Is crypto sports betting legal in Alaska?

What's legal

No sportsbook of any kind is licensed in Alaska. State law makes most gambling a crime and allows a narrow set of exceptions, chiefly charitable games such as pull-tabs and bingo, which the Department of Revenue's Tax Division permits and regulates, plus tribal gaming under federal law. Sports betting is not among the exceptions.

Alaska has no gaming commission. The charitable gaming program is the only gambling oversight the state runs, and it does not cover sports wagers. Federal law does not change this: since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA, each state decides for itself, and Alaska has not allowed betting.

Crypto and offshore sites

No licensed US sportsbook can take a crypto deposit in Alaska, because none exists there. Offshore crypto sportsbooks hold no license in Alaska or any other state. They answer to no US regulator, and if one withheld a payout, no state agency could step in.

Alaska prosecutors have not made a habit of charging individual bettors, but that does not make betting legal. Ask a lawyer about your own case. If a site says it holds an Alaska license, treat that as false, because the state has no sports betting licensing system.

What's changing

Rep. David Nelson's HB 145 was introduced in March 2025 and would have licensed up to 10 online sportsbook operators, with the Department of Revenue choosing among applicants if more than 10 applied. The House Labor and Commerce Committee held a hearing in May 2025 and took no vote. The bill carried into the 2026 session, which ran to May 20 and ended without it passing. Alaska bills die with the Legislature that introduced them, so a new bill would have to be filed in the Legislature that convenes in January 2027.

Alaska has a small population and a long record of rejecting gambling expansion, so it is an unlikely early mover.

Tax

Alaska has no state income tax, so gambling winnings face only federal tax.

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