North Dakota

While there is no law stating that sports betting is legal, North Dakota residents have been able to place sports wagers at select tribal casinos since December 2021.

North Dakota has no pro sports teams, but it is the home of two of the biggest college football programs in the FCS. The University of North Dakota and North Dakota State have given residents a winning team to root for. Since ND does not have proper sports betting laws in place, technically, residents also have the option to wager on these in-state colleges, as long as one of the tribal casinos with a sportsbook is offering odds on the game.

The biggest fully legal betting market in North Dakota is horse racing. The state is home to multiple horse tracks and off-track betting facilities. Aside from those locations, residents can also download and use racebooks like TwinSpires or FanDuel Racing. Daily fantasy sports apps are also available for download, but those are not regulated, so all DFS sites that offer contests in the app are not licensed by the state; they just operate in a gray area.

North Dakota’s sports betting scene vs. South Dakota: Who’s winning the race?

North Dakota and South Dakota may be neighboring states, but their approaches to sports betting are noticeably different. While both states have taken a conservative stance on gambling expansion, we would have South Dakota the edge in terms of legal sports betting accessibility.

South Dakota legalized retail sports betting in Deadwood casinos in 2021, offering visitors a range of retail sports betting options. However, mobile betting remains restricted to on-site locations, which handicaps the gambling market. Despite this, Deadwood’s established gambling culture has helped South Dakota generate a healthier consistency of sports betting revenue as opposed to North Dakota.

As we’ve mentioned, North Dakota has legalized in-person betting only at certain tribal casinos, especially those managed by the Dakota Nation Gaming Enterprise. However, efforts to legalize mobile sports betting statewide have not succeeded in the legislature, leaving North Dakota lagging in terms of accessibility.

With mobile wagering being the primary source of sports betting revenue in other states, South Dakota’s limited approach and North Dakota’s lack of online betting leave both states behind the eight ball. If North Dakota can successfully pass mobile betting legislation, it may catapult ahead of its southern neighbor. Until then, South Dakota remains slightly ahead, even though the state may not be fully maximizing the potential of sports betting legislation.

Betting on outhouse races: a quirky idea that could hit North Dakota sportsbooks

North Dakota is home to many far-out traditions, but few are as wild and entertaining—as the annual outhouse races. In this event, teams construct homemade sled-like outhouses, prop them on skis, and race them across snow and ice. With participants looking to garner speed, creativity, and bragging rights, the question is whether sportsbooks ever turn this quirky contest into a betting market.

While mainstream sports betting focuses on popular sports such as football, basketball, and hockey, niche betting markets have grown in popularity across the U.S. If sportsbooks can offer odds on hot dog-eating contests, why not outhouse racing? Bettors could wager on the fastest time and who they think will be given the award for the most creativity. 

A sportsbook embracing local culture could introduce a special betting market, drawing in both seasoned gamblers and casual fans. Of course, this entire idea would come down to the ND gaming tribes and whether they would be willing to offer such a market at their sportsbooks.

Online sports betting in The Peace Garden State

While lawmakers in North Dakota have struggled to pass a sports betting bill for years, the local gaming tribes decided to take matters into their own hands. It may seem confusing that sports betting operates legally in the state without a law that says it can, but due to gaming compacts between the state and local gaming tribes, sports betting can be lawfully offered under a bit of a loophole.

The gaming compacts that the tribes of North Dakota signed in 2013 authorized them to offer Class III Gaming, which included on-site sports betting, if PASPA were ever overturned. This piece of the compact was irrelevant until 2018, when the Supreme Court decided to overturn PASPA.

PASPA's overturning also allowed the state to legalize sports betting traditionally, but in 2021, lawmakers declined two legislative efforts. Those efforts would have allowed residents to vote on legalizing online sports betting or retail wagering at tribal casinos.

Even though residents couldn’t vote on whether they wanted retail sports betting at tribal locations, thanks to the aforementioned gaming compacts, those tribal casinos could still launch sports betting in December 2021. Since then, three tribal casinos have become the only locations in the state where a legal sports bet can be placed.

While there is always a chance the topic will be on the ballot in 2025, there have been no honest discussions about a ballot measure heading into the year.

Sports betting & gambling legislation in ND

Due to the structure of sports betting in North Dakota, the rules and regulations surrounding the topic vary from each tribal casino that operates a sportsbook. The one rule that remains the same is the legal gambling age, which is 21 in ND.

One of the other restrictions North Dakota bettors have is the lack of remote registration. With no online sportsbooks in operation in the Roughrider State, remote registration is unavailable, and even if one of the tribal casinos decided to open their own mobile betting app, this would likely remain the case. That individual tribe's gaming commission regulates each of these casinos and sports betting operations. Because of this, it is essential to research each specific casino's rules and regulations before placing a wager there.

With tribal casinos in charge, not only do sports betting apps fail to exist in North Dakota, but online casinos and online poker are also off-limits to bettors in the state. The only gambling-related option outside of retail casinos and sports betting is the state lottery, which, unlike other forms of gambling, operates through the state government.

