Is sports betting legal in Hawaii?
No. Hawaii has no licensed sportsbooks, retail or online, and no agency that could license one. The penal code treats a sports bet as gambling and taking bets as bookmaking, and the state has no lottery, casinos, tribal gaming or pari-mutuel racing. The one sports wager the law tolerates is a private social game, such as a Super Bowl pool among friends at home.
Why it isn't legal yet
No sports wagering bill filed since 2019 has become law. The closest was HB 1308, which passed both chambers in 2025 in different forms and then died in conference on April 1, 2026, when the House discharged its conferees. The 2026 bills, HB 2570 and SB 3303, stalled in committee. The Attorney General, the Honolulu prosecutor and the Honolulu Police Department have all testified against legalization.
Each of these bills was an ordinary statute that would have amended the penal code's definitions in HRS 712-1220. The 2026 session ended without a sports betting law, and the next regular session opens in January 2027.
The history of sports betting law in Hawaii
The penal code and the social gambling defense
Hawaii's gambling offenses are in HRS Chapter 712, Part III, adopted in 1972 and modeled on New York's code. Section 712-1220 defines gambling as staking something of value on "a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his control or influence," and bookmaking as accepting bets from the public on future contingent events. The definition excludes "bona fide business transactions valid under the law of contracts," including contracts to buy or sell securities or commodities at a future date.
Knowingly participating in gambling is a misdemeanor under HRS 712-1223. Taking more than five bets totaling more than $500 in any seven-day period is promoting gambling in the first degree, a class B felony under HRS 712-1221. Act 111 of 2022 raised that offense from a class C felony and made second-degree promoting a class C felony, after legislators cited violence at illegal gambling houses. Act 249 of 2024 made property owners liable when they knowingly let illegal gambling continue on their premises.
HRS 712-1231 gives defendants an affirmative defense for social gambling: players compete on equal terms, nobody but the players profits, everyone is an adult, the game isn't in a bar, hotel, business or other public place, and it isn't bookmaking.
Task forces and early bills, 2019 to 2023
Rep. Chris Todd's HB 1107, one of the first proposals after Murphy v. NCAA, would have created a task force on online gaming. It passed second reading in the House with no votes against on February 8, 2019, then stalled in the Consumer Protection committee and died in 2020. Sen. Donna Mercado Kim filed task force bills on sports gambling in 2020 (SB 2571) and 2021 (SB 595); neither got a hearing.
Todd's HB 1973 in 2022 would have licensed sportsbooks under the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), and it was never heard. Rep. John Mizuno's HB 1815 that year would have created an online sports wagering corporation, and it wasn't heard either. His HB 344, a DBEDT licensing bill introduced by request, was deferred by the House Economic Development committee on February 8, 2023.
HB 2765 (2024)
Rep. Daniel Holt, who chaired Economic Development, introduced HB 2765 on January 24, 2024. His committee amended and passed it on February 7, and the full House passed it on second reading the next day, 10 members voting no. It was referred to the Consumer Protection and Judiciary committees and got no further.
HB 1308 and SB 1569 (2025 to 2026)
HB 1308, from Holt and Reps. Kila and Todd, was introduced on January 23, 2025 with DBEDT as regulator, a 10% tax on adjusted gross receipts and a $250,000 operator license fee. The House moved oversight to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and left the tax rate blank, and passed the bill on third reading on March 4, 2025 with 15 members voting no.
The Senate's SD2 put the Department of Law Enforcement in charge of at least four mobile operator licenses, restored the 10% tax and the $250,000 fee, kept the betting age at 21, and exempted fantasy sports contests from the gambling laws. The Senate passed it 15 to 10 on April 8, 2025. The House disagreed on April 10, a conference meeting was set for April 25, and the bill never came out of conference. After carryover, the Senate discharged its conferees on March 20, 2026 and the House followed on April 1, 2026.
The Senate companion, SB 1569 from Sen. Lynn DeCoite, passed second reading on February 12, 2025. The Commerce and Ways and Means committees deferred it on February 26, 2025.
HB 2570 and SB 3303 (2026)
HB 2570, from Holt and four other representatives, returned to DBEDT and raised the terms: at least six mobile licenses, a $500,000 license fee, a 15% tax and a minimum age of 21. Economic Development passed it 4 to 3 on February 11, 2026. The House passed it on second reading on February 12 with 20 members voting no, and the Judiciary and Consumer Protection committees never took it up. Sen. Dru Kanuha's companion, SB 3303, was referred to committees on February 2, 2026 and never heard.
Law enforcement testimony
The Honolulu Police Department opposed HB 2765 in a February 2, 2024 letter from Maj. Mike Lambert of its Narcotics/Vice Division, approved by Chief Arthur J. Logan, which listed bankruptcy, suicide, child abuse and homelessness among the harms it attributed to gambling. At the February 11, 2026 hearing on HB 2570, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm testified in "strong opposition," citing studies linking legal sports betting to bankruptcy filings and intimate partner violence. The same day Attorney General Anne Lopez's office said it "strongly opposes" the bill and objected that its fantasy sports exemption had no age limits or licensing.
