North Dakota Online Casinos

North Dakota Online Casinos

Regulation and legality of online gambling

Since North Dakota state government doesn’t get any revenue from tribal casinos, they aren’t exactly overprotective of the intrastate gambling industry. The ND gaming laws that could be applied in a hypothetical online gambling-related case use vague language. Nowhere in the ND statutes and criminal codes is internet gambling mentioned directly.

There haven’t been any cases so far of prosecution of someone who practiced gambling online in North Dakota. So, the state hasn’t ruled whether gambling on the web is unlawful of acceptable. One thing is certain – the market is unregulated and North Dakota Gamblers seek online betting opportunities on sites that accept US players and host their servers overseas.

A unique attempt to legalize online poker happened in 2005 in North Dakota when Rep. Jim Kasper introduced a legislation that would allow internet poker. The legislation was not supported by the Attorney General, the Senate, or the House. Otherwise conservative, North Dakota may have been a pioneer in regulating online gambling games in the United States.

Online gambling is not legal in North Dakota. This one doesn’t come off as a surprise, mostly because ND is one of the most sparsely populated states in the US. Due to a lack of people willing to partake in iGaming activities, the local government doesn’t have a strong incentive to make changes to the current legislation.

Some industry experts believe that this is the main reason for the lack of ND online casinos, but there are also other factors involved. Paradoxically, an argument can be made that existing gambling ventures in the state are another factor preventing North Dakotans from partaking in online gambling.

Gaming history

Believe it or not, this state has a pretty advanced gaming infrastructure in place. North Dakota was one of the first states to officially sign tribal gaming compacts, right after the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. More compacts were negotiated in 1999, followed by a second set of negotiations in 2013.

Currently, there are 5 mid-sized tribal venues in North Dakota, with 6 smaller operations offering mostly slot machines, table games, poker, and bingo. Even though this might not seem like much, it’s a pretty hefty amount of brick and mortar venues for a state that has barely over 700,000 inhabitants.

As all these venues are successful and attract a lot of locals and travelers, it is possible that legislators are wary of online gambling’s potential to disrupt this small, but bustling industry. When it comes to future developments, it’s unclear whether something will change.

Even though online gambling is theoretically illegal, there’s a loophole that you can use to play as much as you want. Many offshore sites allow North Dakotans to partake in iGaming activities. No laws exist that can get you in trouble for playing at a site that’s registered and licensed in another country. Additionally, the state government doesn’t have the power to force these sites to block ND players from creating accounts.

As such, you can register at any offshore site and play without the fear of being arrested and tried in court. No person has ever been charged with illegal gambling because they played at offshore casinos.

North Dakota land based casinos

Brick and mortar gambling premises are allowed and supported by the government licenses in North Dakota, as long as they are located on Native American reservations. Charity organizations may spread games such as blackjack, bingo, pull-tab, paddlewheels and raffles, as well as up to two Texas Hold’em tournaments per year. The proceeds from such activities go towards funding the charity and aren’t allowed to go to the venue hosting the action.

Tribal casinos offer craps, roulette, blackjack, live poker games, slot machines and video poker. The lowest slot return is 80 %, and the highest bet allowed on a slot machine is $25, by the letter of the law. Most of the gamblers in North Dakota also live there. It is a fact that casino facilities in Roughrider State aren’t situated in top vacation areas and tourist destination cities.

If we set aside the two racetracks, one is Chippewa Downs in Belcourt, and the other ND Horse Park in Fargo, the locals are free to visit venues like 4Bears Casino in New Town, Dakota Magic Casino in Hankinson, Spirit Lake Resort in St. Michael or Prairie Knights Casino in Fort Yates. 4Bears Casino houses over 550 slot machines, offers services of two restaurants and several buffets.

Prairie Knights Casino stretches across 42,000 square feet, and features over 700 slot machines. Spirit Lake Casino is about the same size as Prairie Knights, offers 700 slots, over a hundred rooms, 3 restaurants and free valet parking.

Neighbouring States: Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota

Top North Dakota Casino Slots and Games

References

[1] North Dakota Attorney General Gaming Division

[2] North Dakota Racing Commission

[3] Online gambling - are players at risk of prosecution?

[4] American Gaming Association - https://www.americangaming.org