The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act explained

What the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act does

Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act as Public Law 100-497, enacted on October 17, 1988, and placed it at 25 U.S.C. § 2701 and following. It's the federal framework for gaming on Indian lands. It decides which games a tribe controls alone, which ones get federal oversight, and which ones need the state to sign on. You can read the structure of the Act in the archived NIGC summary of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (opens in a new tab).

For a player, the effect is easy to state. A casino run by a tribe on its land works under a tribal gaming ordinance, oversight from the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) and, for casino-style games, a compact negotiated with the state. An offshore website sits outside all three layers.

IGRA is one of several federal statutes covered on our US gambling law hub. The Wire Act and UIGEA deal with how bets and payments travel. IGRA deals with where games run and under whose authority. For the wider story of tribal casinos, see our page on tribal gaming in the US.

The three classes of gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

The heart of IGRA is its three-way split of games. Each class has a different regulator, and the class decides whether the state gets a say at all.

The Class II and Class III line is where most of the money sits. Bingo-based games fall in Class II. Slot machines and banked card games, where you play against the house, fall in Class III. That's why the compact with the state is the key negotiation for most large tribal resorts.

The class doesn't change the math

Whatever class a game falls into, the house edge still applies, so losses are likely over time. A $1,000 session on a game with a 5% house edge has an expected cost of $50 ($1,000 × 0.05), whether the machine sits in a tribal resort or a commercial casino.

Tribal-state compacts: the conditions for Class III gaming

Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Class III gaming is lawful only when every one of these conditions is met:

1. The tribe adopts a gaming ordinance, and the Chairman of the NIGC approves it.
2. The gaming is located in a state that permits such gaming.
3. The tribe and the state negotiate a tribal-state compact. IGRA requires the state to negotiate in good faith.
4. The Secretary of the Interior approves the compact, and it takes effect when that approval is published in the Federal Register.

That final step is why compacts are public documents. Compacts fill in the details IGRA leaves open, so the rules on games and oversight differ from state to state. Arizona shows how far the system reaches: the Arizona Department of Gaming's tribal gaming page (opens in a new tab) lists 22 tribes with compacts, 16 tribes operating casinos and 24 Class III casinos.

Compacts also carry newer products. Arizona's event wagering, legal at retail and on mobile, was authorized by HB 2772 together with amended tribal-state gaming compacts, according to the state gaming department.

The National Indian Gaming Commission and state oversight

IGRA created the NIGC inside the Department of the Interior. It has three members: a Chairman appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate, and two associate members appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.

Day-to-day regulation is shared. Tribes are the main regulators of their own gaming, and many states run an office that watches the state's side of the compacts. State records show how this looks in practice:

• Oklahoma: the Office of Management & Enterprise Services Gaming Compliance Unit oversees compacts, and tribes are the primary regulators of Class II and III gaming. Its 2024 compliance report (opens in a new tab) counts 137 tribal facilities and 33 compacting tribes operating as of June 30, 2024.
• Oregon: the Oregon State Police Gaming Enforcement Division oversees tribal gaming under nine tribal-state compacts.
• Wisconsin: the Department of Administration's Division of Gaming handles compacts with 11 tribes (tribe count from a third-party report).
• Louisiana: the Gaming Control Board's annual report lists three tribes under IGRA compacts: the Chitimacha, Coushatta and Tunica-Biloxi.

Indian gaming by state: compacts, casinos and source

Tribal gaming is everywhere from the desert Southwest to New England. This table brings together what state agencies and other sources record, with the source type shown so you can judge it.

Each state hub goes further. See online casinos in Arizona, California's gambling picture, Oklahoma's casino law and Florida's options and risks.

Compacts can also stall. In Alabama, SB257 and HB448, 2026 constitutional amendment bills covering a lottery, gaming and a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, both died on April 9, 2026, and nothing went on the 2026 ballot.

Does the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allow online casinos?

Not on its own. IGRA was written in 1988 for gaming on Indian lands. Online play raises a different question: where a bet is legally made. Other laws handle that. UIGEA, the 2006 federal payments law, excludes intratribal wagers authorized under IGRA from its definition of unlawful internet gambling, alongside intrastate wagers authorized by state law with age and location checks. The wording is in 31 U.S.C. § 5362 (opens in a new tab).

In practice, tribes have gone online through state legislation:

• Connecticut: Public Act 21-23, signed in May 2021, authorized online casinos. The state's two licensed operators are DraftKings, tied to the Mashantucket Pequot (Foxwoods), and FanDuel, tied to the Mohegan Tribe (Mohegan Sun), according to Connecticut's legal gaming page (opens in a new tab). See online casinos in Connecticut.
• Maine: LD 1164, "An Act to Create Economic Opportunity for the Wabanaki Nations Through Internet Gaming", became law without the governor's signature on January 11, 2026. Only federally recognized Maine tribes can hold an operator license. Nothing had launched by October 2026, the state's iGaming rules had no effective date, and a lawsuit is pending. Our Maine gambling laws page tracks it.
• Wisconsin: AB 601, signed April 9, 2026, lets sports bets be placed statewide if the servers are on tribal land. It needs compact amendments and had not launched, per a third-party report.
• Florida: the Florida Gaming Control Commission says the only lawful online sportsbook is the Seminole Tribe's Hard Rock Bet. Online casino games are not legal in Florida.

