Are online casinos safe? How to spot a licensed casino

Are online casinos safe?

A state-licensed online casino is the safest way to play casino games for real money in the US: a state regulator vets the operator, sets rules for its games and can fine it when it breaks them. An offshore casino has no US regulator behind it. As of September 30, 2026, only seven states license online casinos (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island), so any site offering real-money casino games elsewhere is unlicensed; see where online casinos are legal.

Every casino in our ranking of the best US online casinos is licensed by at least one of these states. “Safe” doesn’t mean you’ll win: the games still have a house edge, as RTP and house edge explained shows. It means the rules are written down and someone enforces them.

What a state license requires

A state license comes with rules the casino must follow and a regulator that checks. Based on the state rules we reviewed:

• Age and identity checks. You must be 21 or older. New Jersey requires casinos to verify your name, address, date of birth and Social Security number before your first deposit, and to check you against the state’s self-exclusion list.
• Location checks. You must be physically inside the state to play, and licensed sites confirm this with geolocation. West Virginia even licenses the geolocation company, GeoComply, as a supplier.
• Tested games with minimum payouts. New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) runs its own slot laboratory. New Jersey (83%), Michigan (80%), Connecticut (80%) and Pennsylvania (85%, through a slot rule its online rules cross-reference) set minimum theoretical returns for online games.
• Responsible gambling tools. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia require deposit and time limits and a player-requested break of at least 72 hours. In New Jersey, once your lifetime deposits pass $2,500, you must acknowledge that threshold and the tools available before you can keep playing. Most live states also run a self-exclusion program; see our responsible gambling guide.
• Fair bonus rules. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan require clear bonus terms, let you cancel a bonus and bar casinos from capping your winnings once you’ve met the terms. See casino bonuses explained.
• Honest advertising. New Jersey’s DGE says responsible gaming messages are “required by statute,” helplines can’t appear in “microscopic font,” and ads and promotions must be filed with the regulator.
• A place to complain. New Jersey runs a formal dispute process for internet gaming players (details below).

Licensed doesn’t mean perfect

Regulators do find problems at licensed casinos, and the penalties are public:

Caesars Sportsbook belongs to the same company as Caesars Palace Online Casino. Public enforcement records like these are part of what a license gives you; offshore sites face no comparable oversight.

The risks of offshore casinos

Offshore casinos aren’t licensed in any US state, so none of the protections above apply. Regulators and officials warn:

• You may not be paid. Michigan’s Gaming Control Board said in July 2025 that offshore sites offer “no consumer protections”: players may not get paid for wins, games may be rigged, and there is “no legal protection in cases of fraud, data theft, or account disputes.”
• No one checks the games. New York’s Gaming Commission warns that unlicensed operators don’t have “approved house rules, or wager integrity controls in place.”
• Weak age checks. In an August 2025 letter, 50 state and territory attorneys general said offshore sites “offer limited or non-existent consumer protections, fail to verify user age, ignore state boundaries, and evade taxation obligations.” Twelve US senators wrote in October 2025 that the sites let minors gamble “without age verification, on credit, and offering no resources for gambling addictions.”
• Your data isn’t protected. The American Gaming Association (AGA) lists “no data protection for personal and financial information” among the risks.
• You could be exposed legally. Mississippi’s Gaming Commission warns that a player “could be subject to criminal prosecution and forfeiture of money deposited with the site.”
• Taxes still apply. The IRS says all gambling winnings are taxable, with or without a Form W-2G; see our gambling tax guide.

How big the illegal market is

The AGA estimates that Americans bet $673.6 billion a year with illegal and unregulated operators, or 31.9% of the US gambling market, according to its August 13, 2025 analysis based on a survey of 2,454 adults. It puts illegal online slots and table games revenue at $18.6 billion a year, up about 38% since 2022, and estimates that states lose $15.3 billion a year in taxes. In the AGA’s survey, the share of online casino players who play only on legal sites fell from 52% to 24%.

Officials have pressed the federal government to act:

• August 5, 2025: 50 state and territory attorneys general asked the Justice Department (DOJ) to use federal law to block offshore sites and their payments, seize their assets and domains, and work with payment networks. They noted that DOJ actions “since 2013 … have been extremely limited.”
• October 27, 2025: 12 senators from both parties asked the DOJ how many offshore operations it had targeted and what it planned to do.
• October 2025: the AGA’s Tres York said there had been “no response” from the DOJ to the attorneys general. We found no federal prosecution of an offshore online casino from 2023 through September 2026, though we couldn’t search DOJ records directly.

