Legal since December 2019, but there is exactly one app. DraftKings won an exclusive contract and pays the state 51% of mobile revenue — by far the highest share in the country. The deal was renewed in February 2026 and now runs to at least mid-2028. The minimum age is 18, unusually low.
Legal, by an unusual route: every casino in New Hampshire runs under a charitable gaming license, sharing proceeds with non-profits. Thirteen venues are licensed and eleven have live poker rooms — a lot for a state this size.
Legal, and historic. New Hampshire ran the first modern state lottery in the US back in 1964, and has sold tickets online since 2018, including e-instant games. Courier apps such as Jackpocket also operate here — few states allow both.
Legal and regulated since 2017. Operators register with the Lottery & Gaming Commission, and because there is no registration fee and no special tax, New Hampshire has unusually broad coverage — including smaller operators that skip other states.
Legal, and newly regulated. Live racing ended in New Hampshire years ago, but online advance-deposit wagering is permitted — and since January 2026 operators must hold a state license. TwinSpires, TVG, FanDuel Racing, NYRA Bets and DK Horse are all licensed.
Grey area. New Hampshire has no law licensing, regulating or banning sweepstakes casinos, no ban bill in the current session, and no enforcement action on record. They operate in an unregulated space.
Not legal. A 2025 bill would have licensed three to six operators — and set the age at 18, which would have been a US first — but its own sponsor tabled it, and no iGaming bill appeared in 2026 at all.
Not legal online, and New Hampshire is not part of any multi-state poker network. The live scene more than compensates for a state this size, with eleven rooms — though there is no major tournament series.
New Hampshire extended DraftKings’ exclusive sports betting contract through June 2028, with an option running to 2030. The market stays a one-operator monopoly — though the law never required that; it simply awards the contract to whoever bids the highest revenue share.
The state budget authorized video lottery terminals in charitable gaming venues and lifted the cap on gaming positions entirely. VLTs have been replacing the historic horse racing machines legalized in 2021, and table bet limits are gone.
A federal appeals court ruled in the state lottery’s favor, holding that the federal Wire Act applies only to sports betting. The decision protected online lotteries and online casinos across the country — and it started because New Hampshire had just launched its own online lottery.
Mobile betting went live on December 30, 2019, after DraftKings won an exclusive contract by bidding 51% of revenue to the state.
New Hampshire launched iLottery, selling draw games and e-instants online. Months later the US Justice Department reinterpreted the Wire Act, putting that business at risk — and prompting the lawsuit the state would go on to win.
New Hampshire regulated daily fantasy sports in 2017, and in 2021 allowed historic horse racing machines into charitable gaming halls — the change that began turning them into something recognizably like casinos.
Governor John King bought ticket number one at Rockingham Park, launching the first modern state lottery in the United States. The original game was decided by the result of a horse race.
New Hampshire is a small state with an outsized gambling story. It ran the first modern state lottery in the country, it beat the US Justice Department in court over the law governing online gambling — and today it has one of the strangest sports betting markets in America: exactly one app.
DraftKings holds an exclusive contract and hands the state 51% of mobile revenue, by far the highest share anywhere. That arrangement was renewed in February 2026 and runs through at least mid-2028. What is often missed is that the monopoly is not written into law: the statute refers to selecting agents, plural, by competitive bid at the highest revenue percentage. DraftKings simply bid higher than anyone else was willing to. Rhode Island runs a comparable lottery-controlled monopoly, but it is a genuinely rare model.
Online casino and online poker, though, are not legal. A 2025 bill would have licensed three to six operators — and set the age at 18, which would have made New Hampshire the first state in the country to do that — but the sponsor tabled his own bill in March 2025, and no iGaming bill surfaced at all in 2026. States like Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey license online casinos; New Hampshire has not.
That is the interesting tension here. New Hampshire sells lottery tickets online, allows courier apps on top of that, licenses online horse betting, and takes half of a mobile sportsbook’s revenue. This is not a state with a philosophical objection to internet gambling — it simply has not legalized casino games. For those, residents use offshore sites, which carry no state licensing and no protection.
The practical reality: If you’re betting on sports in New Hampshire, you’re using DraftKings — there is no alternative. The lottery is online, the casinos are real, and the poker is good for a state this size. For online casino games and online poker there is no legal route at all.
One sportsbook app, an online lottery, and thirteen charitable-gaming casinos with eleven poker rooms between them. But no legal online casino or online poker.
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Good — Best US poker site, solid casino, crypto-first
Strong casino library with 500+ games, fast crypto, but no poker room
Ignition’s sister casino — great for slots and blackjack, fast crypto payouts
Good casino, no poker — best for slots and blackjack variety
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Solid all-rounder — poker + sports + casino with the best card deposit rates
Good — Best US poker site, solid casino, crypto-first
Best US MTT schedule and rakeback — but ongoing bot/RTA concerns at mid-stakes
ACR’s sister site — same network, same games, rakeback option
Subscription sweepstakes poker from the official WPT — novel legal structure, thin games.
Solid all-rounder — poker + sports + casino with the best card deposit rates
Slickest casino app in US regulated gaming on the surface — but Trustpilot sits at 1.2/5 on consistent complaints about slow withdrawals, poor support, and bet-grading disputes.
New Hampshire’s casinos work unlike anywhere else in the country. There are no commercial casinos and no tribal casinos — instead every gambling venue operates under a charitable gaming license, partnered with non-profits that take a share of the proceeds. Thirteen venues are licensed, with names like Gate City Casino, The Nash and The Brook.
They have grown quickly. Historic horse racing machines arrived in 2021, and the 2025 state budget went much further — authorizing video lottery terminals, lifting the cap on gaming positions entirely, and removing table bet limits. In practice these are now casinos in everything but legal classification. Eight towns have since voted to bar future venues, and a large new Churchill Downs property is due in Salem around 2027.
For poker players the state punches well above its weight: eleven venues run live poker rooms. The biggest is Chasers Poker Room in Salem, a Churchill Downs property with 16 tables, followed by Gate City Casino in Nashua and Revo Manchester with 15 apiece, and The Nash with 14. The Brook in Seabrook stands out for admitting 18-year-olds where everywhere else is 21+. Two names worth updating if you see them elsewhere: Filotimo is now Revo, and the Boston Billiard Club is now Gate City Casino — while Concord Casino and Casino Salem have both closed. What New Hampshire lacks is a major tournament series; for that, players head to Foxwoods in Connecticut or down into Massachusetts.
The NH Lottery & Gaming Commission regulates sports betting, the online lottery, fantasy sports and online horse wagering. The state's betting app carries deposit limits and its own self-exclusion tool.
All thirteen casinos are state-licensed, with a share of proceeds going to non-profits. A statewide self-exclusion database has been enacted but is not yet running — for now you self-exclude venue by venue.
No New Hampshire protection. Offshore casinos and poker rooms are unlicensed here, with no segregated player funds and no dispute recourse. Sweepstakes sites are likewise unregulated.
Our guidance: Sports betting in New Hampshire means DraftKings, and the online lottery is legitimate and state-run. For poker, the live rooms are genuinely good for a state this size — Chasers, Gate City and The Nash lead the way. Online casino and poker have no legal route here. One thing worth knowing: New Hampshire has legislated a statewide self-exclusion system but has not launched it yet, so for now you have to self-exclude at each venue individually.
If gambling stops being fun — or you're chasing losses — free, confidential help is available 24/7. New Hampshire has its own council and helpline.
Primary sources cited throughout this guide.
