Alaska Online Casinos
Best Online Casinos / Sweepstakes for Alaska Residents
To play real money casino online in Alaska, you would need to explore the world of offshore casinos. For most people, this is a step too far, so instead they choose to play at sweepstakes casinos.
Sweepstakes casinos are legal, regulated, and there is no purhcase required to play. You can claim a free coin reward or offer, and play slots and games made by dozens of producers. The range and quality of games is much better than regular online casinos and you can redeem wins as prizes, including cash and vouchers.
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Alaska Online Casinos & Real Money Slots
The general assumption is that real money online gambling is illegal in Alaska just because there are no legal acts affirming online gambling to be fully 100% in accordance with the letter of the law.
People either choose to play at sweepstakes casinos (the best choice by far), or use websites which are managed offshore. The situation is not likely to change in the foreseeable future, unless the Alaskan government requires a raise of the state revenue.
Regulation and legality of online gambling
Alaska is yet another state where online gambling exists in a perpetual legal grey area.
There don't appear to be any active laws that regulate gaming over the internet in any shape or form, which has resulted in a flourishing ‘grey market’.
While there aren’t any locally-run establishments, neither brick-and-mortar nor digital, Alaskan players can choose from a number of offshore and domestic websites if they wish to partake in their favorite casino games.
The fight to legalize gaming has been going on for quite a while, but no significant efforts were made. Currently, there are talks about online bingo being added to the legislative fold. However, nothing came to fruition, as of mid-2020.
In usual cases, states draft gambling laws because of external pressure from lobbyists. Since Alaska as a whole has a population lower than 77 American cities, there’s no point in creating a market in a region where demand is low. Still, there are ways to get by.Alaska does not offer any state-run online gambling options to its residents or visitors. Online gambling, in general, does not feature in any written Alaskan law. No laws have ever been passed to prohibit gambling over the internet.
Alaska has a population of 700,000+ and the state pays people to live there, while many do not even possess a stable internet connection - so not exactly the top candidate for the legalization of online casino games.
Gambling history in Alaska
The biggest American state, but one of the least populated, Alaska remains known as the Last Frontier. At the time when Alaska was not yet granted statehood, there were no regulations preventing settlers from participating in real money betting on card games such as poker.
Approximately 100,000 prospectors came to Alaska territory during the Yukon Gold Rush of the late-19th century. Most of them went back home empty-handed, but there are reports of around 4,000 of them who struck it rich. The majority of the lucky folk gambled their cash and drunk their money away at Alaska’s makeshift saloons of the time.
The government would not address the issue of gambling until the 1990s. Charity gaming has been allowed in 1960, and charitable Monte Carlo nights began to cause concern among government officials. They were allegedly mocking the legal framework and could potentially compel the state’s tribes to lobby for the opening of full-scale casinos. So they prevented these charitable casino nights and only limited real cash charitable gambling events remained permitted in Alaska.
Tribal casinos do exist, but their status as casinos is very questionable. They offer a limited range of games and many consider them bingo rooms with the addition of pull-tab games. The first tribal casino opened in 1993 when the National Indian Gaming Commission approved its construction in Klawock.
During 1995 there was a law in Alaska that allowed cruise ships to offer gambling in the state’s waters. This business venture generated large revenue, but the law expired at the end of 1995, and has never been re-enacted. Poker, bridge, rummy and some other games were permitted in 2005, but under very strict conditions. The foundation of state lottery was suggested in 2003, but it was rejected by the Alaska state legislature.
Land based casinos
If you wish to engage in live gambling in AK, you need to settle for several smaller tribal casinos and charity events. Pull-tabs, bingo, and raffles rule across the Last Frontier.
Slot machines are illegal, as well as video poker machines but Alaska’s rural and arctic environment creates an unusual set of wagering opportunities that go beyond the standard concept of land-based casino gaming.Alaska is the only place where bettors can place wagers on such unusual events as the annual Cabbage Classic, the contest where players guess which crop is the heaviest.
Alaskans also bet on dog sled races, moose derbies and fishing competitions, as well as on the temperature, time and date of the coldest day in the Delta Junction during the winter months.
Much of the Alaska reservation land is located far from state’s population base. The scarce tribal casinos are technically bingo halls, and some of them offer pull tabs. These are the most basic of games, and at these venues you won’t find anything remotely resembling poker, blackjack and roulette. Still, if you wish to experience Alaskan land-based gaming options, there are more than 20 venues to visit.
The largest gambling establishment in Alaska is the MIC Gaming Hall in Metlakatla, with 90 pull-tab machines and bingo games. Other venues include Native Village of Barrow Pull Tabs in Barrow, Atka Ira Council Pull Tabs in Atka and Agate Pull Tabs in Sand Point, to name a few.
