Guide to Minnesota Gambling Age: Casinos, Sports Betting & More

Minnesota is located in the heart of the mid-west, an area which is fast becoming one of the most competitive gambling markets in the US due to the vast number of land-based casinos in the area. While many states surrounding Minnesota are diversifying the forms of gambling on offer, the North Star state is still running a bit behind in the times.

There is currently no online gambling or legal sports betting in Minnesota, with residents left with only the traditional in person forms of betting to enjoy. In this page we will take a look at each of the most popular forms of betting and their current legality in Minnesota, while also letting you know the legal Minnesota gambling age as applied to each.

As you can see in the table above, Minnesota has applied a blanket legal gambling age of 18 across all forms of gaming in the state. If there isn’t an age listed under an activity, it is because this form of gambling is illegal in the Bread and Butter State.

In the sections below we will do a deep dive into each form of legalized gambling in Minnesota. We will outline each activity’s current status, the legal gambling age associated with each along with giving insight into any upcoming legal developments that might affect the legal standing of betting.

Casino Age in Minnesota

While casinos are technically not legal in Minnesota, under the Indian Gaming Regulation Act of 1988 (IGRA) tribal casinos are allowed to operate on tribal land within the Minnesota’s boarders. In keeping with all other legal minimum gambling ages the casino age in Minnesota is 18.

After the passing of the IGRA into federal law in 1988, 1989 Minnesota signed the first of many tribal compacts with local tribes in 1989, which enabled the establishment of tribal land-based casinos. To date there are 11 tribes in Minnesota who have compacts with the state, these compacts allow the 40 casinos to operate.

The tribal-state compacts not only allow tribes to operate the casinos but also dictate what games the casinos can operate. Under the current compacts, tribal casinos are limited to only offering video slot games, electronic pull tabs and a small number of card table games such as blackjack.

The tribal casino industry within Minnesota is incredibly lucrative, with 40 casinos currently operating there is a healthy appetite for casino gambling within the state as well. However, with neighbors such as North Dakota and Canada on the northern border recently allowing new casinos to open there is the risk that some business may be driven away from Minnesota’s casinos.

What are The Casinos In Minnesota that accept 18 year Olds?

Minnesota is a rare case across the US in that the states tribal casinos allow 18 year olds to gamble on their premises. Under the tribal-state compacts Minnesota state has signed with local tribes, tribes are able to set the entry age for casinos so long as the entry age is at least 18. While these compacts also allow the casinos to serve alcohol as well tribes are legally obliged to monitor the age of those that order drinks in order to ensure they are above the age of 21 – which is the legal drinking age in the US.

All casinos offer the same games regardless of a player’s age so long as they meet the legal entry age requirements. As mentioned above the only further limitation on ages within casinos is whether individuals are above legal drinking age or not. To help you locate the top 18+ casinos in Minnesota we’ve pulled together a list of the top 8 casinos below.

Sports Betting In Minnesota

Unfortunately for sports lovers sports betting is not yet legal in Minnesota. As there are several major national sports teams located in Minnesota such as the Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Wild it seems at odds to the state’s sports loving nature that residents are not yet able to bet on their favorite teams.

There have been moves in recent years to attempt to legalize both in persona and online sports betting in Minnesota. One bill that has been floating around since 2018 is SF1894, which has had several iterations and amendments made to it as it has been discussed by the state legislature and gambling stakeholders. Most recently the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association (MIGA) has voiced their opposition to legalizing sports betting as they fear it will detract from gamblers visiting land-based casinos.

In the most recent version of SF1894 legislators in Minnesota have tried to appease MIGA by including an amendment that would require any gambler setting up a mobile sports wagering account must do so in person at a casino or racetrack. With state neighbors such as Iowa recently legalizing mobile sports betting, in order to remain competitive in the gambling marketplace it is in Minnesota’s best interest to legalize sports betting as soon as possible

One area of sports gambling that has been legal in the Bread and Butter state for decades is pari-mutuel betting on horse racing. Since the 1980’s Minnesota residents have been able to place in person pari-mutuel bets on horse racing. To date there are only two racetracks remaining in Minnesota that allow players to bet on horse races in person. However, in 2020 online pari-mutuel betting on horse racing was made legal, so players are now able to place bets in the comfort of their own home.

Minnesota Online Gambling Age

Online casinos in Minnesota are currently illegal. Going above and beyond many other states Minnesota’s state laws also explicitly state that wagering with ‘web casinos that make you money’ is also illegal. As online betting is illegal in Minnesota there is no legal gambling age associated with it.

While many other states across the US are making moves to legalize online casinos, Minnesota is standing strong with its illegality. One form of online gambling that could soon be legalized though is universal online sports betting. With online pari-mutuel horse race betting recently legalized in early 2020, and a bill that includes online sports betting currently tabled in the state legislature more online betting sites may soon be available in the Bread and Butter State.

