Arizona sports gambling online & the law – is it legal?
In this article, we will learn about sports betting online in Arizona, such as its legality, history, and stipulations. We also discuss the various sports betting locations you can choose from to participate in Arizona sports gambling. Read on to learn key information about sports betting in Arizona and its legality.
Best Offshore Sportsbooks for Arizona sports gambling
Here are some of the best offshore sportsbooks for Arizona sports gambling. Discover the thrill of online betting and explore the possibilities within the limits of the law. With a wide range of options available, you can wager on your favorite sports teams and events with convenience and excitement.
Whether you're a seasoned bettor or new to the game, these offshore sportsbooks offer user-friendly platforms, attractive bonuses, and a variety of betting options to enhance your experience.
Take advantage of the opportunity to engage in Arizona sports gambling online and enjoy the thrill of the game from the comfort of your own home.
Article at a glance
Through hard work and compromise, sports betting is legal in Arizona but is not expected to go live until the fall.
Of course, sports betting is not legal for all Arizona residents because there are eligibility requirements.
As long as you meet these requirements, you will have up to 20 sports betting options in Arizona.
Is sports betting legal in Arizona?
As of April 12th, 2021, sports betting is legal in Arizona, both at physical locations and online.
Of course, there are some standard stipulations, such as age requirements and location, but most of these stipulations are the same for sports betting in any other state. Online sports betting is anticipated to go live on September 9th this year.
Arizona sports gambling laws and stipulations
As with any other state, Arizona sports betting comes with various laws and stipulations to be aware of.
Most importantly, in order to place bets in Arizona, you must be eligible to bet. More so, the law placed stipulations on sportsbooks and their partners.
Age requirement
The most obvious eligibility factor is age. Only those over the age of 21 are allowed to bet.
If you are under the age of 21, you are not eligible for sports betting in Arizona. Some smaller states have the eligibility age at 18, but the majority have it at 21.
Location
Another stipulation around sports betting in Arizona is that you must be inside the state.
Even if you are an Arizona citizen, you will not be able to place wagers if you are not physically located within a state that allows sports gambling.
For example, an Arizona native that travels to Tennessee will still be able to place sports bets since sports betting is legal in both states.
However, that same Arizona native will not be able to place sports bets if they travel to New Mexico where sports betting is not yet legalized.
Even if you travel to another state where sports betting is legalized, you won’t be using Arizona sportsbooks anymore.
Instead, you will be using sportsbooks licensed in that state. So, if you travel to Tennessee, you will be using Tennessee licensed sportsbooks, not Arizona licensed sportsbooks.
Other stipulations
In addition to there being stipulations about who can place Arizona bets, there are also stipulations about what types of bets you can place.
For example, it is completely legal to place college and professional sports bets. However, it will be illegal to place college prop bets on individual players or performances.
There are also some stipulations on the organizations that can be licensed. There will only be 20 total licenses available.
Up to 10 will be associated with professional sports franchises, whereas the other 10 will be associated with tribes that are federally recognized but located in the state. More so, every organization that is licensed must allow both brick-and-mortar betting and two online brands.
So, there will be physical betting options as well as online ones. Every pro sports team will only be allowed one on-premises sportsbook and a second location nearby.
How can I bet on sports in Arizona?
In order to bet on sports in Arizona, you will need to find a sportsbook licensed in Arizona that you love.
Once again, there will be a total of 20 license sportsbooks in the state. It is up to you to select which one you want to use.
Currently, we have a good projection about which options you have to choose from.
We recommend researching all of these sportsbooks so that you can select the best online sportsbooks for you and your betting needs.
DraftKings
DraftKings is a leading sports betting site in the nation.
DraftKings is known for having a great app with great odds. PGA will be the site’s license partner and TPC Scottsdale will be its Arizona retail partner. Its projected launch date is in the fall of 2021.
FanDuel
Fandel is another sportsbook that is loved throughout the nation.
It has a phenomenal app and killer bonuses.
NBA Phoenix Suns will be the license partner while the Phoenix Suns arena will be the retail partner. The projected launch date is in the fall of 2021.
Caesars Sports
Associated with the Caesars franchise, Caesars Sports will be licensed in the state with a license partner MLB and retail partner Arizona Diamondbacks.
People prefer Caesars because of their many betting options. Its projected launch date is in fall 2021.
William Hill
William Hill has been around for many years, making it a betting site with a long history.
In Arizona, its license partner will be the Ak-Chin Indian Community and its retail partner will be Harrah’s Ak-Chin. Fall 2021 is its projected launch date.
