Alaska Sports Betting: No Legal Alaska Bookies
Welcome to this page dedicated to Alaska sports betting. We will discuss the current laws regarding sports betting and other types of gambling in the state, as well as any legislation with the potential to legalize sports wagering. For now, there are no legal online bookmakers in Alaska, but we hope this changes soon.
- This Site Contains:
- Overview of Alaska Gambling Laws
- History of Gambling in Alaska
- The Risk of Illegal Betting Sites in Alaska
Sports betting in Alaska is not legal and there are few gambling alternatives available for Alaskans. Similar to other American states, Alaska banned gambling when it achieved statehood in 1959. The reason why the state has been reluctant to re-introduce it though differs from the situation in other states.
Firstly, Alaska’s economy is centered around the oil industry, which provides employment to 1/10th of the total Alaskan population or 77,600 people (as of 2018). Secondly, the state has one of the highest per capita income. Thus, there isn’t a financial incentive to bring legal gambling to Alaska and financial incentive has served as the main reason for legalization in other states.
Alaska Betting Sites: Legal Status of Alaska Bookmakers
There are no legal Alaska betting sites. You cannot wager on sporting events like football, baseball, basketball and the sort in Alaska. The state only makes an exception for pari-mutuel betting on dog mushing, and we will tell you more about that in the next section of the review.
Legal Options for Alaska Residents
Alaska online sports betting is not yet legal. There are, however, a few types of gambling that are allowed. For instance, charitable gaming is legal. Daily Fantasy Sports are unregulated but not illegal, so Alaskans are allowed to play.
There is another, unique to Alaska, type of gambling – betting on dog mushing. Dog mushing betting is a type of pari-mutuel betting, just like horse racing betting. However, there are fewer betting options. The state requires for a bet to include more than two categories, apart from picking the winner. Bettors can place a wager on the phone or in person.
Land Based Casinos and Sportsbooks in Alaska
Alaska has no brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, so punters who want to bet on dog mushing have to do it over the phone or visit the office of the event organizer or bet at the event itself. The state also prohibits casinos, including those on tribal lands, so there are only bingo halls.
Daily Fantasy Sports in Alaska
Daily Fantasy Sports allow the player to create a fantasy team composed of real athletes. Players make their selections based on statistical data, which is why DFS is considered to be a game of skill, rather than chance, which allows it to circumvent gambling bans in some American states.
This is the case in Alaska. Daily Fantasy Sports are not regulated, but they are not outright banned, which allows Alaskan players to partake in them. This legal situation is not unique to Alaska; there are many other states that are yet to regulate DFS.
| Betting Type | Legal | Regulatory Body |
|---|---|---|
| 🏈 Online Sports Betting | No | None |
| 🎰 Online Casinos | No | None |
| ⚾ Daily Fantasy Sports | No | None |
| 🏢 Land-Based Casinos | No | None |
| 🏨 Land-Based Sportsbooks | No | None |
| 🃏 Poker Rooms | No | None |
| 🏇 Racetrack Betting | No | None |
| 🎫 State-Sponsored Lottery | No | None |
Offshore Bookies in Alaska
Despite being widespread, offshore bookmakers are illegal. They are unlicensed, unregulated, and more importantly – illegal under both federal (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 or UIGEA) and state law. Do not visit them and do not bet there as this is a punishable offense.
Alaska Online Sports Betting: Pending Sports Betting Legislation
Alaska sports betting is currently at stealth mode since there are no current bills attempting to legalize it. Overall, there doesn’t appear to be any concentrated legal effort to push for legalization. However, there have been individual lawmakers proposing it, so we’re going to discuss them in the next section.
We will also discuss the previous attempts to legalize different types of gambling in the state. We will give you insight into these failed proposals and some reasons why they have failed. It’s important to understand the reasons behind a failure in order to accurately predict when AK sports betting can be legalized.
Prior Legalization Attempts
The most recent bills proposing to legalize sports betting in Alaska were HB246 and SB188, which were proposed in February 2020. Their content is identical, the only difference being that one was introduced in the House and another in the Senate. Both bills proposed the establishment of the Alaska Lottery Corporation.
The creation of a new regulator would have laid down the groundwork for the introduction of many types of gambling. Both bills mention that the Alaska Lottery Corporation would have had the power to conduct AK sports betting, keno, as well as sell tickets for the potential state lottery. Unfortunately, both bills expired due to session being cut short by Covid-19.
Current Legislation
There haven’t been any new legislative proposals since HB246 and SB188 failed to garner enough support. That’s why we’ll use this section to talk about legalization discussions rather than pending legislation. Perhaps the biggest sign of times changing came from Governor Mike Dunleavy.
He used his State of the State address on January 28, 2021 to push for a more self-sufficient economy, after President Joe Biden put a halt to oil and gas leasing on federal land. One of Gov. Dunleavy’s proposals was to legalize gaming and he himself introduced HB246. Although the bill died, the Governor is still adamant about legalization, which is at least promising.
