• Why Is Gambling Illegal In Hawaii
• Why Is Gambling Illegal In Hawaii
• Is Online Gambling Illegal In Hawaii

• Hawaiian State Senator Will Espero was the one to introduce SB.677 in January 2017, which was worded to legalize and regulate online gambling. A Hawaii Internet Lottery and Gaming Corporation would be established to oversee the industry and open the possibility of launching a lottery for Hawaiians.
• Hawaii Gaming Law and Criminal Gambling Charges Illegal gambling is a criminal offense, and can result in jail time. The punishment for participating in illegal gambling may change with the type of gambling or amount wagered, and can be especially severe if you are holding games or lotteries for personal profit.

Hawaiian officials not tolerating gambling There are only two states out of the 50 in America with no legalized gambling: Utah and Hawaii. The former has a deeply religious population and happily maintains its exception from the gambling culture of the United States. Hawaii is very unfriendly towards gambling and does not permit its residents to wager real money or anything of value on the outcomes of games. The state has not regulated any form of gambling, owing to which placing bets under any circumstance is illegal in Hawaii. Penalties for illegal gambling are strict in Hawaii, but they do not apply to.

Hawaii may not have been swept up in the online poker boom like some states, but there are still tens of thousands of Hawaiians who have tried their luck at online poker in Hawaii. Even today, Hawaii and online poker continue to be a great match, with hundreds of new players signing on to play cash games and tournaments online.

If you have questions about how to join them, read on for more about online poker and the law in Hawaii, how gambling is approach by the government in Hawaii and an index of credible resources that will help you learn all you ever wanted to know about Hawaii and where to play online poker.

Establishing a State Lottery

In 2016 alone, 15 gaming bills were proposed in the Hawaii State Legislature. Most of the bills pass their first reading and one is still being considered. Three of these bills (HB 1830, HB 2536, and SB 2626) involved legalization of a state lottery.

Fantasy Sports Bills

Three bills (HB 2111, SB 2429, and B2722) involve fantasy sports in Hawaii. Of these, two of the bill seek to make fantasy sports illegal in Hawaii. A third bill would regulate the DFS industry. Ironically, the same senator sponsored a bill to ban fantasy sports and regulate it: Democrat Gilbert Keith-Agaran.

Hawaii State Horse Racing Board

SB 1373 would establish a PILOT for horse racing in Hawaii, while establishing a State Horse Racing Board. The seven senators who sponsored the bill were Donovan Dela Cruz, Brickwood Galuteria, Kaiali’i Kahele, Michelle Kidani, Clarence Nishihara, Maile Shimabukuro, and Gilbert Keith-Agaran. In a 25-member senate, a bill sponsored by 7 members has a pretty good chance of passing.

Slot Machines in Airports

HR 71, sponsored by Cindy Evans, would legalize “amusement concessions” in airports. Essentially, slot machines would be placed in Hawaii’s airports, which would target tourists and business travelers from out-of-state. Most gamblers know that airport slots have the worst odds of all. Terminals have such a high turnover of customers; you don’t really need to build a loyal customer base.

If HR 71 passed, the revenues generated would go into the airport revenue fund. Representative Evans’s bill was carried over from the 2015 legislative session, but it did not appear to have received enough support to go to the floor of the house.

Most of the remaining bills had to do with tax relief on winnings in out-of-state venues and nuisance abatements on gambling offenses. While there seemed to be plenty of activity from lawmakers on the gambling-related subjects, few of the proposals seemed close to passing. Hawaii remains, alongside Utah, one of only two states with a 100% ban on gambling.

Illegal Card Games, Sports Bets, and Cockfighting

Illegal gambling is another matter. Roman Kalinowski, the senior staff writers for the Ka Leo Hawai’i, the campus newspaper for the University of Hawai’i Manoa, wrote in 2015 that “cockfighting, sports betting, video gambling machines and backroom card games are available to locals and tourists willing to track them down.”

Mr. Kalinowski’s assertion was in an opinion piece, but a look through old stories on Legal US Poker Sites gives an indication the student writer is right. A number of illegal gambling rings have been busted in the past 3 years, and some of those rings have been for tens of millions of dollars of cash. Those gaming rings involved sophisticated online betting tools, as well.

Sumner LaCroix, an economics professor at University of Hawai’i at Manoa, said that the prohibition has led to a significant underground economy. Estimates range that underground gaming in Hawaii might involve $700 million to $7 billion of action per year, or between 1% and 10% of Hawaii’s GDP.

As recently as 2014, the Director of Research for Gambling Compliance, Chris Krafcik, predicted Hawaii’s legislature would consider legalizing online gambling. Nothing happened in 2014, but experts continue to believe Hawaii might one day legalize some forms of gambling. Hawaiian residents most often mention a state lottery as a starting place.

