Your Guide
There are 18 casinos in the state, all owned and operated by Native American tribes.
None are permitted to off online casino gambling.
Minnesota players can play at offshore online casinos that are regulated and licensed, with the minimum legal gambling age set at 18.
The legal minimum gambling age for online internet gambling is aligned with the legal minimum age to gamble at land based casinos win the state.
Sports betting is illegal and legalization is opposed by the Native American tribes that operate land based casinos.
Daily Fantasy Sports is illegal but Minnesota players are accepted by operators based within the US.
Online Gambling
- Offshore operators accept players from Minnesota
- There are no state regulated online onshore operators
- Minnesota State Lottery holds monopoly on lottery products
- Licenses are awarded for land based casinos on Indian territories
Best 5 Minnesota Online Casinos
| CASINO | RATING | BONUS | PLAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
El Royale Casino
|
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|
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| 2 | 
Bovada
|
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|
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| 3 | 
Vegas Casino Online
|
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|
400% up to $10,000 Welcome Bonus |
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| 4 | 
Slots Empire
|
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|
220% up to $12,000 Welcome Bonus |
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| 5 | 
Red Dog Casino
|
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|
225% up to $12,250 Welcome Bonus |
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Online casino activity is currently available and offered through various sites that are based offshore. These sites are safe and secure to play at, with no risk posed to Minnesota players, both regarding legality or to player data protection.
The best online casinos all use the latest SSL internet technology, and feature secure payment methods that are common, trusted and processed by reputable financial institutions. These include: VISA, MasterCard, Amex, Bitcoin (BTC), direct wire transfers and many other methods.
Casino Bonuses are extremely important in selecting an online casino. We have therefore displayed some of the best casino bonuses that can be found whilst balancing other important criteria such as safety and security as previously mentioned. However, for ease of reference, we have listed them according to the size of bonus.
Without doubt, at the time of writing, El Royale Casino offers the best casino bonus deal. It is also one of the safest. Coupled with excellent customer service, El Royale is our top recommended online casino for Minnesota players.
Minnesota Online Live Dealers
In fashion at the moment are online live dealer games. Not a new concept, but one that only host begun to gain in popularity due to the events of 2020 i.e. Covid-19. Also, it has only just been in recent years whereby technology has advance sufficiently to provide a quality of gaming experience with the state of the art HD video streaming, and online features that can easily be powered by today’s PC’s, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
You can find a wide range of gaming offered by online live dealers. The most popular (by a long mile), is blackjack. With unlimited back behind betting, plus the ability to submit your hand decisions before the live dealer arrives at your turn, make the game much faster and exciting. Also, you will be able to find many variations of blackjack – Spanish 21, double down and Pontoon.
Second in popularity is roulette – both American and European can be found.
There are, of course, many other table games including sic bo, craps, casino war and baccarat.
Online Live Dealers allows for social interaction through instant chat messaging. Converse with the dealer as you would at a Vegas Casino.
Often players forget that online casino bonuses can also be had. Rather than receiving a discounted meal voucher or a complimentary drink, players can receive free credit direct to their bank roll. A lot of players prefer direct credits rather than land based casino comps.
If you are new to online casino gaming, and you want to have the Vegas real live dealer experience, that try online live dealer casino games.
Sports Betting
Online sports betting sites, however, do exist and they are based offshore. They accept Minnesota bettors, with no precedence of any bettor being informed of a breach in law, let alone charged with a misdemeanor or felony.
Daily Fantasy Sports
Daily Fantasy Sports is growing fast in popularity. New to the gambling scene, it is considered a game of skill by many which requires bettors to create a fictitious team based on real players. The performance of the real sports players in real life determine how successful the fictitious team is. As a result, it truly is those with the most “skills” will win.
The two dominate daily fantasy sports providers is DraftKings and FanDuel. On this site, we do not actively promote daily fantasy sports as we understand that it is a game of “skill” which is being exploited by bettors who have the best risk modelling. That is, it isn’t nearly about how well you know your sport, the sport players etc, it is very much about who has the best statistical model and who has access to the most detailed sports player data.
As someone who may be a big fan of sport, and thinking that they would have a good chance of winning money in DFS, think again. You are pitted against statistical modelling experts who deliberately target games that mostly have new players to DFS. In fact, it has been alleged that those who are extremely good at DFS have been known to collaborate among themselves and not compete with each other. Thereby creating a sustainable winning formula shared by the experts.
We therefore want our readers to be aware that DFS is not what is appears to be. In fairness, DFS is legal in Minnesota and many DFS onshore operators accept Minnesota players.
Top 3 Minnesota Online Bingo Sites
Minnesota bingo laws are stipulated under Charitable gaming state legislation. These laws provide for the licensing of non profit organizations to operate bingo games. At present, these laws do not address nor permit online bingo by onshore operators. Accordingly, online bingo sites that do accept Minnesota players are based offshore (which is the same as online casinos and sports betting sites).
The recommended online bingo sites all accept players from Minnesota. They offer advanced features that include instant messaging, fun bingo games and protocols that ensures bingo participants play together in a civil enjoyable manner. Due to the social aspect of bingo, there is a cultural aspect to bingo which cannot be found with casino or sports betting. As an example, A LOT of acronyms form part of instant chat messaging. If you are not familiar with online bingo lingo, do not be afraid, learning it is one of the most fun parts!