- Increased tax revenue
- More jobs in Alaska
- Safer betting environment
- Potential regulatory issues
- Potential for increases in gambling addiction
- Won’t eliminate scam betting sites
What Legal Online Sports Betting Would Look Like in Alaska
When Alaska sports betting becomes legal, it’d require the establishment of a state authority to regulate it. Based on past proposals, the state regulator would likely be the Alaska Lottery Corporation (ALC). The ALC would allow some betting providers to operate in the state, leading to the creation of Alaska betting sites, mobile apps, and sportsbooks.
As we mentioned previously, Alaska’s economy is intrinsically tied to the oil industry, which might prove to be a problem in the future now that the US is slowly turning to green energy. Alaska needs to develop new industries that can help ease the transition.
The federal government can also use the additional tax revenue. Currently, there’s a 24% federal tax on winnings from gambling. Players who make above a certain sum, depending on the game, have to file the W2-G form.
Plans for Future Legalization of Online Betting Sites in Alaska
There have been several attempts to legalize Alaska sports betting in the past few years. The Alaska Governor, Mike Dunleavy, is also among the biggest proponents of legalization. The climate is right and we expect to hear new proposals this year, and perhaps even see Alaska online sports betting in the next few years.
The History of Gambling in Alaska
When Alaska became the 49th state in 1959, it officially banned gambling. Since then it has gradually allowed for some forms of gambling. However, the state is not solely to blame for the lack of a legal industry, because voters have rejected such measures twice. This is different from other states where voters were given the option to choose.
The reason why so many states have legalized sports betting in the last few years is a historic Supreme Court case called Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association. With the ruling on this case, the Supreme Court invalidated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).
PASPA banned sports betting on a federal level, but the Supreme Court decided in 2018 that this act violated the US Constitution. States were then allowed to legalize sports betting on their own.
Potential Licensing Requirements
Currently, Alaska has no state authority regulating gambling, because it has no legal industry. Once sports betting in Alaska becomes legal though, it would necessitate the establishment of one. At least two previous have proposed the creation of the Alaska Lottery Corporation, which would oversee the potential state lottery and sports betting.
The first job of the Alaska Lottery Corporation would be to license betting operators in the state by selling them licenses for a fee. It would then regulate gambling activity by making sure the rules are abided to. Shall any issue arise, the wronged party could contact the Alaska Lottery Corporation.
The only way for Alaskan players to gamble safely is by having a legal and regulated industry, which is not currently the case. Since you can’t legally wager on sports events in the state, Alaska online sports betting only takes place on unregulated betting sites.
As an Alaskan bettor, you have no legal options to bet on your favorite sporting events, but don’t let that lead you to Black market sites. They are illegal under the UIGEA and if you have any disputes with the provider, you would have no legal recourse since there isn’t a regulatory body to resolve the issue.
Black Market Bookmakers Operating in Alaska
Non-licensed bookmakers in Alaska are illegal under federal law. The UIGEA makes it a punishable offense to operate an illegal betting site. It also makes it illegal for offshore betting sites to operate in the US and for Americans to bet at them. Don’t risk being arrested by betting illegally.
Even if you never get caught gambling illegally, there are other problems that may arise from your activities. For one, you might become a victim of data breach. Your personal information is never safe at illegal websites, so you should consider this before you bet at such a website.
An illegal website can also never promise you that the games are not rigged, since they are unregulated and lack an external oversight by a local gambling authority. What’s more, you might also never see your winnings if the provider refuses to pay them out.
If any of these things happen at a regulated site, you’d be able to pursue legal action, but since there’s no regulatory body to resolve the dispute, you’d be left with no legal recourse. This is why we advise you against visiting illegal online betting sites in Alaska. It’s never worth it.
- ⛔️ 1XBet
- ⛔️ Bovada
- ⛔️ BetOnline
- ⛔️ BetDSI
- ⛔️ SportsBetting.ag
- ⛔️ CarbonGaming.ag
- ⛔️ MyBookie
- ⛔️ BetUS
- ⛔️ Xbet
- ⛔️ 22bet
- ⛔️ 5Dimes
Conclusion – Alaska Betting Sites are Illegal
In this overview of sports betting in Alaska, we discussed the current laws regarding Alaska sports betting, the prior legalization attempts, the future of sports betting in the state and the history of gambling so far. We hope this webpage helped you understand every little nuance of the present legal situation.
To summarize, Alaska betting sites are illegal. There are no legal brick-and-mortar sportsbooks either. The only way for Alaskans to wager on sporting events is to do it at Black market sites, but we hope we made it clear as to how dangerous they can be, so you never think about visiting them.
Despite the strict current laws, we remain hopeful that the situation would change in the next few years. There have been numerous attempts to legalize sports betting, the last two being in 2020, so we hope they are realized soon enough.
Once there are any new developments in this continuing saga, we will update this page to notify you. In the meantime, as an Alaskan gambler, you can play Daily Fantasy Sports, partake in charitable gaming or bet on dog mushing.
FAQs
Thank you for reading our overview of Alaska sports betting laws! We hope you found this review to be comprehensive and exhaustive. We would also like to show you the most common questions and answers below if you have a specific inquiry. In case we missed something, you can always contact us.