Offshore sportsbooks are not licensed in the United States and are not regulated by U.S. state lawmakers. Consequently, they are technically not legal for U.S. residents to use. Despite this, the American Gaming Association (AGA) reported that nearly 90% of America’s $23.1 billion in wagers on Super Bowl LVIII (2024) were made with unregulated operators.
While we may have already answered your question of “Are offshore betting sites legal?” we encourage you to look beyond yes-or-no (or grey area) answers that surround your query because there is something more important than money at stake. Please keep reading.
Overview of Offshore Sport Betting Site Legality and More Pressing Concerns to Consider for Your Safety and Wellness
HOW TO ID OFFSHORE BETTING SITES
There are a number of telltale signs that a sports betting platform is based offshore. You can generally identify one via the following:
- They are not official partners of a U.S. based sports league or association (NFL, NBA/WNBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, PGA) or any of the respective teams within the leagues or associations.
- They are licensed in Costa Rica, Curacao, Malta, or Panama.
- Instead of .com, their websites use domain extensions such as .eu, .ag, and .lv.
- They offer proposition bets on a vast array of entertainment, pop-culture, and non-sport (i.e. weather events) outcomes.
- They accept and promote the use of cryptocurrency to make transactions on the platform.
WHY THE CONFUSION?
Why are so many Americans confused about the legality of offshore sportsbooks? It’s because the platforms have been allowed to penetrate the U.S. market and solicit American players with relative impunity. Below we have outlined the variety of ways that offshore operators have been able to confuse the pubic, yourself included.
Offshore Betting Sites Sponsor U.S. Influencers
Offshore betting sites are not permitted to enter into advertising sponsorship agreements with athletes from within the NCAA, NFL, NBA/WNBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and PGA. However, they do sponsor high-profile athletes and influencers who are not under the watchful eye of the big leagues or the federal government, including those affiliated with action sports, the Olympic games, and international sports organizations. U.S. consumers who see this incorrectly assume that if their favorite YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok content creator is waving the flag of a given sportsbook, that platform must be allowed on virtual U.S. soil.
Because U.S. Based Affiliate Sites Refer You to Them
U.S. sports betting affiliate sites are online review platforms that refer U.S. citizens to websites and apps that they can use to bet on sports. These affiliates receive commissions from operators. Prior to the 2018 removal of the federal ban on sports betting, affiliates referred U.S. players exclusively to illegal offshore operators, with some earning millions of dollars per annum in commissions. To sidestep U.S. federal regulations themselves, they often hosted their websites offshore or at least in Canada. Many still do.
Some of these review sites have cleaned up their act since sports betting became regulated in the USA, some have not. In either case, their legacy reviews and content remain in public view for U.S. players to refer to, adding to the confusion regarding offshore sports betting legality.
Because U.S. Media Features Them in their Content
Major news, sports, lifestyle, and pop-culture publishers have been indirectly promoting the use of offshore sports betting sites to U.S. citizens within their content for years. Need examples? VARIETY referenced them when referring to the odds on Game of Thrones finale while FORBES did the same regarding the outcome of Breaking Bad, both occurring after the 2018 shift in betting markets. Meanwhile, urban music publishers VIBE and XXL have been telling U.S. readers where they can bet on celebrity murder trials and the like.
From CBS and ESPN to the Huffington Post and the Washington Post, offshore betting odds are referenced (and thus promoted) by the mainstream media, fueling confusion regarding the unregulated market. It may be for this reason that for the first time, the AGA chose to only report wagers made on legal platforms for Super Bowl 2025.
CAN YOU GET IN TROUBLE?
Again, because offshore sportsbooks are not licensed in the USA nor regulated by state lawmakers, they are technically not legal for U.S. residents to use.
Can you be arrested and charged for using one? Not likely, but the potential to be made an example of, does exist.
