North Dakota

Last verified September 27, 2026

By the Legal Sportsbooks US editorial team

North Dakota

Retail only

Legal since

December 2021 (tribal retail); online not legal

Minimum age

19 under the 2022 tribal compacts (Dakota Magic's sportsbook requires 21)

Regulator

None (tribal gaming commissions oversee tribal sportsbooks)

Licensed apps

None

State law

25 U.S.C. 2710 (IGRA) and tribal compacts; N.D.C.C. ch. 12.1-28 (gambling)

Is sports betting legal in North Dakota?

Only in person at tribal casinos. No state statute authorizes sports betting. The tribes offer it under their gaming compacts with the state, and Dakota Magic Casino in Hankinson took North Dakota's first legal sports bets in December 2021. There's no statewide mobile app and no commercial sportsbook, because the state constitution bars the Legislature from authorizing games of chance beyond charitable gaming and a multistate lottery. The compacts set 19 as the minimum age for casino gambling, but each casino sets its own rule above that, and Dakota Magic's sportsbook requires bettors to be 21.

Where you can bet

All five tribes that hold compacts now run a sportsbook or advertise sports betting. Dakota Magic (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) runs the Dakota Nation Sportsbook in Hankinson. 4 Bears Casino & Lodge (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) has a sportsbook in New Town that Elys Game Technology powered until Kambi signed a multi-year deal to replace it, which Gaming Intelligence reported on February 24, 2026. Prairie Knights (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) opened the Tatanka Sportsbook in Fort Yates. Spirit Lake Casino in St. Michael and Sky Dancer Casino in Belcourt (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) both advertise sports betting on their websites.

We checked each casino's age rule on its own site on September 27, 2026:

Dakota Magic: 21, and you must be on site to place a bet.
Spirit Lake: 19 or older to gamble.
4 Bears: its FAQ says 19 or older for the casino floor and gaming, though another answer on the same page says 21. KFYR reported in January 2024 that 4 Bears had begun admitting 19- and 20-year-olds.
Prairie Knights: its players club requires 21, and the site doesn't state a separate gambling age.
Sky Dancer: the site doesn't state an age.

Call ahead if you're under 21. The 2022 compacts also authorize mobile betting within reservation boundaries, but none of the sportsbook pages we checked offers an app, and the Kambi deal lists on-premise mobile only as future scope.

Tribal gaming commissions regulate the books, and the compacts give the state a right to inspect. The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) gives states no authority to tax tribal gaming beyond compact assessments that cover regulatory costs, and we found no revenue share in the 2022 compacts. Each tribe instead commits $25,000 a year to gambling addiction programs. Under NDCC 53-06.1-09 a charity sports pool may cover professional sports only, with a $25 maximum wager, and players must be 21.

How North Dakota legalized sports betting

The constitutional ban and its exceptions, 1889 to 2002

In the first legislative session after statehood (1889 to 1890), backers of the Louisiana Lottery offered North Dakota $100,000 up front and $75,000 a year to set up shop there. The scandal that followed produced the state's first constitutional amendment, which became Article XI, Section 25 and outlawed lotteries and gift enterprises. Voters opened it for charities on September 7, 1976. A 1977 law allowed bingo, raffles, pull tabs, jars and punchboards, and a 1979 law added sports pools on professional sports. Chapter 53-06.1 followed in 1981. Electronic pull tabs didn't arrive until 2017. On November 5, 2002, voters approved Measure 2, directing the Legislature to join a multistate lottery, 146,852 to 84,534 (63.47%).

Outside those exceptions, the criminal code defines gambling to include risking money on "the happening or outcome of an event, including an election or sporting event" (NDCC 12.1-28-01). Taking wagers for another person counts as engaging in the business of gambling, a class C felony under 12.1-28-02.

