Some forms of gambling are available to younger adults. Bingo, lotteries, and charity gaming are typically open to gamblers aged 18 and older.
Other forms of gambling, though, are only reserved for people who are at least 21. Casino games, poker, and sports betting often fall into this category.
Given that 18-year-olds can do many other things as an adult, including join the military, vote, and work full-time, it’s strange that they can’t play certain games.
I’ll answer this question in the following post while also discussing exceptions to the norm.
Alcohol Is the Primary Reason for the 21+ Gambling Age
Most casinos, poker rooms, and sportsbooks sell alcohol and even provide it as a comp. This setup has been common for many, many years and isn’t going away any time soon. Herein lies the big problem with allowing 18-year-olds into places that also serve alcohol.
I’ll answer this question in the following post while also discussing exceptions to the norm.
Alcohol Is the Primary Reason for the 21+ Gambling Age
Most casinos, poker rooms, and sportsbooks sell alcohol and even provide it as a comp. This setup has been common for many, many years and isn’t going away any time soon. Herein lies the big problem with allowing 18-year-olds into places that also serve alcohol.
Why Is Alcohol So Important to Gambling Venues?
States and tribal gaming establishments have important decisions to make when choosing their minimum gambling age. While making these decisions, they’re likely to settle upon one of two scenarios:
Accept younger gamblers and expand their customer base by a few years.
Serve alcohol and lose a few years on their customer base’s age range.
Most states and tribal casinos choose the latter option. They see more benefit to selling/giving out alcohol than being able to accept younger players.
Alcohol lowers inhibitions and increases the likelihood that people will keep gambling. Therefore, gaming venues like being able to serve drinks.
As covered before, markets can potentially choose to allow 18-year-olds and serve alcohol. Most, however, don’t go this route due to the problems involved.
That said, many gaming jurisdictions feel like they have to make a choice between the two options. Alcohol typically wins out in this scenario.
Atlantic City Tried 18+ Gambling
You can see why serving alcohol and allowing gamblers who are 18-20 can be a problem. On the other hand, you may wonder why no jurisdiction has at least tried walking this fine line.
Atlantic City did exactly this from the time it opened casinos in 1978 up until 1983. AC casinos both accepted action from 18-year-olds and served drinks.
They quickly realized, however, that this was a bad idea. Predictably, casinos had trouble ensuring that they never served gamblers aged 20 and under.
Some States Do Allow 18-Year-Olds to Gamble
Given everything discussed up to this point, you might be surprised to know that nearly a dozen states permit 18-year-olds in casinos and sportsbooks. Here are several of these states along with their respective laws on the age matter.
California
The Golden State features many tribal casinos. Tribes that don’t serve alcohol usually set their minimum gambling age at 18. Meanwhile, tribal casinos that do serve drinks only allow gamblers 21 and up.
Georgia
Georgia doesn’t offer any land-based gaming establishments. It does, however, feature the Emerald Princess cruise. This cruise ship, which accepts gamblers aged 18+, can begin offering casino games once it’s in international waters.
Michigan
Michigan provides a mixture of tribal and commercial casinos. The latter, which are all based in Detroit, can only accept 21-year-old gamblers. The tribal casinos, meanwhile, either set their minimum age at 18 or 21—depending upon if they sell alcohol.
Montana
The Big Sky State offers many gambling establishments, which are mixed between bars, charity gaming, and tribal casinos. They all accept players as young as 18. Montana slot machines are of the Class II variety, meaning they use bingo results to determine spins.
Rhode Island
The Ocean State is unique in that it features commercial casinos with an 18+ gambling age limit. It also has video lottery terminals (VLTs)—basically slot machines—that 18-year-olds can enjoy.
Washington
Washington features several tribal casinos along with tens of thousands of slot gacor machines. Tribal establishments can choose whether to set their minimum gambling age at 18 or higher.
What Would Happen If the Drinking Age Was Lowered?
The United States doesn’t appear close to lowering its minimum drinking age any time soon. If it did this, though, then most casinos, sportsbook, and poker rooms would push for a lower gambling age.
Again, alcohol is the key reason why these establishments are fine with keeping the age at 21. They don’t feel like risking huge fines for serving underage drinkers.
By aligning the gambling and drinking age, casino just need to worry about making sure everybody is 21 years old.
An 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old drinking limit would change all of this. Gaming establishments could accept younger players and serve drinks without worry.
The US hasn’t had many serious discussions about reducing the drinking age. That said, gambling venues don’t really need to think about this issue until it happens.
Is the Online Gambling Age 21?
Many states differ with regard to their online gambling laws. Some, including Montana and Washington, explicitly ban this activity.
Others, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, offer regulated gaming and betting markets. Residents and visitors of these states can legally place casino and sports bets.
The vast majority of regulated markets keep the minimum gambling age at 21. Even Michigan, which has tribal casinos that accept 18 year olds, has an internet gambling age of 21+.
The situation becomes murkier when considering that many gray markets haven’t even set a minimum age for certain types of online gambling. After all, they haven’t legalized the matter yet.
For example, some California tribal casinos permit 18-year-olds. However, the Golden State has yet to regulate online gaming. It’s unclear whether they would set the minimum age for online casinos.
That said, you can’t always determine if you’re violating the laws of your respective state by gambling at 18, 19, or 20. The safest route is just to assume that your state only allows 21-year-olds to gamble online.
How to Know the Minimum Gambling Age
All 50 states have the right to set a different minimum age for gambling. That said, you might not know the age for your specific state.
Luckily, though, you can find your state’s gambling laws with the right resources. Click here for a brief overview of the gambling laws for all 50 states.
You should determine the following when figuring out the laws for your jurisdiction:
What forms of gambling are legal.
The age limit for each type of gambling.
Your state’s stance on online casino games, poker, and/or sports betting.
If your state has any strange and weird gaming laws that aren’t commonsense.
The best way to ensure that you don’t break the law is by knowing it. After all, the courts don’t accept ignorance as a proper defense.
About Author