Bally Bet
Bally Bet isn’t quite as popular as some of the other options, but it is still a great sports betting provider. Its license partner will be the WNBA and its retail partner will be the Phoenix Mercury.
It is projected to launch in the fall of 2021.
Unibet
Unibet will have the Quechan Tribe as its Arizona license partner and the Quechan Casino Resort as its retail partner. Currently, Unibet is projected to launch in the fall of this year.
WynnBET Sportsbook
WynnBET Sportsbook is partnered with the San Carlos Apache tribe and the Apache Gold Casino Resort as the license partner and retail partner, respectively.
Fall 2021 is the projected launch date.
PointsBet
PointsBet may be lower on this list, but it is another sportsbook site that is super popular around the nation.
Its license partner will be the Yavapai-Apache Nation and its retail partner will be the Cliff Castle Casino. Fall 2021 is its projected launch date.
Barstool Sportsbook
Barstool Sportsbook is a site that is loved by sports bettors and non-sports bettors alike for its great features, resources, and all things sports focus.
It will have NASCAR as its license partner and the Phoenix Raceway as its retail partner. Fall 2021 is its projected launch date.
BetMGM
BetMGM is easily one of the best online sportsbook providers in the nation.
It is currently estimated that their land-based partner will be the Gila River Indian Community, though this is not set in stone yet.
Their launch date will be in the fall of 2021.
Other sportsbooks coming to Arizona
Some of the other projected sportsbooks to come to Arizona include the following:
- Betfred
- BetRivers
- FOX Bet
- Golden Nugget
- Sportsbetting.com
- theScore Bet
Currently, very little information is known about who these sportsbooks will partner with or where they will be located. Their launch date is also to be determined.
So, be on the lookout for more information about these particular sportsbooks.
Other offshore betting options
Of course, the sportsbooks that are licensed in Arizona are not the only sportsbooks available.
You also have the choice to place bets at offshore sportsbooks, as long as the offshore sportsbook you select allows betting from Arizona.
Even though there are many offshore betting options to choose from, we recommend being very careful about which option you select.
Five offshore betting options to check out include Bovada, MyBookie, BetOnline, Sportsbetting, and Xbet. All five of these sites allow online sports betting from Arizona and are considered reputable and safe.
A word of caution about offshore sites
If you choose to bet from an offshore betting site, it’s important to select a sportsbook that is reliable and trustworthy.
What makes offshore betting options different from the other options we mentioned is that they are not overseen or regulated by the United States government.
As a result, offshore sites can be very dangerous if you select one that is not reputable and trustworthy. Bad sites may not pay you what you are due or they could easily be hacked, leading to personal information being leaked.
We specifically mentioned the five offshore sites above because they allow Arizona online betting.
At the same time, these sites have great reputations so that you don’t have to worry about getting scammed out of your money or personal information.
Arizona sports teams to bet on
If you are interested in betting on professional sports teams specifically, there are several Arizona teams you can bet on. Here is a list of professional Arizona sports teams to be on the lookout for:
- NBA: Phoenix Suns, FanDuel partner
- WNBA: Phoenix Mercury, Bally Bet partner
- MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks, Caesars partner
- NASCAR: Phoenix Raceway, Barstool Sportsbook partner
- PGA: TPC Scottsdale, DraftKings partner
- NFL: Arizona Cardinals
- NHL: Phoenix Coyotes
As you can see, there are not quite ten professional sports teams within the state.
As a result, there is room for more expansion for more sports betting options in the future since 10 sportsbooks associated with professional sports are permitted.
Plus, there are some rumors that MLS will expand with Phoenix Rising. Perhaps, they will end up partnering with another sportsbook site, as well as the Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Coyotes.
Available betting markets in Arizona
Simply put, a betting market is a type of bet that a sportsbook offers.
The most common betting markets include moneyline, spread, futures, and parlays. Sportsbooks get to select which markets they provide within the laws of the state.
As we learned above, there were some stipulations about what sort of bets you can place.
Luckily, there are still tons of potential betting markets for Arizona bettors. Most of the favorite types of bets will be accepted, such as moneyline, spread, over/under, live/in-game, and parlays.
Some prop bets will be offered as well. That being said, there are some stipulations about prop bets placed on individuals in college sports. You will be able to place bets based on whole season performance, though.
The history of betting in Arizona
Arizona has historically been a state to accept forms of gambling pretty quickly.
For example, Arizona accepted the lottery very quickly.
In fact, the Arizona lottery dates back to 1980. Similarly, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 allowed the state tribes to offer on-reservation casinos.
Today, there are over 20 casinos active on Arizona tribal lands.
