Legal Online Gambling In Texas
There are plenty of options for legal online gambling in Texas. The best options are found internationally, because Texas’ government is a bit backwards when it comes to gambling legalization in many forms. However, they cannot stop people from using international online gambling sites, and this means that players in Texas can use online casinos and sportsbooks to play slots and place wagers.
Texas’ in-state gambling, on the other hand, is pretty sparse. The Abbott administration has been fairly anti-gambling, even as sports betting spreads around the country, and they’ve shown no inclination to allow other types of gambling to crop up in the state.They’ve even started targeting some poker rooms, which seems antithetical to the Texas ethos of freedom.
Texas does have a state lottery, and is part of inter-state lottery games like the Mega Millions and the Powerball. You can access horse and greyhound racing options in Texas, although the best options for those are also offshore. Poker is playable in social settings, and there must not be a profit being taken by the house for offering poker, which limits options. Some cities have specifically regulated poker, but they’re currently in conflict with the Abbott administration.
Overall, Texas’ gambling laws, as restrictive as they may be, cannot stop bettors from using online sportsbooks and online casinos that are located outside of Texas. These online sportsbooks and casinos can be accessed by everyone in Texas with an internet connection.
Can Texas Residents Gamble Online Legally?
Yes, residents of Texas can gamble online legally. The best way to gamble online legally in Texas is to use a casino located outside of the state, but that you can still access via the internet on your phone or laptop. This is a problem for Texas as a state – they could be getting the tax revenue from these transactions if they wanted to regulate sports betting and casino gameplay, but instead they choose not to, and that revenue goes overseas.
Has Anyone Ever Been Prosecuted For Placing Bets Online?
No. Nobody has ever been arrested simply for using an online gambling site in Texas. This is because Texas’ anti-gambling laws, as annoying as they may be, are targeted at those who provide online gambling, not those who gamble online. This state of affairs means that it’s perfectly legal to use online casinos, it’s just not legal to operate them from Texas. The top online casinos avoid this by not operating in Texas, but rather being available over the internet, which is technically not the same thing.
Are Texas Online Gambling Sites To Be Trusted?
The Texas online gambling sites that we recommend on this page are the ones that we use, and the ones that we trust with our money. The entire office here is gamblers, and we recommend the sites that we have found to be the most trustworthy and reliable in our years of gambling experience.
That said, not every Texas online gambling site is to be trusted automatically. That’s why we go through the pains of testing them all out, so that you don’t have to make mistakes. All the websites on this page have reputable online casinos, high-level customer support, and fair gameplay.
Will Your Money Be Safe with a Texas Gambling Site?
Your money is absolutely safe at the Texas online gambling sites that we recommend on this page. We use these sites, and trust them with our money. Sites like Bovada have decades of experience in the online gambling business, and don’t need to do anything weird to make money. Fundamentally, the thing you need to understand is that they’re running a casino. They don’t need to cheat you to make money.
Texas Legal Gambling Statistics
Legal Gambling Age In Texas
- 21 - Casinos, Poker / 18 - Lottery, Bingo
Legal Online Gambling Types In Texas
- Poker, Sports Betting, Casinos
Best Texas Gambling Deposit Method
- Credit Cards & Cryptocurrency
Best Online Casino For Texas Residents
- Lucky Red - 400% to $4K Slots Bonus
Best Online Sportsbook for Texas Bettors
- Bovada - Wager on Cowboys, Texans, Longhorns, Mavericks, Aggies + More
Best Online Poker Room For Texas Players
- Bovada Poker - Welcomes All Texas Players, Large variety of game types
Texas Gambling Legal Requirements
You should be all set to gamble on sports and casino games in Texas when you use an offshore casino or sportsbook. The state itself has discussed the issue several times on the legislative level, but nothing has changed in recent decades. You won’t get in trouble for using an international gambling site as long as you are over the age of majority, which is 21 in Texas as far as we know.
Legal Texas Sports Betting Sites
The top online sportsbooks in Texas are excellent offshore options like Bovada and BetOnline. This is because Texas itself has not moved forward with regulated online sports betting at the state level, leaving all of the potential tax revenue on the table. Not a smart move, but one that bettors in Texas have to live with. You can bet on the Cowboys, Texans, Aggies and Longhorns at these sportsbooks, and they even have more – and better – odds than the sportsbooks that may be open in neighboring states.
Bovada Sportsbook - Betting Lines On All Texas Games
Bovada features an astonishing range of bets available on teams in Texas like the Texas Longhorns, the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas A&M Aggies and the Dallas Mavericks. Bovada offers a solid bonus to new signups that will match 50% of your first deposit up to a value of $250. However, the real upside of this is that it allows you to achieve this bonus without a bad rollover – the rollover on it is only 5x, which is way better than comparable bonuses at other online sportsbooks.
