Lake Tahoe Sportsbooks

As one of the premier destinations for tourists, thrill seekers and gamblers alike in all of the massive state of California, Lake Tahoe is practically a paradise on earth for most folks looking to have a good time. Because it sits right on the border with Nevada, that also means that Lake Tahoe sportsbooks have long been a staple for the local gambling industry, even during the quarter century or so that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) was in place. Simply put, if bettors in the Golden State were not happy with the many fine casinos located in their own borders, they could easily pay a visit to the sportsbooks in Lake Tahoe, which were actually found right across the border in Stateline, NV.

However, the status quo with regard to legalized sports betting may be changing in California, and that change could come sooner than almost anyone expects. The US Supreme Court, in a watershed May 2018 decision, returned a majority vote to overturn PASPA, the federal law that had for more than two decades prevented 46 of 50 states – California included – from legalized, regulating and taxing sports wagering outlets, which basically gave Nevada free rein as the only place were all forms of sports betting were legal anywhere in the country. Now that PASPA’s days are behind us, it would seem that the Golden State’s lawmakers might be inclined to reexamine their policy of limited legalized gambling to casinos, even giving credit where credit is due in that California is home to some fine casinos that bring millions of visitors to the state every year. However, for the time being, legal Lake Tahoe casinos remains a topic for discussion only, though we are hoping that action is taken to remedy the situation.

With all that being said, our guide to the best sportsbooks in Lake Tahoe – which include such local and international luminaries as the Lakeside Casino, the Hard Rock Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and more – would not be complete if we did not extensively extoll the numerous virtues of the legal offshore sportsbooks serving California players. Sites such as Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, BetDSI, and 5Dimes have been filling the niche created by PASPA as the leading legal sportsbooks in Lake Tahoe for years, and have gained a level of popularity and reputability otherwise unheard of in the internet gambling marketplace. Our guide to all the Lake Tahoe sportsbooks worth the consideration of our dedicated readership here at Sports Betting California will discuss all these topics and more, so read on for the full scoop.

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Is Sports Betting Currently Legal In Lake Tahoe, CA?

The question of whether or not sports betting in California is currently legal in Lake Tahoe, is a bit more complicated to answer than it would be in other states around the country and even, it must be said, in most other locales in the state of California too. The reason for that somewhat longwinded disclaimer is this: sports betting is not currently a legal gambling activity in the Golden State, but sports betting is legally available for California residents in the vicinity of and visitors to Lake Tahoe. That might sound convoluted, but bear with us while we explain how sportsbooks in Lake Tahoe are, to use the parlance of the times, “literally a thing.”

First of all, Lake Tahoe itself, not the town named after it, crosses the state border from California to neighboring Nevada, where darn near every kind of gambling a sensible person can think of is fully legal and has been for years. Secondly, individuals that live in the Lake Tahoe community and visitors there can easily either drive around to the lake’s southern shore or simply hop a ride across the lake, whereupon they will find themselves surrounded by casinos large and small, all of which on the Nevada side of the body of water will have sportsbooks. Thirdly, sports betting websites such as Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, BetDSI and 5Dimes that are hosted in foreign countries and are fully licensed and regulated by the gambling control authorities in their home nations. That means that not only would prospective US players not have to worry about betting with less than reputable unauthorized businesses, but these legal operators are not beholden at all to any US federal or state gambling laws.

When one considers all of the above factors, it should be pretty clear that, though sports betting is not necessarily legal in Lake Tahoe at this very moment, the laws that do govern what is and is not a legal gambling activity in the Golden State do not apply in this particular case, which gives those interested in sports betting for California residents a true “best of all worlds” situation to work with. Besides, now that PASPA has been overturned by the US Supreme Court, the possibility exists that the California legislature could look into authorizing sportsbooks at any of its fantastic Native American tribal casinos that are already licensed gaming operators.

There has not been a ton of indications coming our way that this is what the Golden State’s lawmakers mean to do in the near term, but in the long run, we do tend to think that is what they will decide to do. There is simply too much to be gained in terms of positive impacts on local economies and vastly increased tax revenues to ignore the prospect of a legalized sports betting market in one of the nation’s most populous and economically significant – not to mention cash strapped – states.

Minimum Legal Age To Bet At Lake Tahoe Sportsbooks

Although there are not technically any casinos offering sports betting options in Lake Tahoe, being that sports betting is not yet legal in the state of California, the South Shore of the lake – that being Stateline, Nevada – does have several casinos offering all the sports wagering action you can reasonably be expected to handle. Being that these casino sportsbooks set 21 as the minimum legal age, to bet at Lake Tahoe sportsbooks or the ones that function in that capacity anyway, you will need to be at least 21 years of age before you can legally bet at any of them. California has already set 21 as the minimum age guests at its casinos need to be before they can bet on other things besides sports, so there is that little bit of extra weight to throw behind our assessment of the situation too. In fact, of all the states that have recently legalized sports wagering or are close to doing so in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn PASPA, only Rhode Island and Montana has settled on a lower minimum age for legal sports betting – so far – and even then it was still 18 and older, so that is fully within the normal bounds for gambling.

However, we should point out that, in the meantime, all the legal offshore sportsbooks that function as the only Lake Tahoe sportsbooks you can use while in California – those being the websites Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, BetDSI, and 5Dimes – will take wagers from players as young as 18. This is completely in keeping with the restrictions placed on these operators by their gaming control authorities from the nations in which they are based. It is simply a case of the European and Caribbean gaming regulations being a good deal more lax with regard to minimum age needed to engage in gambling legally compared to here in the states. The end result is that California residents that want to place bets on their favorite teams can do so at a younger age than perhaps will eventually be permitted in the Golden State and is already permitted in Nevada, where the physical Lake Tahoe sportsbooks are actually located.

When Will Lake Tahoe Casinos Have Land-Based Sports Betting?

Land-based sports betting is still ways away in California. An Assembly member has introduced a sports betting bill, but the state has not entered into any real discussions about legalizing the industry or setting regulations. The casinos would be the first place to offer sports betting in the state but much change must occur first. After a legislative process to introduce and approve the industry is eventually passed, California will have to choose which stakeholders will get the rights to offer sports betting.

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Best Sportsbooks In Lake Tahoe

This is something of a tough call, and ultimately it will be up to each individual person interested in sports betting for California residents at Lake Tahoe sportsbooks to decide for themselves, but – in our opinion anyway – there are two ways to go as to finding the best sportsbooks in Lake Tahoe. On the one hand, visitors and residents of the Lake Tahoe area can simply make a short drive or hop a quick boat road across the water to the Nevada side of the lake, where there are numerous high-profile casinos with sports betting options as well as some prestigious locals’ favorite sportsbooks in Lake Tahoe. On the other hand, there is always the option to stay in California and make use of any of the de facto Lake Tahoe sportsbooks, those being the industry leading operators Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, BetDSI, and 5Dimes.

Regardless of which way you decide to go to get your sports betting fix, you really can’t go wrong, as both methods offer plenty of benefits. Whether that is the multiple deposit and withdrawal methods (including Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies) or the free mobile betting apps offered by the legal offshore sportsbook sites, or the atmosphere and excitement activities of being there, live and in person, at one of the Lake Tahoe sportsbooks at a casino on the lake shore in Stateline, NV, there are advantages either way. However, we have probably already talked enough about the legal offshore sportsbooks, so it might finally be time to dig a little bit deeper into the land-based options that exist for the kind of sports betting California residents are after by going into the details as to what makes Nevada’s Lake Tahoe sportsbooks so ideal for their intended purpose.