Most of these casinos are not as comprehensive as establishments found in Vegas and other large gambling cities. However, they offer some of the most loved games, such as blackjack.
Of course, there were ups and downs between Arizona’s early gambling history and today.
For example, there were quite a few new rules introduced in the 1990s that ended up leading to FBI raids in tribal casinos.
Luckily, things ended up working out at the end so that Arizona bettors could enjoy casinos in peace.
Sports betting is growing in popularity in the nation
It was not until this year that Arizona casinos could accept sports gambling.
In 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional, which then opened the floodgates for sports gambling acceptance throughout the nation.
Ever since 2018, the state of Arizona began working to pursue legalizing sports betting within the state.
It actually took a total of three years in order to achieve this goal of legalization. The biggest issue that Arizona faced was finding a compromise to please both local tribes and off-reservation betting options.
Creating a compromise
Initially, tribal casinos were against the idea of sports betting.
However, they were looking to expand their retail spaces and gaming libraries, which have previously been constructed due to prohibition in the state.
As a result, tribal representatives agreed for there to be 10 tribal licenses and 10 pro sports team licenses available for sports betting.
In exchange, the tribal casinos were allowed to expand as desired. Hence, all parties were really pleased with the compromise.
Getting sports betting legalized in Arizona
Even with the tribal casinos on board, there was still a lot of work to do in order to get sports betting legalized in Arizona.
By 2021, the proposed bill was written out, but it faced some resistance. Committee Chair Dave Gowan wanted to pass a rival bill that tribal casinos did not support.
Through the work of Senator T.J. Shoppe, the agreed-upon bill which described the compromise was pass through the committee so that it could be approved. Hence, the Arizona State Senate voted in favor of the new bill on April 12, 2021.
There was a 23-6 margin. Governor Doug Ducey signed the bill into state law just three days later on the 15th.
Per the writing, the goal is to have both retail and online sports betting locations up and running by this fall.
They estimate that the go-live date will be on September 9th, but that estimation may be off by a few days or so. Either way, it seems that all sports betting options in Arizona will be opened by or around football season.
FAQs
The most asked questions about Arizona sports gambling online answered below.
Is it legal to bet on sports in Arizona?
Yes. As of April 15, 2021, sports betting is legal in Arizona.
However, sports betting in the state does not launch until the fall of the same year.
More specifically, it is estimated that sports betting will launch on September 9, 2021.
So, even though it is currently legal in Arizona, there are still no sports betting options available until the launch date.
When will online sportsbooks be up-and-running in Arizona?
Whenever legislature about sports betting was put into writing, it was estimated that the launch date will be on September 9, 2021.
However, that date may come sooner or slightly later, depending on how everything works out.
Either way, most sites project online sportsbooks to be up and running in fall 2021.
How old do I have to be to place sports bets in Arizona?
In order to place sports bets in Arizona, you must be 21 years or older.
Anyone under the age of 21 is not eligible for sports betting in the state.
Additionally, keep in mind that you have to be located within the state lines of Arizona in order to place bets on Arizona licensed sportsbooks.
How do sportsbooks know you are located in the state when placing bets online?
Because Arizona bettors must be placed within state lines in order to place bets, all Arizona sportsbooks will have geolocation technology.
This technology uses your electronic device’s internal GPS chip and pinpoints your location.
This confirms that you are in the state of Arizona, without compromising your personal information or any other unwanted scenario.
How can I fund my Arizona online sports betting?
How you fund your Arizona sports betting will depend on the site you select.
However, most sports betting sites in other states allow various forms of deposits, such as ACH/eCheck, paper check, PayPal, debit cards, online transfer, Play+ cards, cash at the casino, and PayNearMe.
References
https://sportshandle.com/arizona/
https://www.usbets.com/arizona-sports-betting/
Relevant news
BetUS Legal in Texas: The Truth About Gambling in the Lone Star State
I remember when the topic of online gambling first came up in a conversation with…
Is Offshore Sports Betting Legal in Texas? What You Need to Know
I remember when I first stumbled upon the world of sports betting. It was during…
The Tar Heel Turf: The Evolving Landscape of North Carolina Sports Betting (Updated for January 6, 2024)
NC sports betting update January 2024: The Tar Heel State is in the midst of…
The Expansion of Sports Betting Apps: States That Have Legalized it by 2024
Sports betting has experienced a significant surge in popularity in recent years. With the convenience…
Sports Betting Laws by State
Sports betting has grown immensely in popularity over the last decade, becoming a billion-dollar industry…
Is Bovada Legal in California 2024?
Is Bovada Legal in California? Yes, Bovada is legal in California because it is an…