BetOnline Sportsbook - Outstanding Crypto Sportsbook
BetOnline sportsbook is a great option for anyone looking to wager on sports, and it features some of the sharpest futures odds on the entire internet. They’re a great sportsbook for anyone looking to place bets on Texas teams, but their bonuses and crypto acceptance are the real perks. BetOnline takes more cryptocurrency than any other sportsbook, and they feature more options for deposit and withdrawal with those cryptos as well. In addition, their crypto bonuses are more than double the value of their normal bonuses, so make sure to check out BetOnline if you’re looking for a great crypto sportsbook.
Sports Betting Sites That Are Legal For Texas Residents
Legal Texas Online Casinos
The top online casinos in Texas are all located offshore. These casinos have the best options for players in Texas, because the current government of Texas feels no need to evaluate the confines of Texas’ current online gambling laws. These are legal casinos to use, and they allow you to place wagers on games like poker, slots and more in Texas.
Bovada Casino – Live Dealer Table Games
Bovada’s online casino is unlike any other in terms of what they are offering their users. From a table game standpoint, they offer both live dealer and digital table games that will give you the in person feel of a normal casino. They have 30+ table games with a mixture of blackjack, baccarat, roulette, and Super 6 each of which have seven total seats per table giving you plenty of opportunity to play.
Ignition Casino – Hundreds Of Slot Games
There are an endless amount of online slot games at Ignition and all of them are popular around the online gambling industry. They offer multiple types of slot games as well such as line games, progressive slots, bonus slots, and more. Some of their jackpots can go well over $100,000 as well. Slots are a staple in the online casino industry and Ignition does a good job in perfecting this.
Slots.lv - Slots Gameplay For Texas Residents
Slots.lv is built to provide the best slots options at the cheapest price point on the entire internet. You can play slots from 50 cents to 500 bucks when you play at Slots.Lv, and their customizable online slot offerings are some of the best in the biz. You’ll be able to place wagers on other games at Slots.lv as well, as they have a dedicated live dealer table game section, as well as a wide range of video poker options. Slots.lv takes payment in a variety of cryptocurrencies, as well as via debit and credit cards.
Best Online Casinos That Welcome Texas Residents
Legal Texas Online Poker Sites
Poker in Texas is huge. The most popular type of gameplay in Poker is, after all, Texas Hold ‘Em, so this should be no surprise. However, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has been attempting to crack down on the poker available in the state itself, such as in-state poker rooms. Unfortunately, this has simply pushed people to online poker that is out of the reach of politicians like Lt. Gov. Patrick. These online poker sites are available internationally, and don’t have to worry about what politicians say about them, because they are legal to use regardless.
Bovada Online Poker - Top Texas Online Poker
Bovada may be a one-stop-shop for online gambling, offering both a casino and sports betting options, but their specialty, as it were, is online poker. Online poker at Bovada is one of the premier draws of the website, and they have some of the best poker rooms in the world, let alone in Texas. You can play all sorts of poker variants, although the most popular ones are, of course, No Limit Hold ‘Em variants. You can also, of course, play Omaha Stud and other five-card variants of poker. They even have online poker with live dealers, which can add another layer of intrigue to the games.
Ignition Online Poker – Sit & Go Cash Games
One of the elite online poker rooms that you could access belongs to Ignition. Aside from their massive tournaments that they run very often, there are plenty of cash games held. These cash games give you the feel of an in person poker room allowing you to get up and sit down at any table whenever there is a seat available.
Legal Poker Sites That Accept Texas Residents
Land Based Texas Gambling
Texas offers plenty of land-based gambling, although most of it is poker rooms. There are various poker rooms scattered around Texas, with many of them having special dispensation to operate as long as they are not taking a cut of the profits themselves. This means that they are effectively social poker rooms, rather than casino poker rooms. However, even this might be a bridge too far for the arch-conservatives in the Texas government – the Abbott administration has been making some noise about trying to shut these poker rooms down.
Overall Synopsis of Legal Texas Gambling
Because of the attitudes that the current Texas government has toward gambling generally, it doesn't seem likely that there will be alternatives to the international sportsbooks and casinos in the near future. Instead of looking to the future of online gambling and deciding to get a piece of the pie, Texas has engaged the Sisyphean task of trying to put the genie back in the bottle, and has even started looking for ways to crack down on poker rooms.
What this means is that it’s probably a safe investment to fund an online sportsbook or online casino account. It’s not like there are going to be in-state alternatives coming along anytime soon.