Playing Online Poker in Hawaii

When we say legal poker sites in HI, we’re referring to sites with a proper license issued by a qualified regulatory body. If you play on other sites, you’re risking your bankroll. That’s why we only list legit poker rooms in our picks for Hawaiian poker sites, and then we dwindle that group to include just the top rooms with the best bonuses and promotions. The result is the list below

What Sites Take Poker Players From Hawaii Online?

You can play on almost all online poker rooms in Hawaii. This does not include rooms that don’t accept any players from the US, but all poker sites that let American players participate in real money games also take players from Hawaii. Players from states like New York and Washington aren’t as fortunate, as they face sign up restrictions at most sites, but poker players from Hawaii are welcome at rooms across the net.

Online Poker Law for Hawaii

With no case law concerning online poker or any record of arrests related to playing online poker, it’s difficult to reach a final conclusion on the legality of online poker in Hawaii. If you’re playing online poker in Hawaii and want to understand how state law might impact you, we’ve developed this brief overview of the most important parts for online poker players.
Note: Players should always seek professional legal help for anything other than casual questions regarding the law.

Hawaiian law takes a simple and clear position on gambling: None is legal in the state. As a result, the definition of gambling employed in state becomes very important.

The definition of gambling (Section 712-1220(1)) is a pretty standard one and involves any bet of something of value upon what the law calls a “contest of chance.”

Some might argue that poker is not a contest of chance, and that may well be true in the general sense. Hawaiian law, however, has a specific definition of contest of chance that appears to encompass poker:

“any contest, game, gaming scheme, or gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material degree upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants may also be a factor therein” (Section 712-1220(3))

Engaging in gambling (as defined by Hawaiian law) is a misdemeanour offence (Section 712-1223).

Social gambling (and home poker games) are legal (Section 712-1231), but only under very strict conditions that would seem to preclude online poker from finding shelter under the exemption.

Chances of Regulating Online Poker in Hawaii

As you probably have guessed by now, there’s little in Hawaii’s history that suggests the state is a likely candidate to regulate online poker. With such strict attitudes toward all types of gambling enshrined in the law, a bill that regulated online poker in Hawaii would face substantial hurdles.

That’s unfortunate, because we believe that a local influence in regulation is key to developing online poker rooms that customers can trust and enjoy. Despite the obvious advantages of regulating online poker, it seems as if the Hawaiian government simply doesn’t have an interest in providing residents with a locally licensed and clearly legal online poker option.

Quick Background for Hawaiian Gambling

Gambling seems popular in Hawaii. Many of the news articles discussing Hawaii and gambling claim that Las Vegas is known as the “ninth island” of Hawaii. We can’t speak directly to the truth of that claim, but it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch for a region with such strong gambling roots.

For example, horse racing was once the dominant form of entertainment among the Hawaiian elite. In fact, nearly a dozen race tracks called Hawaii home during the late 1800s and early 1900s. That trend died out in the 1950s, and with it went the last remnants of regulated gambling in Hawaii. Today, Hawaii is one of just two US states (along with Utah) that offer absolutely no regulated gambling.

Hawaii’s Regulated Gambling Industry

As Hawaii does not have any regulated gambling, there’s little to say on this score.

Hawaii’s Regulated Online Gambling Industry

Online gambling is also not regulated in any way by the government of Hawaii. The state did take some steps toward passing an online gambling bill in 2010, but that effort stalled and the prospects for regulated online gambling in Hawaii within the next few years seem slim at best.

All Poker and Gambling Laws by State

• September 30th, 2017

  There are only two states out of the 50 in America with no legalized gambling: Utah and Hawaii. The former has a deeply religious population and happily maintains its exception from the gambling culture of the United States. Hawaii, however, has abstained from joining the industry because of the precarious

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• When a construction worker at a Saipanese casino development died on site in late March, U.S. investigators raided the construction company’s headquarters. In the documents the FBI agents confiscated, they found evidence that hundreds of undocumented Chinese workers were a part of the project. In late April, U.S. prosectors filed

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Useful Sites for Hawaii Gambling Research

FindLaw: Hawaiian Gambling Law Overview – Guide to the basics of Hawaiian gambling law along with links to legal synopsis to all 50 states (not poker-specific).

History of Hawaiian Horse Racing – An in-depth look at the legal, social and cultural history of horse racing in Hawaii. Covers recent legislative attempts to bring legal betting to the state’s tracks.

Gambling in Hawaii and Utah – Scholarly paper from the Gaming Law Review and Economics journal. Covers the history and development of gambling in the only two states (Hawaii and Utah) that have no forms of regulated gambling whatsoever.