None of these tribal products is an offshore casino. Offshore sites, including the partner casinos listed on this page, do not operate under IGRA, a tribal compact or any US state license.

Tribal sports betting after Murphy v. NCAA

The Supreme Court's decision in Murphy v. NCAA, decided May 14, 2018, struck down PASPA and left states free to legalize sports betting. Our PASPA and Murphy v. NCAA page covers the ruling. Several states then used tribal compacts as the route:

• Washington: sports wagering is legal at authorized tribal casinos under tribal-state compacts, but not statewide online. RCW 9.46.240 makes knowingly transmitting or receiving gambling information over the internet a class C felony, with an exception for activity authorized under chapter 9.46, including compact sports wagering. See Washington gambling laws.
• New Mexico: no online sports betting; retail sportsbooks run at tribal casinos only, and five tribes had sportsbooks in 2025.
• North Dakota: sports betting isn't legal statewide, but in-person sportsbooks operate at tribal casinos on tribal land under amended compacts (third-party report).
• Oregon: four tribal casinos have sportsbooks, while mobile betting runs through the Oregon Lottery's DraftKings platform.

The common thread is that the tribe's compact, not a federal license, sets the scope.

What IGRA means for players, at tribal casinos and online

At a tribal casino, there's a chain of regulators you can identify: the tribe, the NIGC and, for Class III games, the compact partner state. Online, the picture depends on who runs the site. A tribal online casino in Connecticut sits under the state's Department of Consumer Protection. An offshore site sits under no US regulator at all. Arizona's gaming department warns that unregulated sites are outside its authority, so victims have little chance of recovering funds.

Here's a practical way to check who stands behind a casino before you deposit:

1. Find the operator's name and home base in the site's terms or footer. If neither is published, treat that as a warning sign.
2. If the site claims tribal or state licensing, look for it on the state regulator's own list. Connecticut's consumer protection department and Michigan's gaming board both publish their approved online operators.
3. If it shows only an offshore license, such as a Curaçao license or an Anjouan license, or none at all, treat it as outside US regulation.
4. Read what your own state says. Our state-by-state directory summarizes each regulator's position.
5. Set a budget and a deposit limit before you play, whichever kind of casino you choose.

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act timeline

The pattern is steady: IGRA hasn't been rewritten for the internet, so online tribal gaming moves state by state, through new laws and amended compacts. For the states that license online casinos today, see our list of states with legal online casinos.

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act myths and facts

If you're weighing a tribal or state-licensed site against an offshore one, our guide to offshore vs state-licensed casinos sets out the practical differences.

Decode and Silver Oak offers: offshore, not tribal casinos

This page is about tribal gaming law, and neither of the casinos below is part of it. Decode and Silver Oak are offshore casinos. They don't operate under IGRA, a tribal compact or a license from any US state, so there's no state regulator to complain to and no state protection of your balance. Check what your state's law says before you sign up.

Silver Oak's own terms say it is licensed in the State of Anjouan under the Computer Gaming Licensing Act 007 of 2005, with Primrose Media Limited as the operator. Decode doesn't publish a license on its site, and third-party reviews list Curaçao. The Michigan Gaming Control Board named Silver Oak among illegal offshore operators in its April 9, 2025 cease-and-desist release (opens in a new tab).

Decode Casino: $5,000 Welcome Bonus + 50 Free Spins, via our link (new players, 21+ or 18+ where allowed, terms apply). Decode's own site shows a different headline, a "$111 Free Chip + Crypto Bonus", without visible terms. Third-party reviews list codes such as DECODE111 (111% up to $1,111, 25x deposit plus bonus, $25 minimum deposit), but codes change and the terms shown at sign-up apply. Third-party reports also say Decode refuses players from Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Washington.

Silver Oak Casino: $2,500 Welcome Bonus + 50 Free Spins, via our link (new players, 21+ or 18+ where allowed, terms apply). The casino's own new-member page advertises a different package, a 100% match on each of the first ten deposits, with 30x playthrough (60x for blackjack and video poker) and no max withdrawal. Its general terms say 40x for slots and 60x for table games and video poker, so the published terms conflict. Deposits start at $30, according to its banking page.

Free spins and match bonuses are built for slots. Silver Oak's terms exclude games such as roulette, baccarat, craps and live dealer from bonus play, and table games are often weighted lower or excluded elsewhere, so read the wagering requirement rules first. We earn a commission when you sign up through our links, and partners appear in a commercial order. Read the full Silver Oak review and Decode review before you decide.

21+ (18+ where allowed). Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: responsible gambling tools and free help. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738).