What is the legal age for gambling in USA

When talking about what age you can legally gamble we first have to define what type of gambling you’re planning on doing. There are several different categories with varying ages. The first category is any sort of lottery. The most common form of lottery is the state lottery. This includes things like scratchers too.

The majority of states that have a lottery have a legal gambling age of 18. The states of Arizona, Iowa, and Louisiana however have laws that make lottery participation open to people 21 and up. The next category is para-mutuel betting. para-mutuel betting is when bets are pooled, taxes and a house take are removed, and odds are calculated based on the shared pool’s bets.

The most common use of this is as horserace betting and sports betting. The most common legal gambling age is 18 for this kind of gambling but it ranges from 19 in Alabama to 21 in states like Arizona, Iowa, and Kansas to name a few. The next category is casinos and slot machines. The most common age is 21 here, but it can be as low as 18. In some states it’s the age varies by casino. Your best bet when trying to figure out what age you can legally gamble is to go online and check what your local state says.

Obviously each state has its own laws and it’s important to check it out for yourself to be sure. Do not take anyone’s word for it. It’s easy to google and will take you no more than 5 minutes to find out. You don’t want to end up in jail or getting thrown out of a casino for being under age. That would seriously ruin your day or night.