Hawaii’s Role in Poker’s Development

Relatively isolated from the rest of the United States and lacking a develop gambling industry, Hawaii has played a minor role in the history of poker. The state produced no World Series of Poker champions in 2012, and no poker players of national note (that we could uncover) hail from Hawaii. The one link from the newest US state to one of the oldest US games: Wikipedia claims that “Hawaii” is a hand nickname for QJ – because if you play it too much, you’ll end up losing about what a vacation to the islands costs.

Sources & Citations For This Article on Hawaii Online Poker

In general, Hawaii is not considered to be gambling friendly. While there are no laws in Hawaii that specifically outlaw online gambling for Hawaii residents, there is also no law that specifically legalizes it. Hawaii’s legal position on gambling is clear and simple – gambling is not legal in the state. Hawaii gambling law defines gambling as betting something of value on a contest of chance. A contest of chance refers to any game, contest, gaming device or gaming scheme, the result of which depends in a material degree on an element of chance, even if the skill of the contestants are a factor therein. Poker and casino games will be considered a contest of chance under HI gambling law. It is a misdemeanor offense to engage in gambling. Knowingly participating or advancing a gambling activity can result in being charged with the offense of gambling. Advancing a gambling activity refers to conduct that which materially aids a gambling activity and includes

• establishment or creation of a contest, device, game, scheme or activity
• acquisition or maintenance of apparatus, equipment, paraphernalia or premises used for a gambling activity
• solicitation or inducement of others to participate in gambling
• actual conduct of the gambling activity
• actual control over a place used for gambling activity
• assistance with the financial, recording and other phases of the gambling activity.

While state based gambling in Hawaii may not be a possibility, there are no state or federal laws which prohibit residents and visitors to HI from participating in legally licensed and certified gambling sites which are located outside of the United States, within a region that has legalized online gambling. Many of these sites accept players from Hawaii and are often referred to as Hawaii online casinos, Hawaii online poker sites, and Hawaii online sports betting sites, despite the fact that they are not located in Hawaii. There are even Hawaii online bingo options available.

Other Hawaii Gambling Pages

Social Gambling Laws in Hawaii

Social gambling including bingo, raffles, home poker games and specific types of wagers on sporting events are legal subject to strict conditions. A home poker game must meet the following conditions:

• all players must have an equal chance of winning
• the game must be held in private residential setting
• the home owner should not make a profit by allowing his home to be used for the game
• the home owner cannot charge any entry fees or rake the pot
• all players must be 18 or older
• there must be no wagering on sporting events

History of Gambling In Hawaii

In 1778 when Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, gambling was popular amongst the residents during the Makahiki festival from October to February. During the festival people could place bets on various games and contests. Even non-participant could place bets on the outcome of the contest. However the popularity of the festival declined over the years and in the 1800s, the American missionaries stopped betting on moral grounds. In August, 1825, the native chiefs met and placed a kapu (prohibition) upon gambling, vice, drunkenness, theft, and violation of the Sabbath.

Hawaii is one of the few states without any legalized gambling activities. Given Hawaii’s reliance on a tourist economy, the citizenry of Hawaii probably realized that any legalized gambling activities would severely injure the pre-existing tourist economy. There are no land based casinos in the state of Hawaii. Hawaii does not have a state lottery.

Efforts To Legalize Gambling In HI

Way back in 2010, the state considered a proposal to set up a stand alone casino in Waikiki but soon abandoned the idea. Legislators toyed with a similar idea about 11 years ago before rejecting it. In February 2010, the state House Finance Committee rejected a bill to allow casinos on Hawaiian home lands.

Why Is Gambling Illegal In Hawaii

In early 2011, there were hopes that the state would legalize poker. A bill was introduced seeking to define poker as a game of skill. This would make it exempt from the state gambling law. In March 2011 the bill made it past the Judiciary Committee but did not get a House Fiance Committee hearing. The bill apparently lacked the necessary public support to continue further and died.

Efforts To Legalize Online Gambling In Hawaii

Earlier this year, a group of state Senators introduced a bill seeking to legalize internet poker, lotteries and other casino games. The bill if passed would create the Hawaii Internet Lottery and Gaming Corporation to oversee gambling operations in the state. The Corporation would have 180 days to create a regulatory framework to regulate internet gaming operations. The bill is still pending, but could lead to state based Hawaii online poker options and expand selection for players who now rely on legal offshore poker rooms.

Hawaii Gambling Laws Concerning Indian Tribal Lands

Many states that specifically prohibit land based casinos allow Indian tribes in the state to set up casinos on reservations under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. But not Hawaii. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5–4 decision, held that the 11th Amendment bars Congress from authorizing suits by Indian tribes against states to enforce federal legislation that requires states to negotiate in good faith with Indian tribes toward tribal-state compacts governing gaming on Indian lands. Since only Utah and Hawaii prohibit all gambling without exception, only those states, under IGRA, could regulate gambling on tribal lands.