While many US states are yet to legalize online gambling, residents of Minnesota and across the US can still access offshore gambling websites. However, as mentioned earlier online casinos in any form are illegal in Minnesota so residents should not participate in any offshore sites as they could be prosecuted for doing so. Further, any offshore sites are not registered in the US or Minnesota and therefore players would have no recourse under consumer protection laws should anything go wrong.

Poker Gambling Age

As with all other forms of online casino gambling, online poker is also illegal in Minnesota. However, fans of poker should not be discouraged as Minnesota legalized and started to regulate a limited number of card rooms in 2000. Akin to casinos the legal gambling age for playing in Minnesota’s poker rooms is 18.

The rationale for legalizing and regulating poker rooms in Minnesota was caused by a downturn in visitors to Minnesota’s racetracks. The legislation passed in 2000 enabled two of the state’s racetracks to diversify into racinos, with a limited offering of non-house backed card games including poker, the state was not only able to drive more visitors to the two racinos and in turn increase the revenue generated by each.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily Fantasy Sports is yet to be formally legalized in Minnesota. Instead of the state taking a strong stance on Daily Fantasy Sports legality or illegality, Minnesota has allowed this form of online gambling to exist in a grey area of the law.

While there have been moves in the past to formally legalize Daily Fantasy Sports none of them have had significant enough backing to gain full legislative support. The fact that Daily Fantasy Sports is not officially legal doesn’t seem to dissuade the Minnesota public from participating with all major operators allowing players above the age of 18 to set up accounts in Minnesota.

While there haven’t been any express moves to officially legalize Daily Fantasy Sports in recent years, should the current sports betting bill pass into law this could pave the pathway to legality for Daily Fantasy Sports.

Legal Age to Play the Lottery in Minnesota

Minnesota has one of the longest running state lotteries in the US. In 1972 Minnesota’s state legislature passed a bill that entrenched the states lottery’s legality. Proving to be a massive hit with Minnesota residents over the years the lottery has diversified to include a whole raft of lottery games.

In order to play the lottery in Minnesota players must meet the minimum legal gambling age of 18. Once players are 18+ they can take play lottery fan favorites such as Mega Millions, Power Ball and Lucky for Life to name a few. Minnesota’s state lottery is managed by Minnesota State Lottery, who not only manage the running of the lottery but also the distribution of profits into state funded programs such as education, health & public safety services.

Minnesota does not yet offer an online lottery, there was an online lottery trialled for a few months in 2013 but it was abandoned. Since then there haven’t been any major moves within the state legislature to legalize an online lottery. However, should players want to use some form of online lottery support the app Jackpocket operates in Minnesota. Jackpocket allows players to purchase lottery tickets via the app and then Jackpocket goes and does the in person purchasing of the tickets for them.

Minnesota Gambling Laws & Future Outlook

Minnesota’s gambling laws can be found in Minnesota Statutes 349.11 which defines illegal wagering as ‘making a bet; possessing a gambling device without a license; and allowing a structure under one’s control to be used as a gambling place’. Interestingly Minnesota’s state laws explicitly allow for ‘games of skill’ to be exempt from the state laws, this includes card games such as Texas Hold’em where the contest provides no direct benefit to the promoter.

Beyond the definition of what is considered illegal gambling, each form of legal gaming has specific state statues that provide for the legality within the state and their exemption from any prohibitions instituted through the state’s criminal code.

Minnesota’s gambling marketing is very healthy, with the tribal casinos alone making a $3.72 billion economic footprint in 2019 and supporting almost 30,000 jobs. Alongside land-based casino gambling, the recent introduction of online pari-mutuel betting will increase the number of horse bet wagering and pay off well economically for the state.

There are taxes applied to any gambling winnings won in Minnesota, all winnings from gambling are considered income and therefore residents need to declare their winnings when filing their personal income tax returns each year. Residents will then be taxed at the applicable tax rate for their income. The lottery is unique however in that players must also play an additional 24% in federal taxes for any winnings above $5,000 along with an additional 7.25% state tax.

Currently the economic outlook for gambling in Minnesota looks positive overall. There is a substantial and healthy tribal based casino market, supporting 40 casinos and bringing in a significant amount of revenue each year. The only threat to the booming casino market would be the recent introduction of land-based casinos in neighboring states that could take away a chunk of the market.

With online pari-mutuel betting being recently made legal in early 2020, the next logical step would be for Minnesota to legalize both in person and online sports betting. There is currently a bill with the state legislature that proposes the legalizing of all forms of sports betting, however there is some push back from MIGA as they believe online sports gambling could compromise their land-based casino activities – should the state and MIGA be able to reach a compromise in the near future then it seems certain that sports betting will be legalized in the Bread and Butter state.

Frequently Asked Questions

We hope that you have found the information in this page informative, and that we have imparted on you a good understanding of the legal status of each form of popular gambling in Minnesota as well as outlining the legal gambling ages for each form of legal gambling. Should you still have any outstanding questions take a look at the answers to the most frequently asked questions below.