Sports betting is now legal in 39 US states, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico — a remarkable expansion in the years since the federal ban fell. Yet the two biggest prizes in American gambling remain stubbornly out of reach. Texas and California, which together account for roughly 22% of the US adult population, still prohibit sports wagering in every form, making them the largest unregulated markets in the country by a wide margin.
The math is staggering. Combined, these two states hold more potential bettors than most countries have citizens, and every year they stay closed, billions of dollars in wagering activity flows instead to offshore sites, neighboring states, or the black market. For operators, regulators, and tax-hungry legislators alike, Texas and California are the white whales of the betting industry.
Texas: The Franchises Are Lobbying
In Texas, the pressure is coming from an unusual source: the state's own sports franchises. All of the major Texas teams are actively lobbying for legalization, with heavyweights like the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans among the most vocal advocates. Their argument is straightforward — Texans are already betting, just not legally, and the state is forfeiting enormous economic activity and tax revenue to jurisdictions that flip the switch.
The obstacle in Texas has always been political rather than popular. The state's constitution requires a voter referendum to expand gambling, which means the legislature must first pass an enabling measure by a supermajority before the public even gets a say. In a part-time legislature that meets in regular session only every other year, and with entrenched opposition from powerful conservative factions, the runway for legalization is narrow. But the involvement of the franchises — with their political clout and public platforms — has shifted the conversation from whether to when.
California: A Different Kind of Standoff
California's path is complicated by a different dynamic: the state's powerful tribal gaming interests. Previous ballot initiatives to legalize sports betting collapsed amid a war between commercial operators and tribes over who would control the market and how. The result was a spectacularly expensive campaign season that produced no legalization at all, and left a sour taste that has slowed subsequent efforts.
The core tension is control. California's tribes have spent decades building the nation's largest tribal gaming economy, and they are not inclined to share a lucrative new vertical with national commercial operators on unfavorable terms. Until those interests find alignment — or one side gathers the political and financial muscle to win outright — California will likely remain closed despite obvious demand.
The States That Are Moving
While the giants stall, the map keeps filling in around them. The states that still prohibit sports betting in any form include Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah — a shrinking list.
Recent developments show the momentum. Missouri launched legal online sports betting in December 2025, opening the market to anyone 21 or older physically located in the state. Arizona has matured into one of the most operator-friendly markets in the country, with 20 mobile licensees active. And in March 2026, DraftKings and FanDuel entered Arkansas as technology vendors, partnering with Southland and Oaklawn respectively — the first time the national giants became available in that state.
Georgia, by contrast, illustrates how fragile progress can be: a constitutional-amendment push failed a key House vote in March 2026, meaning a state-regulated market there cannot launch before 2027. The lesson is that legalization is rarely a straight line, and even states with clear demand can stall on procedural and political hurdles.
What This Means for Bettors and Poker Players
For sports bettors in Texas and California, the practical reality is that regulated, in-state mobile betting still isn't an option — and the industry's advice is to wait for a licensed market rather than rely on unregulated alternatives with no consumer protections. When these states do open, they will instantly become the most competitive markets in the country, and the promotional arms race for new customers will be enormous.
For the many players who follow both poker and sports betting, the crossover matters. Several established operators run integrated poker rooms and sportsbooks under one roof, letting players move seamlessly between the tables and the betting slate. Our reviews of BetOnline Sportsbook, SportsBetting.ag, and TigerGaming Sportsbook break down how those combined platforms stack up, and our broader sportsbooks hub covers the full landscape.
For a state-by-state view of where legal online play — poker included — actually stands, our US guide tracks the regulatory patchwork and updates as new markets come online.
The Revenue at Stake
The financial gravity of Texas and California is what keeps the pressure relentless. Industry analysts have long projected that a legal Texas market alone could rank among the largest in the country almost immediately upon launch, given the state's population and its passionate sports culture, with California potentially even larger. Between them, the two states represent billions of dollars in annual handle that currently either goes unrealized or leaks to offshore operators and neighboring jurisdictions — money that legislators eyeing budget gaps find increasingly hard to ignore.
That revenue argument is the strongest card proponents hold. Every year a state stays closed, it watches its residents drive across borders to place bets that generate tax revenue for someone else, or wager on unregulated sites that pay nothing to anyone and offer no consumer safeguards. As more neighboring states legalize and the contrast grows starker, the political cost of inaction rises. The counterargument — concerns about problem gambling and the social costs of expanded wagering — remains genuine and is central to the opposition in both states. How lawmakers weigh those competing considerations, and how the tribal and commercial interests in California ultimately align, will determine whether the last two dominoes fall in this decade or the next.
The Bottom Line
American sports betting has expanded faster than almost anyone predicted, but the two biggest dominoes remain standing. Texas has its franchises pushing hard and a public that wants it; California has overwhelming demand tangled in a tribal-commercial standoff. Whichever falls first will reshape the entire industry overnight, adding tens of millions of potential customers and hundreds of millions in tax revenue.
Until then, the story of US sports betting in 2026 is a tale of a nearly complete map with two enormous blank spaces at its heart — and an industry watching Austin and Sacramento more closely than any other capitals in the country.