STATE TRACKER · ND

Sweepstakes casinos in North Dakota

Current status

No tracked explicit prohibition

We have found no state law that explicitly prohibits sweepstakes casinos here. That is an absence of a tracked prohibition, not an affirmative authorization.

Last review: June 11, 2026
Authority: N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-28-01

There is no tracked prohibition here to act on. An operator's own terms still decide whether it will register you, and some exclude states that have taken no action at all, so read the terms we link on each review page. See the operators we track

Sweeps Coins (SC) redemption: No tracked prohibition
Gold Coin (GC) free play: Yes
Minimum age: 18+
Age floor source: N.D. Cent. Code § 14-10-01 (minors = persons under 18) and § 14-10-02 (all persons 18+ are adults). No sweepstakes/promotional-contest-specific age statute; floor defaults to age of majority of 18.

PRIMARY-SOURCE NOTE

North Dakota's lottery definition needs only some participants to have paid for the chance

What the law does

Section 12.1-28-01 defines gambling as putting money, credit, a deposit or anything else of value at risk for a gain that depends wholly or partly on chance, a gambling apparatus, or an event the person taking the risk cannot control¹. Lawful contests of skill, speed, strength or endurance, where awards go only to entrants or entry owners, fall outside it¹. The same section defines a lottery as any plan that hands out a thing of value to people picked by chance from participants, some or all of whom gave consideration for that chance¹. Section 12.1-28-02, which applies except as permitted by law, makes selling, buying, receiving or transferring a chance in a lottery a class A misdemeanor, along with spreading information about a lottery to encourage people to join it¹. Conducting a lottery, or owning, managing or financing a gambling business, counts as engaging in the business of gambling, a class C felony¹. Neither section mentions online play or sweepstakes.

What has happened since

Our event history for North Dakota holds no bill, attorney general action, court ruling or operator exit, so the classification still rests on sections 12.1-28-01 and 12.1-28-02 alone¹. The official chapter file we read on September 28, 2026 prints no history notes, which leaves this note unable to date the last amendment to either section¹. Both sections defer to other law through the words except as permitted by law and a carve-out for acts expressly authorized by law, and neither phrase names the law it means¹. On the operator side, 118 of the operators we track are recorded as accepting North Dakota players and 3 as not accepting, and no operator family has every brand recorded as excluding the state. The age floor on the fact grid also comes from general law: chapter 14-10 calls anyone under eighteen a minor and has no rule written for sweepstakes or promotions².

What is still open

The first question is how the lottery definition reads against a dual-currency site. It needs only some participants to have paid for their chance¹. Whether a Gold Coin purchase that comes with Sweeps Coins is that payment, when a free entry route also exists, has no answer in our record for North Dakota. The second is whether the device definition in subsection 4 of section 12.1-28-02 covers a slot-style game run from a remote server¹. It covers a machine similar to a slot machine that works without a coin, but the offense in subsection 3 that uses it is keeping such a device on premises the person occupies¹. The third is whether the lottery dissemination clause bears on online promotion; our record marks no affiliate liability provision for North Dakota.

Enforcement search: Chapter 12.1-28 does not mention online play or sweepstakes¹. Nothing we track for North Dakota in our event history is an enforcement action, a court ruling, another legal event or an operator exit.
Question still open: Whether buying Gold Coins that come with Sweeps Coins is consideration for a chance under section 12.1-28-01, and whether a slot-style game run from a remote server is a machine similar to a slot machine under section 12.1-28-02¹.

Sources for this note

North Dakota Century Code chapter 12.1-28, Gambling and related offenses (North Dakota Legislative Branch) accessed Sep 28, 2026
North Dakota Century Code chapter 14-10, Minors (North Dakota Legislative Branch) accessed Sep 28, 2026

Sources rechecked 2026-09-28. Next scheduled review 2026-12-28.

What the law says

Engaging or participating in 'the business of gambling': including conducting a lottery or owning/managing/financing a gambling business: is a class C felony (§ 12.1-28-02(3)). Selling or transferring a chance to participate in a lottery is a class A misdemeanor (§ 12.1-28-02(2)(a)). Player-side gambling is an infraction to misdemeanor depending on stakes.

Operators and North Dakota

118 of the 121 operators we track are recorded as accepting North Dakota players, and 13 of those are rated trusted.

3 of the 121 operators we track are recorded as not accepting North Dakota players, and 0 of those records cite the operator's own terms.

Highest Trust Scores among the operators recorded as accepting North Dakota:

See the full list on the leaderboard filtered to North Dakota →

How this classification was reached

Show the record, the citation and the method

What the North Dakota classification rests on

Source date: Not recorded
Last human review: June 11, 2026
Effective date: Not recorded
Basis of classification: statutory

How to read these rows

Where the operator counts come from

Of the 118 acceptance records, 38 cite the operator's own terms or rules, 10 come from a backfill of the operator's terms, 1 comes from the operator's site configuration, 13 are inferred because the terms do not list North Dakota, 53 come from our bulk backfill without a terms citation and 3 reflect site availability with no observed Sweeps Coins program. Of the 3 exclusion records, 3 come from our bulk backfill without a terms citation.

Citation as stored

N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-28-01 (gambling, lottery defined) and § 12.1-28-02 (offenses; business of gambling).

Primary sources on file

North Dakota Century Code, Chapter 12.1-28: Gambling and Related Offenses North Dakota Legislative Branch (ndlegis.gov) · accessed Jun 10, 2026

Method

Methodology · Corrections · Changelog · How to read a state page

North Dakota questions

Are sweepstakes casinos legal in North Dakota?

We have found no state law that explicitly prohibits sweepstakes casinos here. That is an absence of a tracked prohibition, not an affirmative authorization. Authority: N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-28-01.

Does North Dakota's lottery definition require every participant to have paid for the chance?

Section 12.1-28-01 describes the participants in a lottery as people some or all of whom have given a consideration for the chance of being selected. The text does not address whether a free entry route changes the result for a product that also sells coin packages, and our record holds no court or attorney general reading of that point for North Dakota.

Which operators accept North Dakota players?

118 of the 121 operators we track are recorded as accepting North Dakota players, and 13 of those are rated trusted. 3 of the 121 operators we track are recorded as not accepting North Dakota players, and 0 of those records cite the operator's own terms. The leaderboard filtered to North Dakota lists every one. Leaderboard filtered to North Dakota →

This page is information, not legal advice. Laws and thresholds change quickly, so confirm with the operator and your state attorney general before depositing, or consult a lawyer. Last verified June 11, 2026. Send a correction.