This is yet another frequently asked question we like to tackle, if there are sportsbooks online which are based in the US. The short answer is that at this time there are no real American sportsbooks online. The keyword here is “real” since a recent development in Nevada has seen some of the traditional Las Vegas sportsbooks offering sports betting, but the options are very limited – only residents of Nevada can place bets at those sportsbooks on the internet. While Nevada residents can easily place bets online, residents of other US states are prohibited from opening an account and betting with those sportsbooks.
In addition to the online versions of the Vegas sportsbooks, there is another form of American online sportsbooks (or should we say betting websites) and those are the racebooks. There are a few major players in the American online racebook scene, most notable being TwinSpires, the Louisville Kentucky based racetrack famous for the first leg of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby. Those American online sportsbooks take only wagers on horse races and while they are legal in the USA to operate, they don’t allow all Americans to bet on horse racing. Depending on the racebook, residents of some states are not allowed to open betting accounts.
Ironically, some of the most popular offshore sportsbooks, while not based in the U.S., are owned by Americans, as far as we know. Bookmaker and 5Dimes are both claimed to be owned by expats, but those sportsbooks are not based in USA, but their entire operations are located in Central America, hence the offshore part.
Will there ever be American online sportsbooks? Sure, as we have already seen, there re the Las Vegas sportsbooks which are moving online. At this time limited to just Nevada, which doesn’t really qualify them to be considered US online sportsbooks, but the direction is one for opening their doors to all Americans, or at least for those states which allow some form of gambling, besides the state-sponsored lotteries. Time will only tell how long until we see licensed and regulated Vegas sportsbooks allowing players form other states.