casinos will offer games like Keno, which are similar in function to playing the lottery online, so you can keep an eye out for those if you’re looking for a similar experience to playing the lottery online.
Louisiana Online Horse Racing
Louisiana is one of many states with multiple racetracks within its borders. Louisiana horse race bettors can find many of these racetracks to their advantage when betting online or in person. As far as online horse race betting goes, there are multiple ways to do it in Louisiana. There are several state sanctioned horse betting websites and apps, as well as multiple offshore horse racing betting websites. You can use all of these to shop lines and find the best odds for all of your pari-mutuel betting needs.
Benefits of Louisiana Online Horse Racing:
Is It Legal To Use Bovada In Louisiana?
Louisiana bettors are, if you’ll pardon the pun, absolute tigers when it comes to finding the right place to bet on their beloved LSU Tigers. Bovada tends to be one of the biggest names that comes up all the time in sports betting as well as casino gambling, so it makes sense to discuss how and why it is something you can use as a sports bettor. The basic idea is that many states built their laws to criminalize the act of owning and operating gambling establishments, but not the act of using them. Bovada avoids the criminalization part by being located outside of the United States, and the people that use Bovada are not the people that law enforcement is looking to go after. In this way, using Bovada is completely fine as long as you are above the legal gambling age in your state.
Louisiana Online Slots
Online slot play is a common way to spend your time, and it is no exception in Louisiana. Many Louisiana bettors ask how they can play slots online, and luckily, this section is here to answer that question. There are a lot of online slot play websites on the internet, and many of the best ones are located outside of the United States, but are still accessible by residents of Louisiana. This relationship is mutually beneficial - residents of Louisiana get betting, and the websites are regulated offshore, similar to a cruise ship.
Benefits of Louisiana Online Slots:
Mobile Gambling In Louisiana
Mobile gambling comes in many different forms in the great state of Louisiana. There are a lot of different options for mobile gambling, and many of them vary depending on the type of betting you want to do. Some options are state-sanctioned, and some are not, but all of them are excellent and reliable for Louisiana bettors. The basic thing you need to know is that mobile gambling can be done in the state of Louisiana, and it isn’t even that hard.
Mobile Sports Betting Apps
While Louisiana’s voters approved sports betting, the actual setup process means it’s still far away. In the meantime, bettors use online sportsbooks that are internationally recognized. Many of the online sportsbooks will not have apps, because they instead prefer to use mobile websites. The good news for consumers is that it means there are no downloads, and the websites are optimized for mobile use. What that means is that many of the online sportsbooks have websites that are usable on mobile, and, indeed, optimized for said mobile use. Basically, when you visit them on mobile, you’ll see an app-like website with full functionality and excellent usability.
Mobile Casinos Apps
Mobile casino apps are similar to mobile sports betting apps in that they generally don’t exist. The large online casinos prefer to use mobile websites so that customers don’t have to download anything in order to play. Basically, you go to their website in your mobile browser, and you’ll get an excellently designed mobile website, that feels like an app, and is good for using the full functionality of the online casino, but on your mobile device.
Real Money Online Gambling Sites In Louisiana
Look, part of the thrill of gambling is that real money is on the line. We all love the thrill to some degree, that’s why we do it. Real money online gambling is available for Louisiana residents from some of the best online sports betting websites and online casinos on the planet. That money is generally deposited through a variety of methods, and withdrawn through a similar variety, but make no mistake - this is real money, so be careful.
Free Online Gambling In Louisiana
If you don’t want to put money on the line, or maybe you just want to get familiar with a game, you can play gambling sites for free at online websites. Many of them will have free play sections so that you can familiarize yourself with the games in question. For example, you can play poker for free on many of these websites, or you can play some daily fantasy games for free on those websites. Of course, there will not be payouts for this, but they could be good to get started.
Is Online Gambling Legal In Louisiana?
The answer to this question, generally, is yes. Basically the way the online gambling sites tend to work is that they are located outside of the United States, but are still accessible to US residents. This is because of the way that US laws tend to be written. They tend to outlaw the act of running a gambling establishment in a given state, but not the act of actual gambling. The online casinos and sportsbooks are thus located out of the US, and people can reach them on the internet. In this way, they do not break the law. Find out more using our states with legal online gambling resource.
Online Gambling Laws In Louisiana
Louisiana law technically outlaws online gambling entirely, except in specific state-approved cases, such as when they get online sports betting up and running. On both the player side (softly) and on the provider side (hard), it is not allowed to gamble online in Louisiana. That said, we know of zero cases in which an individual gambler was charged under this provision.
Legal Gambling Age In Louisiana
Different types of gambling have different types of legal ages for betting. Make sure you doublecheck the ages at which you are allowed to gamble, as they may vary depending on conditions and whether or not the type of gambling is in person, online, on a riverboat casino, etc.- Lottery: 21
- Parimutuel: 18
- Casinos: 21
- Bingo: 18
- Online Poker: 18
- DFS: n/a
- Sports Betting: 21
Where Are Louisiana Gambling Sites Regulated?
Most Louisiana online gambling websites are regulated offshore, due to the way in which gambling law tends to work in the United States. This arrangement generally does not contravene state law, although Louisiana might be an exception. That said, we know of nobody who has been prosecuted simply for gambling at an online sportsbook or casino. Horse race betting is regulated by the state, as is the state lottery. State regulated sportsbooks are coming soon in 55 of Louisiana's parishes.
Who Can Play At Louisiana Online Gambling Sites?
The way the online sportsbooks work is that they are open to as many people as possible, not just players from Louisiana. This means that many of the online sportsbooks are just as accessible from Texas as they are from Louisiana. Basically, no matter where you are, there’s a good chance that an online sportsbook will accept you as a customer.
Taxes On Gambling Winnings In Louisiana
When you gamble online, or in person, it is important to understand the tax code of your state, especially if you are in the black. Gambling winnings are income and must be declared as such. Make sure you declare your gambling winnings when doing your taxes. The last thing anyone wants is the IRS at their door - and a gambler wants them even less than a normal person.
Gambling Revenue In Louisiana
Gambling revenue in Louisiana comes primarily from the horse and greyhound tracks and the Louisiana state lottery. The horse and greyhound tracks are Louisiana staples. In addition, there are multiple riverboat casinos in the state as well. The revenue raised goes into the state budget. The lottery revenue specifically goes to helping K-12 education.
Future Of Louisiana Online Gambling
Louisiana’s relationship with online gambling has been an interesting one over the years. Gambling is so ingrained in the culture of the state that it’s hard to imagine Louisiana without it, and lawmakers have gone back and forth on it for a while. Louisiana’s voters have spoken, at least with regards to sports betting, and the State Legislature agreed, as did Gov. John Bel Edwards. Sports betting has been regulated in the state of Louisiana, with Bel Edwards signing the bill to do so in June 2021. Several retail sportsbooks are available, although online sportsbooks could be several months away.