Six states don’t allow any horse racing bets, but others still make it difficult.
When the horses run Saturday evening in the Kentucky Derby, there’s a good chance more people than any point in recent history will have a bet on the race. In the eight months since the pandemic-delayed 2020 race, legalized online sports betting is quickly being normalized. Voters, politicians, and regulators are increasingly allowing sports betting. It’s actually easier in many states to bet on horse racing than on other sports, since horse racing was exempt from the 1992 federal law that banned most sports betting. But six states (and Washington, D.C.) still allow no betting at all on horse racing. The regulations vary widely in other states, with some allowing online betting but others only letting people bet at certain casinos. North Carolina, for example, doesn’t allow bets at horse tracks and only allows bets at two tribal casinos. Texas does not allow online bets on horse racing, but visitors to racetracks can bet on in-person races and on races simulcast from elsewhere.
