Is Sports Betting Legal In Alaska (AK)?

Sports betting isn’t legal in Alaska, so the state doesn’t have any legal sports betting sites.

That said, DFS (daily fantasy sports) is legal in the state due to verbiage in the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that classified it as a game of chance.

The state also has legal bingo and allows for betting on dogsled and Iditarod races as long as the proceeds benefit a charitable organization and follow the state’s regulations.

The wagers available for dogsled races are:

• Correctly guessing the racing time of a dog team or the team’s finishing position
• The closest guesses on “at least three elements of uncertainty about a dog sled race that cannot be determined” prior to the start of the race

Bettors can also make a $10 entry on a “trifecta” of guesses (essentially a parlay) on the following results:

• The winning musher
• The winning musher’s time
• How many dogs the winning musher brings across the finish line

The closest state with legal sports betting is Washington, which is more than 2,400 miles away — roughly the same distance between New York City and Las Vegas. Accordingly, legal sports betting isn’t easily accessible for Alaskans.

While most states require bettors to be 21 years or older to wager or gamble, you only need to be 18 years old to play daily fantasy sports in Alaska.

The state doesn’t have any casinos with slot machines or table games, which are usually a good reference point for what the legal sports betting age will be.

Alaska doesn’t have any professional sports teams, so the state’s fandom is spread across multiple teams.

That said, many Alaskans support teams located in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Mariners, Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle Kraken) or western Canada (Vancouver Canucks), since those are the closest sports markets.

Alaska doesn’t have any Division I colleges. However, there are two Division II programs, both of which compete as Division I Independents in ice hockey.

The Division II athletic program of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Nanooks compete in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and sponsor 10 sports teams. Their men’s ice hockey team nearly folded in 2020 due to COVID-19 budget constraints, but the team returned to the ice in 2021 as a Division I Independent.

• Alaska Anchorage Seawolves

The Division II athletic program of the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Seawolves also compete in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and sponsor 13 varsity athletic programs. Their men’s ice hockey team has made three NCAA Tournament appearances and has produced nine NHL players.