Vegas Online Gambling Guide For 2024
Las Vegas is world-renowned for its flashy, iconic casinos, hotels, and concert venues. However, if you’re looking for Las Vegas online gambling, that’s the one thing you won’t really find locally. Due to various domestic gaming laws and decades of tradition – as well as an industry based on the almighty tourism dollar – real-money online casino games aren’t a thing in Sin City, while online sports betting and poker options are limited to Nevada’s borders.
Of course, you no longer have to gamble in Vegas – or at any other brick-and-mortar casino venue anywhere in America – to get the real Vegas experience. Ever since the 1990s, legal online casino, sports betting, and poker action have been available over the Internet. These sites allow US players – usually at just 18 and up – to gamble online safely, legally, and conveniently.
Las Vegas Online Casinos
If you fire up your computer or mobile device and look for things like Vegas online casinos, Vegas slots online, online Vegas blackjack, online Las Vegas live-dealer casino games, online bingo in Las Vegas, and so on, you’re going to come up craps every time.
In Las Vegas, iGaming – that is, real-money online casino gambling – is illegal. Of course, this applies only to domestic operators. You can actually play Vegas-style online gambling games – made by the same casino software developers that design all the electronic casino games in Vegas itself – at any top-rated online gambling site.
The venues included in our Vegas online casino reviews are all reputable, established, first-class destinations. With hundreds of audited, certified RNG (random number generation) titles and live-dealer casino games, these sites offer all the thrills of the real deal and then some. The only thing missing is the comped drinks!
Las Vegas Online Sportsbooks
Las Vegas has long been recognized as the sports betting capital of the world, but with the overturn of PASPA in 2018, that’s no longer true. Every US state can now authorize domestic retail and online sports betting, and more than half of them have already done so.
Still, even when PASPA was in effect, US residents could place all the same wagers – and many more – online at the best international Vegas online sportsbooks. If you’re actually in Sin City, the best sportsbooks in Vegas are definitely worth a visit, but you can get all the traditional “Vegas betting odds” with offshore betting operators.
These sites feature all the standard Vegas bets along with custom prop builders, live sports betting options, and more. Our Vegas online sportsbook reviews break each service’s playbook down in detail so you can get in the game from anywhere in America.
Las Vegas Online Poker Rooms
Since the late 1990s, poker tournaments in Las Vegas haven’t just offered big money to players, they’ve been big business in the entertainment world. And as the Internet came to households across the country, Las Vegas online poker came online with it.
These were the online gambling sites that started it all, bringing Las Vegas poker rooms to your living room right through the old dial-up modem. And as the times changed, online poker changed with them. In the early 2000s, the best sites all moved offshore, but the Vegas vibe remained all in.
If you want to play Vegas-style poker cash games, the sites featured in our Las Vegas poker room reviews deal you in 24/7. They also have million-dollar events that rival the biggest Vegas poker tournaments, and all the classics you expect – like Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha, and Omaha Hi-Lo – are on hand.
Las Vegas Online Gambling Laws
Locally, the gambling laws in Las Vegas are extremely complex. That said, they’re so entrenched in the fabric of the industry that most US states passing expanded gambling legislation use Vegas casinos, sportsbooks, and poker rooms as their models. At least, that’s true when it comes to the brick-and-mortar gambling market.
Over the Internet, it’s a different story, and the online gambling laws in Las Vegas have both state-based and federal restrictions that affect the kinds of action available to players inside and outside Nevada. These include the following (as PASPA is no longer relevant):
The local Las Vegas gambling laws are codified in a tome larger than any person could ever read, but the short version is this: Las Vegas sports betting is allowed online, as is Las Vegas poker.
However, there are no online casinos in Vegas or anywhere else in Nevada. Also, you have to be at least 21 years of age to gamble in most NV markets. And unfortunately, none of these laws is likely to change anytime soon.
Outside of the lack of Las Vegas casino online options (which is a reality fully within NV’s control), online gambling in Las Vegas is limited by two main laws, both of which are briefly explained below.
These US gambling laws apply to all states, and their effects are a double-edged sword in terms of industry growth inside Nevada and throughout the United States.
- Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (2006)
The UIGEA law was enacted to prevent US-based financial institutions and payment services from “knowingly” processing gambling-based transactions to and from unauthorized gambling enterprises.
This mandate works in tandem with various local NV laws to prevent US residents in other states from gambling at Vegas online sportsbooks and – in most cases – at Vegas online poker rooms/card rooms.
However, despite it’s scary-sounding and intentionally misleading name, the UIGEA does not target individual gamblers in any way, and it does not apply to online Las Vegas betting sites based outside of America, such as those listed here.
- Interstate Wire Act (1961)
The Wire Act prevents bookmakers from accepting sports gambling wagers across state lines via telephone, Internet, carrier pigeon, etc. As such, no resident in a given state may place a remote sports wager with a licensed bookie in any other state.
