Data and methodology

Methodology

The canonical data lives as plain YAML and CSV files in a git repository. Each legal-status entry, rule, tax rate, event and license cites one or more sources, with the date it was retrieved and, where possible, a short verbatim excerpt. Monthly revenue is parsed automatically from each state regulator's own reports, and every row links to the report it came from.

Automated jobs keep it current: revenue parsers run daily, legislation syncs nightly from Open States, and a weekly watcher re-fetches every cited statute and regulator page and flags changes for review. Nothing changes in the published data without passing validation; changes to legal facts are reviewed by a person.

Company financials come from annual filings. For SEC registrants, revenue and net income attributable to the company are read from the XBRL data in each 10-K or 20-F, and each year cites the latest filing that reported it, so restated figures replace the originals. Companies that do not file with the SEC are entered by hand from their annual reports, in their own reporting currency. Market capitalization is the latest quoted value from Yahoo Finance, converted to U.S. dollars at that day's exchange rate.

Reference data

Population and state tax collections come from the Census Bureau, gambling employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, tribal compact notices from the Federal Register and tribal gaming revenue from the National Indian Gaming Commission. These refresh monthly. Enforcement actions, problem-gambling funding, self-exclusion and helpline counts, and horse racing handle are collected by hand from regulator, attorney general and state agency reports, and coverage varies by state.

Revenue per adult divides a calendar year of reported revenue by the Census estimate of residents 21 and over. Gambling taxes are the Census categories for amusement and pari-mutuel taxes, which can include admissions taxes unrelated to gambling. Tribal casino jobs are counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as local-government employment.

Source hierarchy

Primary sources (statutes, regulations, regulator reports and orders, court opinions, attorney general letters, compacts) come first. Industry trackers and news reporting are used to find facts and as second citations; entries that rest only on a secondary source say so.

Downloads

Every table is available as CSV and Parquet, plus a single DuckDB database file.

gld.duckdb (all tables)

Status definitions

operational

Legal and currently operating in the state

legal_prelaunch

Authorized by law but no operator has launched yet

limited

Legal only in a restricted form (e.g. tribal-only, single operator, retail-only at specific venues)

not_authorized

No statute authorizes it; general gambling prohibitions apply

prohibited

Specifically banned by statute, regulation, or AG/regulator action

contested

Active litigation or regulator dispute over legality (e.g. prediction markets)

repealed

Was legal, since repealed

unknown

NA (not available after research)

Not legal advice

This is a research reference. Laws change and interpretations differ; check the cited primary sources and consult counsel before relying on anything here.