More than a decade ago, Federal prosecutors issued an indictment against executives of Bodog – one of the world’s biggest online sports betting platforms of the time. Bodog was temporarily shutdown for operating an illegal gambling business involving sports betting and conspiring to commit money laundering. The indictment disrupted offshore operations in the U.S. for a period, but after the dust settled the operator crept back into public view and reengaged U.S. players under the brand of Bovada. Although, recent class action lawsuits have been lodged against them among other offshore operators in U.S. states. While U.S. players have yet to be targeted in indictments, there is real potential for this to occur. Lawmakers may become frustrated in not being able to stop offshore gambling directly, and instead choose to strike fear in the hearts of U.S. players, cutting-off operators at their source of revenue.
It’s important to note that offshore sportsbooks place the onus of legality on you, the player. One of the most frequently used offshore sportsbook’s hides the following in their small print to skirt responsibility:
“Rest assured that as an international company, we are legally licensed and fully regulated. Wagering laws, however, may vary from country-to-country and state-to-state. It is important that each player checks with their local government to ensure it is acceptable to place an online wager.”
Risk of criminal prosecution aside, U.S players must also be mindful of tax law. Considering the billions of U.S. dollars wagered on the offshore market, it is not unrealistic to suggest that the IRS will one day crackdown on unclaimed winnings. And if cryptocurrency (primary form of account funding for offshore betting) becomes federally regulated, the likelihood of IRS intervention will increase exponentially.
HOW YOUR WELLNESS RISK IS GREATER
As alluded in the title of this article, the question of “Are offshore betting sites legal?” is not really the one you should be asking. Instead, ponder this; how much risk are you willing to accept by using them? The risk we’re referring to isn’t just about financial losses and near certain gambling debt. It’s about compromised mental and behavioral health.
While the risk of developing gambling disorder is unacceptably high for millions of vulnerable Americans (view vulnerabilities here and here) no matter which platform they gamble with, the threat is potentially higher when offshore operators are used. Below is a look at why.
Dark Pattern Designs
The term “dark pattern” is used to describe manipulative or outright deceptive customer acquisition and retention practices. Dark pattern features are commonplace in both the regulated and unregulated market of online sports betting, but are more flagrant in the latter and place you at greater risk of gambling more than ever intended. Below are the 10 dark patterns to watch out for when using any sports betting app or website:
- Quick and friction-free signup process
- False promises of “free” play
- Higher deposit and wager defaults than actually required
- Confusing or hidden rollover requirements
- Maximum payout and withdrawal limits
- Prompts to make parlay and/or place other bets than you initially didn’t intend to make
- Prompts to participate in live betting after making initial bets on a game/event
- Difficult to find unsubscribe and close account functions
- Accounts not completely closed after member requests closure or exclusion
- Player protections for problem gambling and self-exclusion features are hidden in fine print
View more on the dangers of dark pattern design in online sports betting.
They Don’t Care About Nor Invest in Problem Gambling Monitoring or Treatment Access
We have no qualms about being blunt in the following statement; offshore betting sites don’t care about your mental health. They do not offer players access to tools that help them limit time spent on their platforms or to set wager limits. They certainly don’t invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to identify when a player exhibits problematic gambling behavior. Lastly, they absolutely do not enter into partnerships and agreements with leading providers of problem gambling support services. Meanwhile. regulated operators including BetMGM (view details), DraftKings (view), and FanDuel (view) have all collaborated with Kindbridge to provide mental/behavioral health support for players who opt into self-exclusion.
Other Articles You May be Interested In:
- Dangers of Online Gambling with Offshore Sites
- Instagram Promoting Offshore Gambling Outside of Policy
- The Problem with Unregulated Betting
- Illegal Sports Betting Harmful to Mental Health
Online sports betting is problematic enough for millions of vulnerable Americans. Don’t let offshore operators complicate matters further by not offering the opportunity to be more mindful about your relationship with gambling.
Concerned About Your Relationship with Sports Betting?
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