Table of Contents
Sports Betting in Honolulu, HI
This is our quick Honolulu (HI) online sports betting options overview. Check the gambling sites, legal sportsbooks, mobile apps. Read about local casinos, gambling locations in 2019/2020. Find out more about best Honolulu area casino, racetracks and sports betting destinations like and affordable casino bus tours here.
Honolulu Sports Betting Guide
Of all the states in America, only two have such comprehensive anti-gambling legislation. One of those two is Hawaii (the other being Utah). It’s so strict in the island state that only social poker games where nobody makes a profit are allowed. And, ladies and gentleman, is it; no casinos, no charity gambling, no lottery, and no sports betting for Honolulu residents.
Hawaii was formed in 1959 and gambling has been prohibited ever since. In colonial pre-state days, there was horse racing, which largely existed on the back market. However, these dwindled and stopped in the 1940’s, with efforts to bring in legislation having no success.
Sometimes there is big news of major busts, like a sports-betting ring getting busted and the seizure of gambling machines in Honolulu. This shows there’s still a large appetite among Honolulu residents for gambling and many want to legalize sports betting, even if their government shows no signs of budging on the legal perspective.
In Honolulu there are no racetracks or even pari-mutuel betting machines. Sports betting legislation here has stayed the same since it joined the US in 1959. However, unlike in other states, any amendments have strengthened the anti-gambling rules, rather than cause certain types of gambling to be allowed.
Just like many legal definitions, the one used in Hawaii is broad enough to make sure that fans of any particular game cannot say that they are not covered. Their broad definition of gambling is as follows:
“A person engages in gambling if he stakes or risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his control or influence, upon an agreement or understanding that he or someone else will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.” Chapter 712-1220.