The seven online casino regulators we cover
Seven states have licensed online casino operators: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Each regulator keeps its own list and publishes it in its own way. The table shows the agency, the list it publishes where one exists, and the day we read it.
| State | Regulator | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | Gaming Division | Regulator page |
| Delaware | Delaware Lottery | Regulator page |
| Michigan | Michigan Gaming Control Board | Regulator page |
| New Jersey | Division of Gaming Enforcement | Regulator page |
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board | Regulator page |
| Rhode Island | Rhode Island Lottery | Regulator page |
| West Virginia | West Virginia Lottery Commission | Regulator page |
Each agency has a page of its own with the facts above and what its list shows: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Two of those sites, Michigan's and West Virginia's, did not answer our client on November 11, 2026, so their counts come from other public sources and are marked as such.
Gaming board or lottery: why the difference matters
The seven agencies fall into three shapes.
- Gaming boards. Pennsylvania and Michigan each have a Gaming Control Board whose main job is gambling oversight.
- A division inside a larger department. New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement sits within the Office of the Attorney General. Connecticut's Gaming Division sits within the Department of Consumer Protection.
- Lotteries. The Delaware Lottery and the Rhode Island Lottery are state-run, and West Virginia's regulator is its Lottery Commission. In these states the agency that runs the state lottery also oversees the licensed casino operators.
What a resident can look up differs with the shape. Pennsylvania and New Jersey publish documents that name each holder. A lottery-run state may publish less, as Rhode Island does: its Lottery publishes no operator list page that we found, and its FAQ names only Bally's properties for online casino play.
Sports betting and poker regulators
Online poker is regulated by the same agencies that handle online casino play, as industry trackers describe it: Nevada's Gaming Control Board covers Nevada, and New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia and Delaware use the agencies in the table. The online poker states page sets out who is live.
Sports betting is wider. Industry trackers list 31 states plus the District of Columbia with statewide online sports betting, and the agencies vary more than for casino play. The list below follows those trackers, so it is secondary information and should be checked against each state's own site:
| State | Regulator, as trackers list it |
|---|---|
| Arizona | Department of Gaming |
| Colorado | Division of Gaming |
| Illinois | Gaming Board |
| Indiana | Gaming Commission |
| Iowa | Racing and Gaming Commission |
| Kentucky | Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation |
| Louisiana | Gaming Control Board |
| Maryland | Lottery and Gaming Control Agency |
| Massachusetts | Gaming Commission |
| Nevada | Gaming Control Board |
| New York | State Gaming Commission |
| North Carolina | State Lottery Commission |
| Ohio | Casino Control Commission |
| Oregon | Lottery |
| Tennessee | Sports Wagering Council |
| Virginia | Lottery |
The full picture, with the retail-only states, is on the sports betting states page. Several of these agencies are lotteries, and a few are racing bodies, which shows how little the structure is standardized.
Why no federal regulator exists
The statutes on federal gambling reach businesses and payment flows. None of the ones we read creates a license or a body that approves operators. The 2018 Supreme Court decision in Murphy v. NCAA states the arrangement: Congress "can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own." The statutes themselves are summarized on the federal gambling law page.
Every license in the table above therefore comes from a state, and each state keeps its own list.
Reading a regulator's list
Lists differ in what they print. New Jersey prints permit numbers and names. Pennsylvania prints certificateholders, operators, websites and start dates but no numbers. Connecticut and Delaware describe operators on web pages instead of a downloadable file. The license check guide walks through the New Jersey and Pennsylvania lists line by line, and the state status table shows where each state stands.
Frequently asked questions
Is there one national online casino regulator?
No. Each licensing state has its own agency, and none of the federal statutes we read creates a national one.
Who regulates a sweepstakes casino?
No state gambling regulator licenses sweepstakes casinos. State attorneys general and some gaming regulators have acted against them, and the sweepstakes register records those actions.
Where is the official list of licensed operators?
On the regulator's own site. Each state's page here links the list where the regulator publishes one.