Crypto Casinos and the US Market: Growth, Rules and Reality in 2026

Where online casinos are legal in the U.S.

Right now, only seven states allow online casino gambling:

• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Michigan
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia
• Rhode Island

If you live outside those states, your legal options are limited. That’s one reason offshore sites stay popular. U.S. operators can run legal online casinos in some states, but they generally can’t run “crypto casinos” in the way offshore platforms do. So people who want to bet using Bitcoin or Ethereum often look abroad.

Offshore crypto casinos keep winning market share

Offshore crypto casinos are expanding in the U.S. and globally. Estimates put crypto gambling revenue around $250 million and climbing. That’s still small compared to the broader online gambling world, but it’s not standing still.

Analysts expect the U.S. online gambling market to grow by about $54.8 billion between 2024 and 2029, with annual growth around 11.6%. A big part of that comes from:

• states loosening rules
• people using phones for everything
• platforms rolling out new features (including things like virtual reality)

What players like about crypto casinos

Crypto casinos used to feel niche. Now many look like full gambling platforms with:

• casino games and sports betting under one balance
• fast deposits and withdrawals
• provably fair game systems
• token rewards and VIP-style perks

Most of these sites run under offshore licenses from places like Curaçao or Costa Rica. Curaçao tightened its rules in late 2024 to improve oversight, but that hasn’t been enough to convince U.S. regulators to allow domestic crypto casinos.

Legal online gambling has already grown a lot

Online gambling in the U.S. took off after the Supreme Court struck down the federal sports betting ban in 2018. Since then, states like New Jersey have brought in huge revenue from online wagers.

New Jersey has been one of the clearest examples of momentum. In October 2024, the state reported record internet gambling revenue of $213.6 million. And after the pandemic, online gambling revenue has increasingly started to compete with — and in some cases beat — in-person casino revenue.

What changes in 2026 might mean

As of 2026, crypto casinos are still not licensed for most U.S. residents. People are often told to check local rules before playing, because enforcement and legality can vary.

Regulators are also shifting focus. The SEC’s 2026 exam priorities removed direct references to crypto assets, which some see as a signal that the agency is paying more attention to wider tech and risk controls, not just crypto itself.

At the same time, gambling regulators are watching crypto gambling grow. Some officials in the UK have warned that the pressure to regulate could arrive sooner than expected.

Where this could go next

The U.S. path depends on politics and regulation. A few things could happen:

• Clear rules could let licensed operators accept crypto as a payment method.
• Some states could push harder to crack down on offshore operators.
• A broader federal restriction on crypto gambling is also possible.

For now, the situation is pretty simple: if you’re in the U.S. and you want to gamble using crypto, most of those options are still offshore. And the legal framework at home hasn’t caught up yet.