Is P2P gambling legal? Laws by country

US gambling law is mostly state law. The federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) works through payments: its Regulation GG defines unlawful internet gambling as a bet that is illegal under federal or state law where it is placed or received. UIGEA legalises nothing and bans nothing by itself, so the state you are standing in decides whether a P2P game is legal for you.

Online casinos and poker

According to the American Gaming Association, real-money online casinos were lawful in seven states in 2025. Online poker is licensed state by state, usually within the same iGaming regimes; Nevada licenses online poker only. Maine passed iGaming legislation in 2025 that became law on 11 January 2026 (LD 1164, enacted without the Governor's signature). An offshore licence does not fill the gap: ACR Poker's Anjouan licence, for example, excludes the US.

The sweepstakes crackdown

Dual-currency sweepstakes casinos, which sell one currency and give away a second that can be redeemed for prizes, are being banned state by state. The AGA counts five explicit bans passed in 2025: California, Connecticut, Montana, New Jersey and New York. California's AB 831 took effect on 1 January 2026, and New York's S5935A was signed on 5 December 2025. Trade press reports that Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma (effective 1 November 2026) and Tennessee followed in 2026. This matters for P2P because some case battle sites describe themselves as sweepstakes; Clash.gg does.

Fantasy and 1v1 wagers

Head-to-head daily fantasy is regulated state by state, and DraftKings does not run in every state. GamerSaloon and Players' Lounge sell 1v1 video-game matches as skill contests and list the states that bar cash play. Kutt, a friend-versus-friend betting app, says it is available in 37 states plus DC.

In the US, prediction markets are federally regulated exchanges. KalshiEX LLC has been a CFTC designated contract market since 2020. QCX LLC, trading as Polymarket US, was designated on 9 July 2025, and an amended order in November 2025 allows access through intermediaries. Polymarket's international crypto site is a separate product: it blocks 39 countries including the US and the UK, treats VPN use as a breach of its terms and states that it is not regulated by the CFTC.

The open question is whether states can still apply gambling law to sports contracts on these exchanges. The federal appeals courts are split:

• 3rd Circuit, 6 April 2026: sided with Kalshi against New Jersey, holding that federal law likely pre-empts the state (a preliminary injunction, not a final judgment).
• 9th Circuit, 28 August 2026: ruled against Kalshi in Nevada, holding that the Commodity Exchange Act likely does not pre-empt Nevada's gaming rules.
• 6th Circuit, 25 September 2026: let Ohio and Tennessee enforce their sports-betting laws against Kalshi.
• US Supreme Court: New Jersey's petition, No. 26-299, is pending, with Kalshi's response due on 9 November 2026.

The CFTC itself proposed a rule on 10 June 2026 setting a framework for event contracts that involve gaming. Outside the US the position is simpler. The UK Gambling Commission said in February 2026 that prediction markets appear to be betting intermediaries that need its licence, and India's 2025 Act covers them as online money games. The mechanics and fee formulas are in the prediction markets guide.

Are betting exchanges legal in the US?

The exchanges Europeans know do not serve Americans: Betfair Exchange, Smarkets and Matchbook all exclude the US in their terms. The peer-to-peer route Americans have is the CFTC-regulated event-contract exchange, where you buy Yes or No shares from other users and the exchange takes a trading fee. The UK model is covered in the P2P sports betting guide.

In most US states, paid skill contests run as non-gambling, and the operators themselves exclude the states they consider unsafe. Their lists differ, which is why the same app can be open to you on one platform and closed on another. Each list below is the operator's own, taken from its terms; none is a court ruling.

Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana and South Dakota appear on the Skillz, Kokomo and ProfitChess lists alike, and Louisiana is on all four. In April 2026 a US federal jury found Papaya Gaming liable for false advertising for not disclosing bots in its tournaments.

Elsewhere, skill is no defence. In Great Britain, section 6 of the Gambling Act 2005 counts a game that mixes skill and chance as a game of chance, so backgammon or rummy for money needs a licence. India's 2025 Act bans online money games “irrespective of whether such game is based on skill, chance, or both”. The game-by-game picture is in the chess and backgammon guides.

Canada: Ontario

The Criminal Code bans most gambling but lets provinces conduct and manage lottery schemes. Ontario does this through iGaming Ontario, which contracts private operators registered with the AGCO: 49 operators and 84 sites as of 1 September 2026. Players must be 19 or over and physically in Ontario. The directory has Poker, Bingo and Betting Exchange categories, and STX is listed as an exchange. In November 2025 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled 4-1 that the model stays lawful if Ontario players share games with players outside Canada, which clears the way for international poker pools. This page covers Ontario only.

Australia

The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal to offer Australians online casinos (including online pokies), online in-play sports betting, sports betting from unlicensed providers and betting on lottery outcomes. Online poker and PvP casino games fall under the online casino ban. Licensed wagering, including a betting exchange, is legal. Parliament passed further reforms on 19 August 2026, most of which start on 1 January 2027.

India

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 bans offering, advertising and processing payments for online money games, meaning any online game played for stakes. It took effect on 1 May 2026 with its Rules and a new Online Gaming Authority. Cash rummy, poker, ludo, fantasy contests and PvP crypto games are all covered. Government press releases put the penalty for offering a money game at up to three years in prison, a fine of up to ₹1 crore, or both. A challenge to the Act is pending before the Supreme Court.

EU snapshot

There is no EU-wide licence: each member state licenses its own market, and an offshore site without a national licence is unlicensed there. In Germany the joint authority GGL licenses online poker and virtual slots, while online casino games are licensed by the individual states; licensed sites are on the GGL Whitelist, and players face a cross-provider deposit limit of normally at most €1,000 a month. The Netherlands' KSA licenses casino games where players play against each other, lists legal sites in the Kansspelwijzer and runs the Cruks self-exclusion register, with a minimum exclusion of six months. Sweden requires a Swedish licence for every operator on its market, listed in Spelinspektionen's licensregister.