States act on their own meanwhile. Michigan’s cease-and-desist list has 241 names, from offshore brands such as Bovada to web hosts, and the regulator says it sends letters “on a nearly weekly basis”; Maryland, Illinois, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida have sent their own.

How to verify a license, state by state

Check that the casino’s exact brand name and web address appear on your state regulator’s official list. If they don’t, the site isn’t licensed there, whatever its footer claims.

1. New Jersey: The DGE’s Internet Gaming Sites list groups approved sites by Atlantic City casino and states: “Any site not included on this list is NOT approved to offer Internet gaming in the State of New Jersey.” There’s also a permit-holder list (PDF).
2. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s licensed online gaming operators page says: “Before you bet, use the links below to verify that a site is PGCB regulated.” Its interactive gaming operators list names all 24 brands, and its “Look for the Logo” campaign asks you to check for the official PGCB logo on licensed sites.
3. Michigan: The Michigan Gaming Control Board’s authorized platform providers list gives each approved site’s exact web address (for example, casino.mi.betmgm.com) and its casino or tribal partner. Its Legal vs. Illegal Gaming page lists sites that have received cease-and-desist letters.
4. West Virginia: The West Virginia Lottery’s iGaming license list (PDF), dated September 14, 2026, shows 12 operator licenses, including DraftKings, FanDuel Casino, BetMGM, BetRivers and bet365.
5. Connecticut: Only two online casinos are licensed: DraftKings, with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe (Foxwoods), and Mohegan Sun Casino, run by FanDuel for the Mohegan Tribe. The Department of Consumer Protection offers a license lookup.
6. Delaware: The Delaware Lottery’s iGaming page lists the state’s three sites, all on the BetRivers platform: delawarepark.betrivers.com, harrington.betrivers.com and ballycasino.betrivers.com.
7. Rhode Island: Bally’s is the state’s only online casino operator, under a contract with the Rhode Island Lottery. We couldn’t find a licensee list on the Lottery’s website, so contact the Lottery directly if you’re unsure about a site.

Maine hasn’t issued any online casino licenses yet.

Red flags checklist

Walk away from a casino that:

• isn’t on your state regulator’s list, or uses a web address that doesn’t match the listed one;
• says it serves players nationwide or in states without legal online casinos;
• claims a license from Curaçao, Anjouan or another offshore authority instead of a US state (no US state recognizes these);
• centers its banking on crypto; many crypto-branded casinos appear on state cease-and-desist lists;
• is run by a foreign company or uses a foreign domain, such as the .ag and .com.pa sites Florida ordered to stop;
• lets you sign up at 18, when licensed online casinos require you to be 21;
• calls itself a “sweepstakes” or “social” casino but pays out cash prizes;
• caps how much you can withdraw from a bonus after you’ve met its terms, which New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan prohibit;
• hides who runs it (the AGA says offshore operators “go to great lengths to hide their identities and locations”);
• shows no responsible gambling tools or helpline; New Jersey requires a 1-800-GAMBLER message on the login screen.

What to do if something goes wrong

Start with the casino, then go to the regulator that licensed it.

1. Gather evidence. Save screenshots, emails, chat transcripts and transaction IDs.
2. Complain to the casino. Contact its support team and use any formal complaint process in its terms.
3. Escalate to the state regulator. In New Jersey, file an internet gaming dispute with the DGE using its dispute form (PDF), by email at [email protected] or by phone at (609) 984-0909. In other states, contact the regulator that licenses the site, listed above.
4. Report illegal sites. Michigan runs a tip line for illegal gambling at 1-888-314-2682.
5. Know the limits with unlicensed sites. No state regulator can step in. Maine’s Gambling Control Unit, for example, has said it “cannot provide assistance or intervention in cases of disputes regarding winnings” with sites it doesn’t license.

If the problem is gambling itself, call or text the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), available 24/7, or join your state’s self-exclusion program.

The bottom line

Play only at casinos on your state regulator’s list, and walk away from any site that can’t show it’s licensed where you are. For licensed casinos compared on safety, games, bonuses and payouts, see our list of the best licensed US online casinos and how we rank them.