Tribal compacts, 1992 to 2022

IGRA, passed by Congress in 1988, requires a state to negotiate compacts in good faith with tribes seeking casino gaming. Interior's compact library dates North Dakota's first five compacts from December 3, 1992 (Turtle Mountain) to February 3, 1993 (Sisseton-Wahpeton). The versions Interior published on March 21, 2013 listed "Sports Book except as prohibited by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act." Interior's approval letter said the clause didn't make sports betting lawful unless a tribe fit one of PASPA's two exceptions.

The Supreme Court struck down PASPA in Murphy v. NCAA on May 14, 2018. Citing that ruling and the compact clause, the Legislative Council wrote in an August 2023 memo that "it would appear the tribes have the authority to operate sports book gaming." No state sports betting law has passed since. Dakota Magic's marketing chief told GGB in December 2021 that sports betting "was negotiated prior and approved in the state gaming compact." PlayUSA reported the IGT-run book would open December 1, 2021, and Legal Sports Report dates the state's first bet to December 2021.

In 2022 the tribes asked for the exclusive right to run online casino games and sports betting statewide, with bets routed through servers on tribal land. Gov. Doug Burgum refused, saying "a clear legal path does not exist" for that expansion. Interior received five amended compacts on November 18 and December 2, 2022, and Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland approved them December 13. They took effect when notice ran in the Federal Register on December 19, 2022. Beyond the age cut to 19, the new compacts added "sports book events wagering," mobile gaming by bettors located within the compact's geographic scope, credit and debit card play, and any class III game state law authorizes later. They run 10 years and renew automatically unless a party gives notice.

Failed bills and amendments, 2019 to 2025

In 2019, HB 1254 from Rep. Jason Dockter would have let charities take bets on college and professional games. It first failed in the House 46 to 44, short of a constitutional majority, then passed 52 to 38 on February 19, 2019, before the Senate rejected it 7 to 38 in March. HB 1295, limited to professional sports, didn't get past the House, which voted it down 30 to 62.

Lawmakers switched to a constitutional amendment in 2021. HCR 3032 passed the House 70 to 24 on February 22, 2021, but in March it failed in the Senate 22 to 24 and, on reconsideration, 23 to 24. HB 1234, a sports wagering regulatory bill, passed the House 56 to 38 but got only one vote in the Senate, where it lost 1 to 46. Two bills to authorize tribal online betting also failed: HB 1448 (34 to 58 in the House) and SB 2314 (1 to 46 in the Senate on February 9, 2021).

In 2023, Rep. Greg Stemen's HCR 3002 would have required the Legislature to authorize and regulate sports betting, with a vote in November 2024. The House adopted it 49 to 44 on January 12, 2023, and the Senate killed it 16 to 30 on April 10, so it didn't reach voters. SB 2358, which would have created a sports betting task force, failed in the Senate 12 to 34 on February 8, 2023. The 2025 version of HCR 3002, from Rep. Scott Louser, would have let the Legislature authorize state-licensed sports betting after a November 2026 vote. House Judiciary recommended against it 13 to 1, and it didn't survive the floor, where the House rejected it 24 to 70 on January 22, 2025.

Neither 2026 special session (January and September) took up a gambling bill. The two constitutional measures on the November 3, 2026 ballot deal with the approval threshold for amendments and school lunches. The next regular session opens in January 2027. Citizens can also petition an amendment onto the ballot with 31,164 signatures.

Sports betting court cases in North Dakota

We found no lawsuit challenging a tribal sportsbook, the compacts' sports betting clauses or any of the failed measures. A CourtListener docket search for Kalshi on September 27, 2026 returned no case in the U.S. District Court for North Dakota, and we found no state lawsuit or cease-and-desist letter aimed at a prediction market or fantasy operator.

Compact disputes

The 2022 amendments waive the state's Eleventh Amendment immunity if the parties negotiate a successor compact, so a tribe could sue in federal court to enforce IGRA's good-faith bargaining duty. If no successor is agreed, the existing compact stays in effect through IGRA's remedial process. We found no such suit.