Gambling Laws
- Legislation does not prohibit players from online gambling
- Online onshore operators are unlawful
- Sports betting is illegal and not permitted to be offered in the state.
- Daily Fantasy Sports is illegal and is not permitted to be offered in the state.
- Casino gambling is lawful at casinos on Native American reservation territory
- Horse race wagering, pari-mutuel betting, simulcast and table games are lawful at two licensed racetrack facilities
- Lawful charitable gaming includes bingo, raffles, paddle wheels, pull-tabs and tip boards
Legal Minimum Gambling Age
The gambling age is 18
Gambling Taxes
- Land based casino tax determined by tribal-state compacts;
- Charitable organizations pay two different taxes: 8.5% net receipts tax on bingo, raffles and paddle tickets; and combined net receipts tax on net receipts from electronic and paper pull-tabs, electronic linked bingo, tip-boards and interest and other income (9% from $0-$87.5k, 18% from $87.5-$122.5k, 27% from $122.5k-$157.5, and 36% on net receipts of over $157,5k).
Regulation and Governance
Gambling Legislation
Minnesota Statutes Chapters 240 and 349.
Minnesota Gambling Market Developments
Background
- Charitable gaming has a rich history in Minnesota and generates a significant amount of revenue for the State.
- It is understood one card establishment at Canterbury Park is authorized to offer poker.
- There are few restrictions on players accessing interactive gambling sites
- Tribal casino activity is governed under Minnesota State legislation, tribal ordinance and tribal-state compact. 11 tribes operate a total of 18 tribal casinos.
February 2015
State Representative Phyllis Kahn introduced a Bill to license and regulate sports betting, a reintroduction of the Bill that failed in 2013. In the unlikely event the Bill be successful, Kahn would seek to launch a legal challenge against the Federal prohibition on sports betting.
May 2015
Governor Mark Dayton passed SF 229, without signature to prohibit interactive lottery operations within Minnesota, following Minnesota Lottery’s expansion into interactive scratch-off tickets in February 2015. The state lottery was provided with four months to cease all online ticket sales and terminate contracts with vendors. The legislation also prohibited casino at gas stations within the state and ATM sales channels.
August 2015
Minnesota Lottery has ceased all online product sales as of 30 August 2015, a month earlier than the deadline imposed by the SF 229 bill. It is estimated the process cost the lottery $13.5m in supplier lost revenue claims.
April 2016
House Representative Tim Sanders introduced a bill to authorize daily fantasy sports contests in the state. HF2540 seeks to specifically exempt the game from the State’s definition of gambling in the statutes, it also sets out a number of consumer protection measures to be implemented if the bill is signed into law.
Senator Dan Sparks introduced a bill to grant the Minnesota Racing Commission the authority to license and regulate advance deposit wagering companies. SF 2835 seeks to allow the racing industry to recapture revenue lost because of the current non-regulation of ADW companies.
June 2016
Governor Mark Dayton, signed HF3211 into law, authorizing advance deposit wagering in the state.
The bill sets an initial license fee of $10k and $2.5k every year thereafter and imposes a 6% tax on gross gambling turnover. A regulatory fee of 1% of GGT must also be paid by the operator as well as source market fees which are established by contract for the benefit of the racing industry in the state. The new law will become effective on 1 July 2016.
August 2016
The State Lottery extended Pollard Banknote’s contract as the primary supplier of scratch games until June 2020.
February 2017
A number of representatives introduced legislation to authorize and regulate daily fantasy sports contests. HF1415 proposes a range of consumer protection regulations to govern the activity and outlines the licensing criteria for operators, however, the bill does not define the tax rate in its current form. The bill was referred to the Committee on Commerce and Regulatory Reform.
April 2018
Legislation to authorize and regulate daily fantasy sports, HF 1415, was dropped by the House by a majority vote of 74-48 against.
May 2018
Representative Pat Garofalo released draft legislation to authorize and regulate sports betting. The draft proposes regulating both land-based and interactive betting and imposing a tax of 1% on turnover on operators. The bill would also establish the Minnesota Sports Wagering Commission which would be entrusted with the licensing, regulation and oversight of the industry. The draft bill was not formally introduced to the legislature at this point.
June 2018
The state lottery entered into a memorandum of understanding with mobile solution company, Jackpot, to purchase lottery tickets via an iOS app.
January 2019
Charles Vig, Chairman of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association wrote to the legislature stating that the state’s gambling tribes were not interested in expanding their current gaming operations to include sports betting. The letter stated that the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association continues to oppose the expansion of off-reservation gambling, including the legalization of sports betting.
February 2019
Representative Pat Garofalo introduced legislation to authorize sports betting at tribal casinos. The Safe and Regulated Sports Gambling Act of 2019 would permit tribal casino operators within the state to operate retail and mobile sportsbooks on-site provided mobile betting is ring fence within 20-feet of the property. The bill proposes a tax of 0.5% on turnover.
May 2019
Minnesota’s White Earth Reservation Business Committee voted unanimously to approve the formation of a new White Earth Gaming Ordinance, which will mean the establishment of a new Tribal Gaming Commission to regulate gaming operations within the Tribe’s jurisdiction. The Gaming Commission, an agency of the White Earth Tribal Council, will have sole responsibility of gaming operations. A key change in the Ordinance is that the Commission will be made up of non-elected officials and will be independent from the Tribal government. Currently, Tribal Council members make up the Commission.