Best Louisiana Sportsbooks | Guide to Lousiana Sports Betting in 2025

Having a regulator's stamp of approval means the site you're looking at has been vetted and complies with the strictest regulations to ensure your safety. This includes keeping player funds separate so that payouts are guaranteed, no matter what happens to the company itself. So, first and foremost, we confirm that our recommended sportsbooks are licensed to operate in Louisiana.

To review sportsbooks, we thoroughly check all Louisiana options before calculating our scores. Our team reviews everything from betting options and banking methods to in-play markets and customer support. 

Then, we give sportsbooks a rating out of 10 after grading them on 10 key trust factors, which include:

You can bet in person at retail locations, racetracks, and bars. You must be at least 21 years old to place sports bets.

You don’t need to be a Louisiana resident. You must be physically located within the lines of approved Louisiana parishes when betting, and geolocation must be enabled. You can, however, register remotely for a Louisiana betting account. 

Senate Bill 247 (the Sports Wagering Act) established the Louisiana Gaming Control Board as the regulating authority for all sports betting. It was already overseeing riverboat and land-based casinos.

Each of Louisiana's 20 licensed casinos and racetracks can apply for a sports betting license. Each license can have up to two online skins, allowing up to 40 online sportsbooks in Louisiana. The application fee is $250K, and the license fee is $500K (valid for five years).

Because of Louisiana's parish-based legal structure (more on that below), online sportsbooks must use geolocation technology to block bets in parishes that voted against sports betting.

You can bet on college sports in Louisiana, but as of 2024, you cannot place individual player prop bets on college athletes.

House Bill 697 established a 15% tax rate for online and mobile sportsbooks and 10% for retail sportsbooks, though a 2025 law raised the online rate to 21.5%. The tax revenue is distributed as follows: 25% to early childhood education, 10% to local parish governments where retail sportsbooks are hosted, and 2% to problem gambling programs. Senate Bill 142 clarified how the Louisiana Lottery Corporation could be used to manage sports wagering kiosks.

Louisiana has a parish-by-parish legal structure, so state laws must respect local votes. Mobile sports betting is available in 55 of the 64 Louisiana parishes. These are the nine parishes that voted against legalizing Louisiana sports betting:

• Jackson
• Sabine
• Caldwell
• Franklin
• La Salle
• West Carroll
• Winn
• Union
• Catahoula 

The vote was very close in these parishes; the difference was less than 1% in Sabine, Union, and Jackson.

However, those located in a parish that has not legalized the activity will simply place their wagers in a nearby parish that offers sports wagering, so the naysayers didn’t accomplish much. Mississippi legalized sports betting in casinos in 2018. So, some people who live in Louisiana have been making bets there. 

• Aug. 1, 2025: House Bill 639, raising the online sports betting tax from 15% to 21.5%, goes into effect.
• June 12, 2025: Gov. Jeff Landry vetoes Senate Bill 181, which would have banned sweepstakes casinos in the state.
• June 2, 2025: The Louisiana House approves Senate Bill 181 in a 99-0 vote.
• Aug. 1, 2024: Louisiana begins banning individual prop bets on college athletes.
• June 2, 2023: LSU ends its agreement with Caesars Entertainment, which allowed the sportsbook to advertise sports betting on campus.
• May 2, 2023: The Louisiana Lottery confirmed it had ended efforts to find a sportsbook partner for its reserved license, which was intended for bars and restaurants.
• May 11, 2022: The LGCB publishes the Sports Wagering Catalog, which lets operators know which events and markets they can offer.
• Mar. 14, 2022: The Board formally adopts multiple sports-wagering regulations, moving the market from purely “emergency” footing toward permanent rules.
• Jan. 28, 2022: Online sports betting officially launched in approved parishes. 
• Jan. 20, 2022: The Louisiana Gaming Control Board adopts emergency rules to set the regulatory framework for sports wagering ahead of the mobile launch.
• Oct. 31, 2021: In-person sports betting begins at casinos.
• Sept. 17, 2021: Caesars Sportsbook is named the exclusive gaming and sportsbook partner of LSU Athletics.
• June 22, 2021: House Bill 697, which establishes sports betting tax rates, application fees, and revenue distribution, is signed into law.
• June 21, 2021: Senate Bill 142, which ensures revenue from sports wagering is allocated correctly in the state budget, is signed into law and goes into effect.
• June 17, 2021: Senate Bill 247—which gives the Louisiana Gaming Control Board oversight, establishes licensing allocations, and establishes approved wager types—is signed into law.
• Nov. 3, 2020: Louisiana voters approved sports betting in 55 of 64 parishes through a local-option referendum. Each parish decides individually; only the ones voting “yes” would allow sportsbooks.

New Orleans may be one of the most unique cities in the country, and it is a very special place in many ways. It's no surprise that many of the most important Louisiana teams call NOLA home.

Football

• NFL Teams: New Orleans Saints
• Prominent College Football Teams: LSU Tigers, Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, Tulane Green Wave

Louisiana is a football state, and fans could not be more passionate about their teams on every level. 

NFL football came to New Orleans in 1967, when the Saints played their first game at Tulane Stadium, and the rest is history. The 2009 Super Bowl Championship is indelibly etched into the minds and hearts of the people.

The Saints had a history of losing during their early years, but the Louisiana State University Tigers football team has been a powerhouse for decades. They won their first National Championship in 1958, and they are always contenders in the toughest conference in the country.

The Ragin' Cajuns are an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school in the Sun Belt Conference. Tulane is located in New Orleans, and the Blue Wave has more than its fair share of sports fans. During football season, the Blue Waves don’t scare their opponents when they take the field, but underdogs take home the money about half the time.

Basketball

• NBA Teams: New Orleans Pelicans

Basketball is a distant second, but there is still a lot of interest, and there are some exciting basketball teams to bet on in Louisiana. 

A fun Louisiana team to bet on is the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association. They brought NBA basketball back to New Orleans in 2013, and the Smoothie King Center is rocking and rolling whenever the Pels are in town.

Golf

• PGA Courses: TPC Louisiana

Opened in 2004, TPC Louisiana is an 18-hole, par-72 championship golf course in Avondale, Louisiana. It is part of the PGA Tour’s TPC Network of courses (so it shares the brand and quality standard with venues like TPC Sawgrass).

It has hosted the annual Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a PGA Tour event, since 2005.