Annoyingly, the DOJ routinely “adjusts” the Wire Act’s scope to potentially cover other forms of gambling. Thus, no state with legal iGaming allows residents of other states to play online casino games or online poker games hosted within its borders.
The Wire Act does not criminalize offshore gambling in any way, however, as it focuses only on domestic operators.
Vegas Online Gambling Vs Retail Gambling
Nothing can replace the allure and the visceral experience of Las Vegas. If you’re a gambler, you owe it to yourself to make the trek to Sin City at least once in your life. There’s nowhere else on Earth quite like it.
However, as the world turns and Internet entertainment and commerce get more prevalent, there are some ways in which Vegas just can’t compete with the online space. For our money, online Vegas-style gambling is a superior product in most respects.
The brick-and-mortar experience has its own benefits, of course, such as world-class resorts, spas, restaurants, magic shows, and so on. But for casual and serious gamblers alike, the in-person element really can’t compare to the access afforded by online gaming.
Vegas Online Gambling Benefits
- Unrivaled convenience – Play from anywhere in the US, anytime, on any computer or mobile device. Sites are designed with iPhones, iPads, and Androids in mind, and they work right through any web browser. Plus, there’s no geofencing! Vegas casinos are open 24/7, but online Vegas casinos are open 24/7 and are accessible from everywhere.
- No extra price to play – To gamble in Vegas, you’ve got to get to That means plane tickets or endless tanks of gas, a huge premium on your time (and time, as they say, is money), big food bills, huge drink tabs, lodging accommodations, and more. Online, all you’ve got to worry about is your Internet or wireless bill. Think about the money you’ll save – and then bet with it!
- Increased user privacy – Despite the old ad campaign, nothing that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. However, when you gamble with reputable international betting sites, your privacy is guaranteed through cutting-edge encryption and data security standards.
- Bet with cryptocurrency – No real Vegas gambling venue accepts Bitcoin/crypto deposits or supports Bitcoin/crypto withdrawals. If you want blockchain security and same-day payouts – or just want to take advantage of crypto investing with your winnings – there’s nothing cryptic about online gambling!
- Valuable promotions – Forget comped drinks and free hotel rooms. Those are great, but the best gambling bonuses are only available online at the Vegas-style sites featured here. You can double or even triple your bankroll before you ever place your first bet, and crypto earns even bigger rewards.
- Access to all markets – Some Vegas online casino venues are strictly limited to casino games, while others include sportsbooks, poker rooms, and even horse racing betting options. Join as many sites as you like, bet on whatever you want, and never miss a beat. Just make sure you miss those bad beats!
The History Of Las Vegas Gambling
The City That Never Sleeps. The City of Second Chances. The Entertainment Capital of the World. The Neon Capital of the World. The City of Lights. Sin City. You know the place. As a gambler, you can’t not know the place!
Over the years, these Las Vegas nicknames have more than proved themselves apropos, as the Nevada mainstay is lauded the world over for its first-class destination gambling venues and “anything goes” attitude. It’s a bit of the Old West in the New West.
Gambling in Las Vegas got its start in 1905 when the city was founded, but legal Vegas gambling didn’t appear until 1931. However, in 1934, serious crackdowns on the pastime hit the streets. It wasn’t until the mid-1940s that the true allure and power of the gambling industry came to bear, and ever since, Las Vegas has been inexorably tied to gambling itself.
Today, casino gambling is what Vegas is mostly known for. If you’re traveling through the western US, chances are you’re going to stop at a Las Vegas casino for a night or two. There are more Vegas casinos in and around Paradise, NV, than there are gambling houses in any other US state combined, and Las Vegas casino hotels are major tourist destinations.
But Vegas isn’t really on the cutting edge of gambling these days. For example, online casino games are not legal in Nevada like they are in several other states (and at all offshore online casino sites). Vegas online poker is also geofenced, with only two other states allowed to enjoy “cross-platform” play.
As for online sports betting, now that Vegas is no longer the only game in town, the city’s losing domestic relevancy there, too. Yes, Sin City still “sets the odds” for the industry, and even when bettors gamble elsewhere, they still look up NFL Vegas odds, NBA Vegas odds, and so on.
And sure, venues like the Westgate SuperBook continue to be regularly cited by countless sports news sites and media outlets, while retail Vegas sports betting lounges remain famous for taking the largest sports bets in the business.
But unless you’re laying down six- or seven-figure bets on some Vegas Super Bowl odds or the like, there’s really no reason to travel to the desert to gamble anymore.
Today, no matter where you are in America, you can access the same kinds of gambling markets and the same kinds of betting odds – and much more of them – whenever you play with Vegas-style online casinos, online sportsbooks, and online poker rooms hosted overseas.