Is crypto sports betting legal in Idaho?

What's legal

Idaho has no licensed sportsbook, retail or online, and no state agency that licenses one. Article III, section 20 of the Idaho Constitution calls gambling contrary to public policy and strictly prohibits it, with three exceptions: a state lottery, pari-mutuel betting, and bingo and raffles run by charities. It also bars casino-style games and electronic imitations of them. Under Idaho Code 18-3802, participating in gambling is a misdemeanor.

The statutory definition leaves no room for a sports exception. Idaho Code 18-3801 defines gambling as risking money, credit or anything of value on an outcome that depends partly on chance or on "the happening or outcome of an event, including a sporting event." Paying in bitcoin or USDT changes nothing.

Idaho Code 67-429A lets the governor negotiate gaming compacts with tribes, but only for forms of gaming that Idaho law already authorizes. Idaho law authorizes no sports betting, so that statute gives no basis for a tribal sportsbook.

How betting works here

Idaho has no sports betting to sign up for. The legal options match the three constitutional exceptions.

The Idaho Lottery sells Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto America, Millionaire for Life, Idaho Cash, Pick 3 and Pick 4, plus scratch tickets. You must be 18 to buy a ticket or claim a prize under Idaho Code 67-7415. It does not offer bets on sporting events.

Pari-mutuel wagering on horse and greyhound races is overseen by the Idaho State Racing Commission, part of the Idaho State Police. The Commission licenses live and simulcast race meets under the Horse Racing Act (Idaho Code 54-2507), and its application forms cover live meets, simulcast and advance deposit wagering. Its contact page lists one simulcast site, the Greyhound Park & Event Center at 5100 Riverbend Ave in Post Falls, where you can bet on races shown from other tracks.

Charities can run bingo and raffles for charitable purposes.

Crypto and offshore sites

No licensed book exists to take a crypto deposit. Offshore crypto sportsbooks are not licensed in Idaho or any other state, so you would have no state regulator to complain to if a payout failed.

Betting on sports falls outside every exception in the constitution. No Idaho official has announced enforcement aimed at crypto sportsbooks, prediction markets or sweepstakes sites. For advice on your own situation, ask an Idaho lawyer.

Fantasy, racing and prediction markets

Idaho's attorney general treats paid daily fantasy sports as gambling. In 2016 then-Attorney General Lawrence Wasden reached agreements with DraftKings and FanDuel under which both stopped offering paid contests to Idaho residents as of May 1, 2016, and the state agreed not to prosecute them. A company may return only if the legislature changes the law, a court with jurisdiction in Idaho rules for paid contests, or the company gives the attorney general 30 days' written notice first. No Idaho bill or ruling since then has legalized paid daily fantasy.

Online horse-race wagering is the exception that the pari-mutuel clause allows. The Racing Commission's forms page includes an advance deposit wagering application, so licensed ADW is possible in Idaho. Its pages do not say which ADW sites hold licenses.

Idaho has not sued or sent a cease-and-desist letter to Kalshi, Polymarket or Crypto.com that we can find. Section 18-3801 counts a bet on the outcome of an event, including a sporting event, as gambling, so a sports contract is hard to square with state law. Whether federal commodities law overrides that is being fought in courts elsewhere, and no Idaho court has ruled.

What's changing

Any change would need an amendment to section 20, which the legislature can propose only with two-thirds of each house, followed by a vote of the people. No bill to legalize sports betting, prediction markets or sweepstakes casinos is pending. Idaho voters rejected a 2018 ballot measure, Proposition 1, that would have brought back historical horse racing terminals, machines that resemble slots.

The constitution also lists what is not gambling: merchant promotional contests where entry costs nothing, and games that award only additional play. A sportsbook fits neither, so no sports betting product is legal in Idaho. Prediction-market sports contracts and sweepstakes casinos are not named in the constitution either, and the state has no licensing system that could approve them. A site that claims an Idaho license cannot be checked against any official list, because none exists.

Tax on winnings

Idaho taxes gambling winnings as income. The State Tax Commission's schedule for 2025, the latest it has posted, is a flat 5.3%, with the first $4,811 of taxable income for single filers ($9,622 for married filers) taxed at 0%. Idaho residents pay on income from all sources.

Nonresidents pay Idaho tax on Idaho-source income, and the Tax Commission treats gambling that takes place in Idaho as Idaho-source under Idaho Code 63-3026A. In one 2018 decision it taxed a Utah resident's $50,000 Idaho lottery prize, on which $3,463 had been withheld. The same decision confirms that gambling losses are deductible only up to that year's winnings, and it denied a claimed $31,855 of losses because the taxpayer kept no records. Federal rules apply as well: [state tax on winnings](/tax/state-tax-on-winnings/) and [deducting gambling losses](/tax/deducting-gambling-losses/).

If something goes wrong

No Idaho regulator stands behind a sports bet, because no Idaho agency licenses sportsbooks. If an offshore site keeps your balance, the Idaho Attorney General's Consumer Protection Office takes scam complaints, but it has no licensing power over those sites and cannot compel a payout.

For problem gambling, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER, the National Council on Problem Gambling helpline (ncpgambling.org), open 24 hours. No Idaho-run gambling helpline or self-exclusion program appears on an official state page.

Common questions