New Hampshire gambling laws allow four things and prohibit the rest: the state lottery (including online iLottery), charitable gaming run by nonprofits, sports betting through DraftKings, and historical horse racing terminals at licensed charitable gaming facilities. Commercial casinos, standalone slot parlors, and online casino games are not legal in the state. The legal age for every form of gambling is 18, and because New Hampshire has no personal income tax, the state takes nothing from your winnings, though the IRS still does.
Who Can Legally Gamble in New Hampshire
You need to be at least 18. That applies across the board: lottery tickets, iLottery accounts, charitable poker and bingo, sports bets, and historical horse racing (HHR) terminals. New Hampshire is one of only a handful of states that lets 18-year-olds bet on sports legally.
You also have to be physically inside the state when you play online. Both iLottery and DraftKings verify identity through government-issued ID and secure databases before letting you create an account, and they geolocate you at the moment of play. Retail lottery sellers and charitable gaming venues check ID at the point of sale, and operators that fail to enforce the age rule can lose their licenses.1New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 287-I:7 – Mobile Sports Wagering
The State Lottery and iLottery
New Hampshire launched the country’s first modern state lottery in 1964, and it’s still the most accessible form of legal gambling here. You can buy Powerball, Mega Millions, Tri-State Megabucks, and scratch tickets at any licensed retailer. The iLottery platform sells draw tickets and instant-win games online to verified account holders who are inside state borders.
Sports Betting Through DraftKings
Sports betting became legal in 2019, and DraftKings holds an exclusive contract to run both mobile and retail sportsbooks. That contract runs through June 2028. State law permits up to five mobile operators, so more books could be licensed later, but for now DraftKings is it.1New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 287-I:7 – Mobile Sports Wagering
Two rules trip people up. You cannot bet on any New Hampshire college team, no matter where they play, and you cannot bet on any college game taking place inside the state, regardless of the teams. Wagers on out-of-state college teams playing each other elsewhere are fine.2Governor Christopher T. Sununu. Governor Chris Sununu Places State’s First Legal Sports Wager You also have to be inside state lines when the bet is placed. The state takes roughly 50% of sportsbook revenue under the DraftKings contract, with the mobile rate at 51%, and that money flows into the Education Trust Fund.
Charitable Gaming and Historical Horse Racing
The closest thing to a casino experience in New Hampshire is a licensed charitable gaming facility. Nonprofit organizations can host bingo, raffles, poker tournaments, and blackjack, provided the proceeds support charitable purposes and the sponsoring group holds a license from the Racing and Charitable Gaming Division.3Cornell Law Institute. New Hampshire Admin Code Pari 1003.02 – Licensing Requirements of Charitable Organizations Buy-ins and bet limits are regulated to keep stakes modest.
Lucky 7 pull-tab tickets show up at these venues too. Only licensed charities can sell them, and only at bingo-authorized locations, licensed charitable facilities, or in towns that have voted to allow them. Individual tickets cap at $1, or $2 through dispenser devices, and any location selling $1 tickets must also offer $0.50 tickets. At least 45% of gross ticket revenue must be paid out as prizes.4New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 287-E:20 – Lucky 7 Licenses
Historical horse racing terminals are electronic machines that take wagers on the outcomes of races already run. They look and feel similar to slot machines, but the outcome is tied to a real past race, not a random number generator. Each terminal displays past performance data before you bet and replays the race after. The maximum wager per play is $25, and the facility’s commission on all HHR wagers is capped at 12%.5New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 284:22-b – Pari-Mutuel Pools on Historic Horse Races By the end of fiscal year 2024, nearly 2,000 HHR terminals were running at 10 facilities across the state. The number of HHR-licensed facilities is capped at 18, with a moratorium on new licenses set to lift in 2031.
Licensed facilities can also offer pari-mutuel betting on simulcast horse and greyhound races from out-of-state tracks. Simulcast authorization runs through 2029 under current law, and wagers have to be placed inside the facility’s enclosure.6New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 284:22-a – Pari-Mutuel Pools on Simulcast Racing
What Isn’t Legal
No commercial casinos. Bills to authorize standalone casinos with slot machines and table games have come up in the legislature repeatedly and have not passed. No online casino games either. If you want Vegas-style gaming inside state lines, you won’t find a legal option.
Home poker is a gray area worth understanding. New Hampshire’s gambling statute broadly criminalizes unlawful gambling, which includes gambling in any place under your control. A 2017 amendment created a limited exception for poker games in private residences, but the details matter. A casual game among friends is different from a regular, profit-driven operation run out of your living room, and the line between the two can be blurry. Any game involving chance and something of value can count as illegal gambling if it falls outside a recognized exception.
Penalties If You Cross the Line
For a player, knowingly participating in unlawful gambling, lending money to help someone gamble, or possessing a gambling machine is a misdemeanor.7New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 647:2 – Gambling
Running an illegal gambling business is a Class B felony if any of the following is true:
- Gross revenue exceeds $2,000 in a single day
- The operation runs for more than 10 consecutive days
- Total wagers accepted exceed $5,000 in any 30-day period
A Class B felony carries 3.5 to 7 years in prison and fines up to $4,000. Promoting gambling on an unauthorized machine is also a Class B felony and carries a mandatory minimum fine of $5,000 per day for each machine involved.7New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 647:2 – Gambling A room full of illegal machines running for a week produces a fine that compounds quickly.
Taxes on Winnings
New Hampshire has no state income tax, so the state takes nothing from your gambling winnings. Federal tax still applies. The IRS expects you to report all gambling income on your return whether or not you get a tax form.
Starting in 2026, the IRS raised the reporting threshold for Form W-2G (the form gambling operators issue for certain winnings) to $2,000 for most types of gambling, including slot machines, bingo, keno, and lottery prizes. For lotteries and sweepstakes, the W-2G is triggered when winnings meet or exceed $2,000 and are at least 300 times the wager amount. The threshold will continue adjusting annually for inflation.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754 (01/2026)
If Gambling Becomes a Problem
Every sports wagering operator in New Hampshire has to offer a voluntary self-exclusion program that lets you ban yourself from placing wagers for set periods.1New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 287-I:7 – Mobile Sports Wagering The Lottery Commission keeps a central, confidential database of self-excluded individuals across platforms.9Cornell Law Institute. New Hampshire Admin Code Lot 3003.05 – Problem Gambling and Self-Exclusion The New Hampshire Council on Problem Gambling runs a free, confidential 24/7 helpline at (603) 724-1605.