Betting in South Dakota

South Dakota didn’t stumble into a weird patchwork by accident; it wrote one. The state constitution generally bans “games of chance, lotteries, and gift enterprises,” then carves out narrow exceptions over time: charitable gaming, a state lottery, limited-stakes gambling in Deadwood, and tribal gaming on reservation land.

Sports betting followed that template. In 2020, voters approved an amendment allowing wagering only in Deadwood, and lawmakers implemented it without touching statewide mobile. Everything else online is still pinned under the general constitutional prohibition unless voters decide otherwise.

When South Dakotans voted to legalize gambling in Deadwood in 1988, the pitch wasn’t “let’s build a mini-Vegas.” It was historic preservation and economic rescue. Limited-stakes gaming launched in 1989 with a $5 max bet and a structure designed to funnel revenue into local government, tourism, and preservation funds.

Decades later, that DNA still shows. Deadwood gaming and statewide video lottery are treated as economic tools that exist to support specific policy goals, not as an open-ended mandate to grow gambling in every channel - especially not online.

Since retail sports betting launched in Deadwood, lawmakers have repeatedly tried to take the next step and let voters decide on mobile.

Measures like SJR 502 and, more recently, SJR 507 would have sent a constitutional amendment to the ballot to approve statewide mobile or server-based online betting through Deadwood. In 2022, SJR 502 passed the Senate but died in the House; the newer SJR 507 is following the same uphill path.

For players, the signal is clear: there’s interest in mobile at the Capitol, but not enough consensus yet to put a real online question in front of voters - especially with concerns about expanding internet gambling layered on top of a constitutional “Deadwood-only” model.

Platforms like Kalshi are built and supervised at the federal level as CFTC-regulated event-contract exchanges, not as state-licensed sportsbooks. They let users buy simple yes/no contracts on real-world outcomes - everything from election results and economic numbers to sports-related questions - with prices moving based on what the market thinks will happen.

Because these platforms are regulated at the federal level as event-based contracts rather than state-licensed gambling, South Dakotans can access and trade on them even though South Dakota law bans in-state internet gambling businesses.

For bettors, that means there is a way to put real money behind a read on an outcome from your couch - it just happens in a federal derivatives framework, not a South Dakota sportsbook app.

When daily fantasy exploded nationally, South Dakota’s Attorney General didn’t rush to ban it - but he did lay out the guardrails. In a 2015 statement, the AG’s office reiterated that South Dakota generally exempts “games of skill” from its gambling prohibition, while also pointing out that the 22-25A internet gambling chapter makes it a felony for anyone in a gambling business to accept online wagers.

In practice, major DFS operators treat South Dakota as an open state: salary-cap contests, season-long products, and even some Pick ’Em-style offerings are available, giving players a way to put money behind lineups and stat reads without touching a local sportsbook.

Real-money online casinos are off-limits in South Dakota, but sweepstakes-style platforms have carved out a separate lane.

These sites use Gold- or “fun-play” coins for most gameplay and a separate Sweeps Coin currency that can be redeemed for cash or prizes, then wrap the whole thing in sweepstakes and consumer-protection rules rather than South Dakota’s gambling code.

For players, the experience looks and feels like an online casino or sportsbook, with the key legal distinction being that you’re participating in a national promotion, not placing a directly regulated wager with a South Dakota operator.

If you search for “South Dakota online sports betting” and you’ll see plenty of polished sites claiming to accept SD players and offering full boards of odds.

Every one of them is operating offshore, without a South Dakota license and without oversight from any U.S. gambling regulator. That already puts them at odds with the state’s internet gambling ban for businesses, but the bigger issue for players is practical: if an offshore book delays or denies a payout, limits or closes your account, or quietly changes its terms, there’s no state agency to complain to and no guaranteed dispute path.

In a state where you have legal retail books, DFS, social/sweeps sites, and federally regulated prediction markets, sending your bankroll offshore means taking on extra legal and financial risk for no real upside.