Federal Laws Affecting Hawaii Online Gambling

There are no federal laws which prohibit residents or visitors to Hawaii from participating in legally licensed online gambling. Some players mistakenly believe the UIGEA bill of 2006 makes it illegal for US residents to participate in online gambling, however this is not the case at all. The law in fact does not even address players but rather targets gambling site operators and payment processors to place regulatory oversight on how online gambling transactions are processed. This regulation keeps fraudulent and illegal financial practices out of the industry. In the recent 2011 Black Friday sting in which the DOJ launched an investigation into several prominent online poker sites, no players were investigated or targeted in the process. Those sites were suspected of not adhering to the regulations set forth in the UIGEA and hence were investigated accordingly. While players were inconvenienced for a time regarding access to their funds at these sites, no players were charged or punished in any way.

Other federal laws that pertain to gambling in the US are the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and the Federal Wire Act. PASPA prohibits the expansion of US based brick and mortar sportsbook gambling and does not impact online betting at all. In 2011 the Department of Justice issued a formal opinion that clarified the application of the Federal Wire Act. In their statement, they declared that the Federal Wire Act does indeed prohibit US based online gambling sites from operating within the United States, but that each individual state could determine their own destiny concerning state regulated online casino and poker gambling. Three states so far have created online gambling initiatives, including New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware. Neither of these two federal laws prohibits US residents from engaging in legally sanctioned online gambling at offshore destinations that offer their services to American players, including those living in Hawaii. These laws do regulated where online gambling businesses can operate within the United States, but do not address the act of participating as a gambler.

Hawaii Gambling Laws

For those interested in reviewing Hawaii gambling laws in their original legislative context, you will find that information here: Hawaii Government Official Website. That link will take you to the official documents themselves.

**This site is intended to serve as informational only and is not designed or equipped for providing legal services of any type. We are not lawyers and do not provide any type of legal advice, interpretation or services. If you are looking for a professional interpretation of any law or statute, we recommend you contact a licensed lawyer. If you are seeking legal services of any type, then we recommend you contact a lawyer. We cannot provide those services.

HI Online Gambling Laws FAQS

What Are the Consequences of Gambling in Hawaii?

A charge of simple gambling in the state of Hawaii is a misdemeanor offense. For a misdemeanor offense in Hawaii, you can be charged up to $2,000 dollars in fines and be sentenced up to one year in the county jail.

What is Social Gambling and is it Legal in HI?

Social gambling is legal in the state of Hawaii. A social poker game, for instance, must be held in a person’s home or private, residential setting and operated without any fees or charges for the participants in the game. All of the participants must have an equal opportunity to win, be 18 years or older, and there must be no wagering on sporting events. The owner of the establishment cannot rake or take any percentage of the pot and must not make any profit other than that of his own winnings.

Is There Any Legal Commercially Based Gambling in Hawaii?

No, Hawaii has no state lottery and there are no brick and mortar casinos on the island. The popular idea is that gambling would hurt the tourism economy that Hawaii relies so heavily upon. Gambling was made illegal among other things in August of 1825 when the native chiefs placed a prohibition on it.

Will Hawaii Legalize in the Future?

The item of gambling on the legislation list in the state of Hawaii has come up multiple times in just the last 20 years. In 2010 Hawaii considered building a casino in Wakiki but the bill never reached the voters that it needed. There was another attempt to legalize poker in 2011 when a clever lawyer tried to introduce a bill that terms poker as a game of skill rather than a game of chance which would skirt the legal code of gambling in the state of Hawaii. The bill was reported to lack the necessary public support and it failed before it made it to a house finance committee hearing.

Will Hawaii Legalize Online Gambling in the Future?

Currently there is a bill pending in the state of Hawaii that would legalize internet casino games, lotteries, and poker. The bill works to create the proper regulatory bodies that companies that run these types of games require. It would create the Hawaii Internet lottery and Gaming Corporation which would regulate and license all internet gambling operations in the state. If the bill is passed the committee will have 180 days to get the infrastructure to regulate such games in order and ready to begin.

Why Is Gambling Illegal In Hawaii

Why Aren’t There Any Native Casinos in Hawaii?

Is Online Gambling Illegal In Hawaii

Hawaii is only one of two states that totally outlaws casinos even on the level of Native American lands. The state of Hawaii won a controversial decision in the U.S. Supreme Court that essentially prevented Indian tribes from enforcing the federal legislation that allows them right over their government sanctioned lands. Hawaii and Utah are the only states that prohibit gambling without exception and the only states that could regulate gambling on those Native American Lands according to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.