Sports betting court cases in Hawaii
We found no Hawaii court decision about a sportsbook, a daily fantasy operator or a prediction market, and no lawsuit by or against the state over one. Hawaii's reported gambling cases apply the penal code to local games, among them a 1999 Intermediate Court of Appeals ruling that a defendant charged with first-degree promoting couldn't use the social gambling defense. The litigation that governs Hawaii today is federal, because Ninth Circuit decisions bind the federal courts in the state.
Attorney General Anne E. Lopez signed the brief that Ohio, New Jersey, 37 other states and D.C. filed in the Ninth Circuit on March 10, 2026 in Nos. 25-7187, 25-7516 and 25-7831, supporting Nevada against Crypto.com and Kalshi.
KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad (9th Cir. No. 25-7516)
On August 28, 2026, Judges Ryan Nelson, Bridget Bade and Kenneth Lee affirmed in part the District of Nevada's order dissolving Kalshi's preliminary injunction against Nevada gaming regulators. The panel held that Kalshi hadn't shown a likelihood that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gaming regulations as applied to its sports event contracts, because those contracts aren't "swaps" under the Act. Kalshi petitioned for rehearing en banc on September 9, 2026, and we found no order on the petition as of September 27.
Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi, Inc. (9th Cir. No. 25-7504)
In this Northern District of California case (No. 3:25-cv-06162), Blue Lake Rancheria and Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians appealed the denial of a preliminary injunction against Kalshi and Robinhood. On September 16, 2026 a panel of Chief Judge Mary Murguia and Judges M. Margaret McKeown and Richard Paez reversed that denial in part. It held the tribes are likely to show that sports event contracts entered from tribal land are class III gaming that violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and it sent the case back to the district court.
Other circuits and the Supreme Court
The Third Circuit ruled for Kalshi against New Jersey in KalshiEX v. Flaherty (No. 25-1922) on April 6, 2026. New Jersey petitioned the Supreme Court on September 2, the case was docketed on September 8 as No. 26-299, and Kalshi's response is due November 9, 2026 after an extension granted September 22. The Sixth Circuit went the other way on September 25, 2026 in KalshiEX LLC v. Schuler (Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235), holding that the Act doesn't preempt Ohio's or Tennessee's gambling laws.
Prediction markets and daily fantasy
CBS Sports' state tracker, updated September 24, 2026, lists Hawaii as live for sports contracts on Kalshi and Polymarket. Civil Beat reported on July 29, 2026 that Kalshi was also listing markets on Hawaii politics and that both apps take users 18 and older. The paper also reported that the Honolulu Police Department concentrates on game rooms, closing 47 on Oahu in 2025 and 23 by late July 2026. No Hawaii agency has sent a prediction market a cease-and-desist letter or sued one, as far as we found. Novig (Ludlow Exchange, LLC, designated a contract market by the CFTC on June 16, 2026) excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan and takes Hawaii users who are 21 and pass ID checks.
Rep. Scot Matayoshi's HB 2198 would have added prediction markets on sports, politics, deaths, legislation, catastrophes and other events to the penal code's definition of gambling. It passed the House with no votes against on March 10, 2026 and was referred to four Senate committees on March 12. Commerce chair Jarrett Keohokalole told Civil Beat he couldn't get a joint hearing scheduled, and the bill died without one. Alm testified for it.
Paid daily fantasy is treated as illegal gambling. On January 27, 2016 Attorney General Doug Chin issued Opinion 16-1, which found that DFS entry fees are stakes, the contests are contests of chance on future contingent events, and the operators promise prizes for set outcomes. No statute has changed that; the fantasy exemptions in HB 1308 and HB 2570 died with those bills.
Help with a gambling problem
We found no Hawaii state helpline. The National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), takes calls and texts, and chat is at 1800myreset.org. The National Council on Problem Gambling's Hawaii page also lists Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-Anon.
Sources
HRS 712-1220, gambling definitions, with AG Opinion 16-1 note
HB 1107 (2019 to 2020), online gaming task force, bill status
HB 1815 (2022), online sports wagering corporation, bill status
HB 2765 testimony, including Honolulu Police Department (February 2, 2024)
HB 2570 testimony, including the Attorney General and Honolulu prosecutor (February 11, 2026)
Civil Beat: Betting on Hawaii politics is legal despite state's gambling ban (July 29, 2026)
Hawaii Attorney General: daily fantasy sports opinion, News Release 2016-2 (January 27, 2016)
KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad, Ninth Circuit No. 25-7516 (August 28, 2026)
Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi, Inc., Ninth Circuit No. 25-7504 (September 16, 2026)
KalshiEX LLC v. Schuler, Sixth Circuit Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235 (September 25, 2026)
CBS Sports: sports prediction market status in all 50 states