Louisiana

Learn about legal gambling activities in Louisiana!

Louisiana is fairly well-known for its gambling and people from all over the country travel to Louisiana to gamble on the famous riverboats.  The Mississippi Gulf Coast has many different casinos. Most gambling is illegal in Louisiana’s neighboring states of Arkansas and Texas.  The Louisiana Gaming Control Board provides rules and regulations that gambling operators must adhere to. 

One of the regulations states that in order to participate in horse track betting and the state lottery, you must be at least18 years old.  In addition, you need to be at least 21 years old to gamble at a casino or play video poker.  Louisiana allows riverboat casinos; these are casinos that are floating on the water.  Land-based casinos are licensed by the state in New Orleans and are allowed on Native American reservations.  It is legal to bet on horse races but dog racing is not permitted. 

Louisiana also has a state lottery that started in 1991 and this includes the Powerball, scratch cards and numbers drawings.  Racetracks and casinos in Louisiana have video poker machines and so do truck stops, bars, gas stations and restaurants.  If a business in Louisiana has a liquor license they can have a maximum of three video gaming machines in their business.  Truck stops usually can have more video poker machines depending on how much fuel is sold. 

Social gaming for the purposes of recreation like betting on sports, personal bets and pool games is legal as long as no one is making a commission from the bet or a fee for the transaction.  Keno, bingo and raffles that are associated with charity fundraising are also legal in Louisiana.