Eighth Circuit posture

Federal courts in North Dakota answer to the Eighth Circuit, which hasn't decided whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling law. On July 27, 2026, Judge Katherine Menendez preliminarily enjoined Minnesota's ban on prediction markets in suits by the United States (for the CFTC), Kalshi and Polymarket US (D. Minn. Nos. 0:26-cv-02661, 0:26-cv-02778 and 0:26-cv-02841). Six weeks later, on September 8, Judge Stephen Locher went the other way and denied Kalshi an injunction against Iowa (KalshiEX LLC v. Bird, S.D. Iowa No. 4:26-cv-00109). Kalshi's appeal is Eighth Circuit No. 26-2874, with its opening brief due November 6, 2026. A ruling there would bind federal courts in North Dakota. In Missouri, also in the circuit, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced cease-and-desist letters on September 18, 2026 to six operators, among them Kalshi, Polymarket and Ludlow Exchange (Novig).

Elsewhere, the Third Circuit ruled for Kalshi against New Jersey on April 6, 2026 (No. 25-1922). The Ninth Circuit ruled against it in Nevada on August 28 (No. 25-7516), as did the Sixth Circuit in Ohio and Tennessee on September 25 (Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235). New Jersey's petition for Supreme Court review is No. 26-299, and Kalshi's response is due November 9, 2026.

North Dakota's position

Attorney General Drew Wrigley didn't sign either of the two multistate briefs filed against Kalshi this year. North Dakota isn't among the 39 states on the brief filed March 10, 2026 in the Ninth Circuit's Nevada appeals, or among the 38 attorneys general who backed Massachusetts before its Supreme Judicial Court in April 2026.

Prediction markets and daily fantasy

No North Dakota statute addresses event contracts, and the state hasn't acted against any operator. CBS Sports' state guide, dated September 24, 2026, lists North Dakota as live for sports prediction markets. Novig (Ludlow Exchange, LLC, designated a CFTC contract market June 16, 2026) is open to North Dakotans 21 and older with ID, since its eligibility page excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan; it builds no vig into prices and charges no fee on pregame straight trades.

Daily fantasy has no statute either. BettingUSA reports that then-Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said in 2015 that paid contests would likely be legal if they were games of skill, that his office never issued a formal opinion, and that the major DFS and pick'em apps accept North Dakota players 18 and older. We found no bill on fantasy sports in the 2017 through 2025 sessions.

Help with a gambling problem

GamblerND Helpline: 1-877-702-7848.

Sources

Common questions

How we track and verify state laws

What does Legal Sportsbooks US track?

Every state's legal status, the date betting became legal, the minimum age, the regulator and the licensed apps, plus the legal history and court cases behind them, for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Our page on how we track and verify state laws explains the details.

What do the statuses mean?

Online and retail means licensed mobile apps and in-person sportsbooks both operate. Online only means betting happens through licensed apps, with no retail sportsbooks. Retail only means you can bet in person at licensed venues, but there's no statewide app. Not legal means no licensed sportsbooks operate. Legislation pending means a bill or ballot measure is moving, but betting hasn't launched. Not yet verified means we haven't confirmed the state's current status.

Can I bet on sports where I live?

The rules follow where you are when you place the bet. Licensed apps use geolocation to confirm you're inside a state where they can operate, and some states limit betting to certain premises. Find your state in the state index, or read our guide to location rules.

How old do you have to be to bet on sports?

It's 21 in 33 of the 40 jurisdictions with legal sports betting and 18 in five: Washington, D.C., Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wyoming. In North Dakota and Washington, the tribal casino sets the age.

How current is the tracker?

State laws and licenses change, so every state entry records the date it was last verified. If a status looks out of date, the state regulator's website has the official answer.

Is this legal advice?

No. We summarize public information about state sports betting laws. Confirm the rules with your state regulator before you bet, and don't wager more than you can afford to lose.