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US Online Casino Laws

Online Casinos in Delaware

Delaware was the first US state to legalize online casinos. Three racino-tied sites operate on a single BetRivers platform run by the state Lottery.

Real-money online casinos
Legal, three operators
Online sports betting
Legal, BetRivers only
Online poker
Legal, MSIGA shared liquidity
Land-based casinos
Three racinos
Tribal casinos
None
Sweepstakes / social casinos
Restricted, enforcement active
Live dealer games
Legal
Minimum gambling age
21
Regulator
Delaware Lottery
Regulatory Timeline

How It Happened

  1. Online gambling law signed

    Gov. Jack Markell signs House Bill 333, the Delaware Gaming Competitiveness Act, making Delaware the first US state to authorize a regulated online casino market.

  2. Online casinos go live

    Delaware's three racinos start a soft launch of real-money online slots, table games, and poker on the Lottery's 888-powered platform. Full launch follows in early November.

  3. First interstate online poker pact

    Govs. Jack Markell of Delaware and Brian Sandoval of Nevada sign the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, the first US compact for shared online poker liquidity.

  4. BetRivers replaces 888

    After Rush Street Interactive wins the state contract, all three racino sites switch to the BetRivers platform and Delaware's first online sportsbook launches the same day.

  5. State shuts down LuckyLand sweepstakes

    The State announces VGW's LuckyLand Slots can no longer accept Delaware bets, calling the sweepstakes model illegal online slots.

First In Line

Eight Months Ahead of Anyone Else

Delaware did not just legalize first. Gov. Jack Markell signed House Bill 333 on June 28, 2012, more than half a year before New Jersey and Nevada cleared their own bills the following February. Twelve years on, every other legal-iGaming state opened with a market structure that looks nothing like Delaware's.

Order in which US states legalized full iGaming, with bill signing dates, launch dates, and market structure.
#StateSignedLaunchedMarket structure
1DelawareState Lottery vendor monopoly. Three racinos on one platform.
2New JerseyNine Atlantic City permits. Up to five skins each.
3PennsylvaniaOpen licensing. Slots taxed at 54 percent.
4West VirginiaFive anchors, three skins each.
5MichiganThree Detroit commercial casinos plus twelve tribal compacts.
6ConnecticutTwo operators only. FanDuel and DraftKings.
7Rhode IslandBally’s single-platform state contract.

Nevada signed AB 114 on February 21, 2013 for online poker only and never authorized full casino games. Delaware was the first state to sign off on slots, tables, and poker together. Seven states now regulate the full iGaming menu.

Where to Play

Best Online Casinos in Delaware

Casinos we review and play at, ranked by our weighted score. Where We Play marks our affiliate partners.

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The 2024 Vendor Switch

Changing Platforms Was Worth Nine Times the Take

For ten years the Delaware Lottery ran iGaming on 888's platform. Gross winnings never cleared $1.5 million in any month. In August 2023 the Lottery awarded a new five-year contract to Rush Street Interactive. BetRivers replaced 888 on January 3, 2024, and the chart broke. Calendar 2024 finished with $72.9 million in gross winnings, more than nine times the $7.9 million taken in 2023.

Calendar 2023 (888)
$7.9MGross winnings on 888's platform. The state share was $9.6 million across all iGaming verticals.
Calendar 2024 (BetRivers)
$72.9MFirst full year on Rush Street Interactive. State share jumped to $37.3 million, almost four times the 2023 figure.
FY2025 net proceeds
$85.5MTwelve-month total through June 2025. Monthly net proceeds peaked at $8.8 million in April 2025.
Monthly gross winnings, before and after the switch
888 platform
BetRivers / Rush Street Interactive

Selected months. The full series is on the Delaware Lottery's Monthly Net Proceeds page. The pre-switch ceiling was a $1.4 million March 2023. The post-switch floor on a clean month is roughly $4 million.

The Law

How Online Casinos Are Regulated Here

Delaware was the first US state to authorize a regulated online casino market. Gov. Jack Markell signed House Bill 333, the Delaware Gaming Competitiveness Act, on June 28, 2012, after the Senate passed it the day before. The law put internet gaming under the Delaware Lottery's authority and limited it to the state's three video-lottery agents: the racinos at Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and Harrington Raceway. Sites went live in late October 2013 after a soft launch.

