In May 2018 a brave new world of sports betting dawned for the U.S. – but Utah is on the outside looking in.
A Supreme Court ruling struck down PASPA – a law which stopped anybody betting on sports outside the state of Nevada. Now states could legalize sports betting, if they wanted to.
But Utah (population 3.28million in 2020) is further away than any other state from opening its doors to legal wagering on sports. More than 60 percent of residents are Mormon, and this deeply religious locale may never take the plunge.
In fact Utah has no form of legal gambling whatsoever – so no casinos, no state lottery, no betting on horse racing. Nothing. Nada.
Utah does have some pretty high-profile sports franchises and teams – including the NBA’s Utah Jazz, college football’s BYU (Brigham Young University) and MLS team Real Salt Lake
Is sports betting legal in Utah?
Sports betting is absolutely not legal in the state of Utah, and like we said, it probably never will be.
A bill was put forward in 2019 to try to make betting on horse racing legal, but it got pretty much nowhere. Since then, tumbleweed for betting of any kind.
Despite the lack of any legal forms of betting in Utah, you can play daily fantasy sports there.
Legal sports betting near Utah
Utah may have pretty good reasons for not allowing legal sports betting, but it will miss out on a lot of dollars…
More than $37billion was wagered in the U.S. on sports betting between 2018 and 2020, with states often taking a nice tax windfall to fund vital services.
Utah’s loss may well be somebody else’s gain – remember where you can bet is mainly down to where you are right now, not where you live.
This means if you’re willing to travel a little to be on sports, you can still grab a piece of the action.
States which border Utah and where sports betting is legal are:
- Nevada: The ultimate betting party town is but a six-hour drive away from Salt Lake City. Betting on sports of course has been legal on The Strip for a long time now (since 1949 to be exact). You can bet in person at the sportsbooks, or online and with mobile betting apps. You need to be aged 21 or older.
- Colorado: Another option if you want to travel out of state to bet – a similar distance to Vegas. You can bet in person (very limited options though) or more likely online and mobile. Again you can bet from anywhere in the state and you must be 21 or older.
- Montana: Not as easy as Vegas. You can head to Montana to wager on sports, but you have to be at a licensed outlet to wager. The plus points? There are a lot of licensed outlets – including bars with liquor licenses. You need to be aged 18 or higher to bet.
- New Mexico: An option, but only for betting in person (aged 21 or older) at a limited number of licensed casinos. So far, online and mobile betting is not allowed.
Are offshore sportsbooks legal in Utah?
Wagering with an offshore sportsbook might seem a nice option right? A ton of available products, easy to register for an account, deposit some dollars and start betting within minutes. Not so fast…
We strongly advise against betting with offshore sportsbooks are they are illegal. Our goal is to give you as many options for betting legally as we can, which means offshore is out.