Guide to Arizona online casinos & gambling

In this state, gambling is regulated by the Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) and the relevant provisions are quite scattered, meaning they are not all gathered in one place. However, the general rule is this: all forms of gambling are illegal unless clearly stated to be legal by law. In other words, there are pretty strict legal provisions, which means that if you are looking for the best online casino in Arizona, you should focus on internet casinos instead. Because as we will discuss in detail below, it is not possible to open online casinos in Arizona for real money, and even the options for land-based casinos are quite limited.

There are three commissions in this state that govern and supervise the legal forms of gambling. To list them briefly:

• Arizona Racing Commission (governs horse racing and dog racing, 19 A.A.C. 02)
• Arizona State Lottery Commission (administers the state lottery, 19 A.A.C. 03)
• Department of Gaming (regulates charity & amusement gambling operators, 19 A.A.C. 04)

In fact, this list also shows what forms of gambling are considered legal in the state. You can bet on horse racing or dog racing in Arizona. You can participate in the state lottery legally. As we will explain below, you can also play casino games and place sports bets at land-based casinos in tribe territories. But that's all: there are no legal Arizona online casinos, and even legal forms of gambling are not allowed to be offered online.

The law also allows games of chance for “amusement” or “charity” purposes. Charity gambling, as one might expect, consists of games in which the proceeds are used for social good; for example, a church might organize bingo, keno, or raffle without a license. Amusement gambling, on the other hand, is a somewhat complicated activity to define: only games where the prize is not used as a “lure” to separate players from their money are allowed (provided a license is obtained). For example, a pub can run a football pool by obtaining a license from the Department of Gaming. However, there should be no cover charge and the pub staff should not participate in the pool in any way. Additionally, no side bets should be offered.

In this regard, raffle, bingo, and keno terminals are also allowed in Arizona pubs, but there are quite strict restrictions on all of these. In any case, you will not be able to find land-based casinos, sports betting booths, and casino sites on state territory: simply put, there are no online casinos in Arizona. You can find offline versions of almost every form of gambling in tribe lands, but unlike most states, tribe casino owners do not offer their services online. In other words, even operators of land-based casino sites do not launch online casinos in Arizona. Violating these regulations is considered a class 5 felony or a class 2 misdemeanor and is subject to different sanctions.

Since they do not comply with legal requirements, it is not possible to consider traditional casino table games such as roulette and craps within the scope of amusement gambling. For the same reason, they are not considered legal within state borders. Physical and electronic versions of games such as bingo and keno are allowed under the raffle gambling conditions we explained above, but if you want to play American roulette, for example, you will not be able to find legal Arizona online casinos where you can do this.

However, you can find all types of table games, including roulette, in tribe casinos located within the state borders but in regions that are considered autonomous lands. Remember that you must be at least 21 years old to enter these casinos. Also, remember that even if there are no Arizona online gambling sites where you can play online versions of roulette and table games, you can still do so at internet casinos.

Although it was claimed that slot machines would be within the scope of raffle gambling, local legislators did not think so and declared them illegal. There is no place to play land-based slot machines in Arizona (other than tribal lands), and you won’t be able to find any Arizona online casinos that offer online forms of these games. Once again, you should choose internet casinos to play online, and go to tribe casinos to play land-based versions.

However, most pubs and local businesses are pushing the definitive borders of their right to offer raffle machines. Some of these games are quite like traditional fruit machines. That being said, they are not a slot game in the traditional sense and their payments are mostly made with discount coupons valid only at their location. In practice, we can safely say that slot machines are also considered illegal in Arizona. But there is no law that prohibits you from playing them in internet casinos or penalizes players for such an action.

To tell the truth, this situation is due to the laziness of the legislators. Although there are many provisions punishing illegal gambling, they are all for land-based activities, there is no current and modern legal regulation on online gambling.

The lottery is legal and bingo games are also allowed under charity gambling. So, if the money collected will be used for a social benefit, you can even organize bingo tournaments. However, casino-type bingo games are illegal and there are no Arizona online gambling sites that offer them. Once again, you can find some forms of keno and bingo games at tribal casinos, but as long as you stay within state lines, you won't be able to find anything other than bingo games organized by churches and clubs.

The Arizona State Lottery has been held since 1981 and the proceeds are used for public benefit. You must be at least 21 years old to participate. Otherwise, your prize will not be awarded even if you win. It is estimated to generate $4 million a week from ticket sales and is the largest legal gambling event in the state. Draw games include Powerball, Mega Millions, Triple Twist, Pick 3, The Pick, and Fantasy 5. Scratch cards are also offered for sale as part of the lottery, and there are also some fast-play games with progressive jackpots. You cannot purchase tickets to draw games online or find any Arizona online casinos that sell them. This also applies to scratch cards and fast-play games. All forms of lottery games can be purchased in the form of physical tickets from authorized retailers. The official lottery site only shows the addresses of these retailers and lists the winning numbers.

Poker is a legal exception in many US states that strictly prohibit gambling because it is considered a game of skill, but unfortunately, Arizona is not one of them. Like other forms of gambling, poker is considered illegal, and this also applies to online poker. There are no poker rooms or clubs within the state, nor are there any legal Arizona online casinos that offer this game.

If you want to play poker in a real casino, you can go to tribal land-based casinos. If you want to play online poker, you can choose any internet casino we recommend. There are no regulations preventing players from playing online poker (or other online casino games), nor do state officials try to prevent this activity. You can join any online casino that accepts US players, and if you're wondering which ones are the best, you can check out the list we shared in the beginning.

Almost all US states have lands belonging to tribes and they are subject to their own special laws, meaning that they may have different legal regulations than the state they are in. 26% of Arizona consists of tribe lands, and all of them have legalized all types of land-based gambling (casino games & sports betting). So, you cannot find real money online casinos in Arizona, but you can still play games in land-based casinos.

Currently, there are 25 casinos in Arizona controlled by 16 tribes. The Department of Gaming has no control over these. They are controlled by the National Indian Gaming Commission and sports betting services are also offered within the casino buildings. Since these are Class III casinos, they must offer a minimum payout rate of 80 or 83% (80% for non-skill games, 83% for skill games). However, keno games are outside this limit and the payout value for them can be as low as 75%.

You can see the locations and names of these casinos on the map on the Department of Gaming website. Don't be surprised if some of them have familiar names like BetMGM, the casinos are still owned by local tribes, but they can leave the management to third parties. Technically they could choose to offer their services online, meaning they could open Arizona online casinos (there is no law preventing this), but they don't seem to be interested in that since they are not able to accept members from outside Arizona due to federal laws. Geographically, they are very close to Nevada, so you can reach Las Vegas casinos too, by traveling for just a few more hours.