The Delaware Division of Gaming Enforcement vets licenses and runs investigations, while the Lottery contracts the platform itself. The original deal with 888 ended in late 2023. The Lottery selected Rush Street Interactive in August 2023 and switched all three racinos to RSI's BetRivers platform on January 3, 2024, which also brought Delaware its first online sportsbook. In February 2014 Delaware and Nevada signed the country's first interstate online poker compact, and shared poker liquidity now spans several states under the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement.

Why Only Three Operators

Three Racetracks, Anchored Since 1937

Delaware did not invent the online casino license in 2012. It attached internet gaming to the three video-lottery agents already authorized under the 1994 Horse Racing Redevelopment Act. Delaware Park dates to 1937. Dover Downs ran its first harness card in 1969 and was acquired by Twin River, now Bally's Corporation, in 2019. Harrington has hosted harness racing since the 1940s. New skins cannot enter the state without buying one of those three anchor positions.

The 1994 act passed because Atlantic City casinos and Maryland tracks were pulling Delaware purses across state lines. The same three video-lottery agents have held the floor ever since. When Bally's bought Dover Downs in a $485 million reverse merger that closed March 28, 2019, the property kept its racing license and its online slot on what is now the BetRivers platform. There is no fourth racino because the state never authorized one.

State as Operator

The Lottery Keeps More Than Half the Take

Every other legal-iGaming state collects a flat or tiered tax and leaves the rest with the operator. Delaware does not. The Lottery is the operator. Roughly 56 percent of gross gaming revenue from online slots and tables flows to the General Fund. The remaining 44 percent is split among the three racinos and Rush Street Interactive. There is no published statutory rate because nothing is taxed in the conventional sense.

How state and operator shares are split in the five largest legal-iGaming markets, with Delaware as the lottery-operator outlier.
StateState / Lottery shareOperator keepStructure
Delaware~56%~44%Delaware Lottery is the operator. State takes the largest share, then splits the rest with the three racinos and Rush Street Interactive.
New Jersey19.75%~78%Flat tax. Hiked from 15 percent in July 2025. Plus a 2.5 percent community investment obligation.
Pennsylvania54% slots / 16% tables~46% slots / ~84% tablesHighest slot tax in the country. Tables and poker taxed separately.
Michigan20–28% tiered~72% to ~80%Graduated five-step ladder keyed to monthly receipts. Top operators pay 28 percent.
West Virginia15%85%Flat 15 percent across slots, tables, and poker. Lowest rate among open-market states.

Connecticut and Rhode Island sit alongside Delaware in running limited-operator state contracts. Rhode Island's Lottery takes 61 percent on slots and 15.5 percent on tables under its Bally's contract. Connecticut taxes its two operators at 18 percent flat, stepping to 20 percent in October 2026.

FY2025 Video slots
$58.4M68% of net proceeds
FY2025 Table games
$27.1M32% of net proceeds
FY2025 Online poker
$53.6K0.06% of net proceeds

Poker is the ironic line on the report. Delaware founded the country's first interstate poker compact with Nevada in February 2014 and contributed $53,609 in net proceeds across the entire fiscal year. Slots and tables do nearly all of the work, and the state collects on every dollar of it.

FAQ

Delaware Online Casino FAQ

Are online casinos legal in Delaware?

Yes. Delaware was the first US state to authorize regulated online casinos, with House Bill 333 signed in June 2012 and sites going live in late October 2013. The Delaware Lottery licenses the three operators, all tied to the state's racinos.

How old do you have to be to play online casinos in Delaware?

You must be at least 21 and physically located inside Delaware when you play at a licensed Delaware online casino.

Do I have to live in Delaware to play?

No. Residency is not required, but geolocation software confirms you are inside state lines every time you log in.

How many online casinos can I choose from in Delaware?

Three: Delaware Park, Bally's Dover Casino, and Harrington Raceway. All three run on Rush Street Interactive's BetRivers platform under the same Delaware Lottery contract, so the game libraries and account systems are nearly identical.

Is online poker legal in Delaware?

Yes. Delaware has run regulated online poker since 2013 and signed the country's first interstate poker pact with Nevada in 2014. BetRivers Poker shares liquidity with Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania under the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement.

Are sweepstakes casinos legal in Delaware?

No. The Delaware Division of Gaming Enforcement issued cease-and-desist letters to sweepstakes operators and in April 2025 publicly shut down VGW's LuckyLand Slots in the state. Major sweepstakes brands now block Delaware IP addresses.