Novelty betting at the Fargo Film Festival: A new frontier for ND gambling

North Dakota may be best known for sweeping plains and chilly weather, but the Fargo Film Festival brings a surprising surge of pop culture to the state. With a lack of pro sports in the state, the film festival could also be a good additional novelty to market to launch at tribal casinos. Retail sportsbooks at these casinos could introduce a novelty wagering market where film fans could place prop bets on Best Narrative Short, Audience Choice Winner, or Best Horror Film.” With structured categories, juried results, and passionate festival-goers, the event is already perfect for a betting market.

If North Dakota were to legalize cultural event-based betting, a market like this could attract both movie lovers and casual bettors, especially during the sports off-season. By merging independent cinema with interactive betting, the state could unlock a low-risk, high-engagement micro-market that celebrates storytelling while supporting its growing arts scene.

Most recent updates from the ND sports betting scene

• April 2, 2025: A North Dakota bill to ban betting on global greyhound racing fails in the House after being split from a separate proposal on gaming machine maintenance. Senator Claire Cory cited poor regulation and criminal links in greyhound racing, but the ban didn’t gain enough support.

• March 3, 2025: The North Dakota State Bison have the second-best odds to win the Summit League Tournament at (+260).

• January 29, 2025: North Dakota's SB 2224, introduced by Sens. Janne Myrdal and Larry Luick, seeks to dissolve the state Gaming Commission and transfer gambling regulation to the Attorney General. The bill advanced with a 4-3 Senate Judiciary Committee vote and heads to the Senate floor for review.

• January 7, 2025: With a 35-32 win in the FCS National Championship, the NDSU Bison have won ten championships in the last 14 seasons.

• January 3, 2025: The North Dakota State Bison are expected to play in a high-scoring FCS National Championship, with a point total set at 57.5 on DraftKings.

• December 23, 2024: North Dakota State is set to play Montana State in the FCS National Championship. The Bison are listed as (+3.5) point underdogs.

• December 18, 2024: In the FCS semi-finals, the North Dakota State Bisons are listed as (+3.5) point home underdogs to South Dakota State.

In-person sports betting sites and locations

For now, North Dakota bettors can choose between three tribal casinos that offer sports betting. The Dakota Magic Casino in Hankinson became the first tribal casino in ND to accept legal wagers, and since then, two more casinos have opened their doors to sports bettors.

There are five tribal casinos in the state, so two more casinos can open a sportsbook if they want to expand their business. A few other locations in the state are charitable casinos, but none of these locations can offer sports betting.

Prop bets on the pebble: Tapping into North Dakota’s curling craze

In North Dakota, curling is more than just a winter pastime; it is a generational sport woven into the fabric of small-town life. From the community sheets in places like Grafton and Langdon to regional bonspiels that fill local ice arenas, curling blends competition with friendly get-togethers in a way that few sports can. With the sport also gaining notetirety from the Olympics, curling could go beyond just a club activity; it could be a big betting market in ND. 

Many curling clubs already have structured events, scorekeeping, and regular matchups, providing the necessary framework for betting like one would at the Olympics. Prop bets such as “closest to the button,” “most stones scored in an end,” or “which team wins the club championship” could bring friendly wagers to the forefront of betting. While these markets could be appealing to residents, it would be up to the states' gaming tribes to decide if they want to offer these types of wagers. 

If just 0.05% of North Dakota’s sports betting handle were redirected to curling-based novelty markets during peak bonspiel season, it could generate tens of thousands in wagers and thousands more in tax revenue, all while supporting community sports facilities and growing the game. With curling’s steady popularity and its growing national attention during the Winter Olympics, formalizing bets in local leagues could create a new income stream for a state that is behind the eight ball with gambling revenue due to its current betting landscape.

Sports betting in neighboring states

North Dakota is located in a part of the country where sports betting is legal but with some pretty heavy restrictions. Montana and South Dakota share similar sports-betting landscapes, where customers can wager on sports but are restricted in where they can do so.

In Minnesota, sports betting is illegal, so if North Dakota residents are trying to cross the border in any direction to find online sports betting, they are out of luck. To read up on what types of restrictions MT and SD have or why Minnesota doesn’t have sports betting, you can click on them in the box below.

Potential sports betting revenue impact on North Dakota’s economy

The tribal casinos currently offering sports betting in North Dakota cannot do so because of licenses, but they can offer them because of gaming compacts with the state. Since sports betting technically isn't legal in ND, no governing body can grant licenses to retail facilities or online operators. As a result of the lack of sports betting infrastructure in North Dakota, there is also no set tax rate for sports betting.

The public is currently unable to access the statistics surrounding sports betting in North Dakota. In states where tribal casinos have full reign over gambling and sports betting, these reports do not typically appear since the state's government barely has any involvement with those markets.

According to a report from AP News in 2022, up to $138,000 in North Dakota residents were betting on offshore betting apps, and they bet close to $355 million a year on those apps. One would think this would motivate ND lawmakers to pursue a more active pursuit of legalizing sports betting, but the market has remained the same. If North Dakota is ever able to expand their sports betting market through legalization, we will update the revenue tracker below.

We can also compare potential revenue and tax income from legalized online betting with similar US states' population sizes. Here, we can primarily examine Vermont's legal betting market, which saw around $200 million worth of real-money bets placed in 2024. This resulted in more than $21 million in sportsbooks' revenue and over $6 million in tax income.