New Hampshire Sports Betting in 2026: Is It Legal, and What Are Your Options?

New Hampshire sports betting is legal, online and at retail, solely through DraftKings, which holds an exclusive contract with the New Hampshire Lottery and Gaming Commission covering both the app and every retail sportsbook in the state. That contract runs to at least June 2028. There is no license path for a second sportsbook while it stands. The minimum age is 18, lower than most of the country. Prediction markets and daily fantasy also operate here under different frameworks.

Is sports betting legal in New Hampshire?

Yes, online and in person, through DraftKings.

• The operator: DraftKings, and only DraftKings, for both the app and the retail books.

• The basis: House Bill 480, signed 12 July 2019 and codified at RSA 287-I.

• The regulator: the New Hampshire Lottery and Gaming Commission, renamed from the Lottery Commission under the 2025 budget law. There is no separate gaming board.

• The launch: mobile betting opened on 30 December 2019, retail on 12 August 2020 at The Brook in Seabrook.

• The age: 18.

What is the minimum age to bet in New Hampshire?

18, which is lower than most of the country.

• Sports betting is 18. RSA 287-I:1, II defines an authorized sports bettor as "an individual 18 years of age or older who is physically present in the state of New Hampshire when placing a sports wager with the commission or an authorized agent of the commission and is not a prohibited sports bettor." Anyone younger is a prohibited bettor by statute.

• Daily fantasy is 18, under RSA 287-H:3, and so is the lottery, so all three sit at the same number.

• Prediction markets set their own floors, and they differ. Novig requires 21. ProphetX's terms set 18, or the local age of majority where that is higher.

• An attempt to raise it failed. HB 83, a 2025 bill to move the sports betting age to 21, was indefinitely postponed on the House floor on 6 February 2025 by 215 votes to 140.

Most states set sports betting at 21. If you're 18, 19 or 20 in New Hampshire, you can legally bet at home when you couldn't in Massachusetts or Maine.

Why does the New Hampshire Lottery allow only one sportsbook?

• RSA 287-I:7 permits up to five mobile operators. The state chose one.

• The statute shaped the bid. RSA 287-I:3 requires the commission to select a group of bidders who best meet its criteria, then take from that group the bids returning the state the highest percentage of revenue. DraftKings bid 51% for exclusivity and 21% for a shared market. Against the shared-market rate, exclusivity paid the state more than twice as much.

• DraftKings pays the state 51% of gross gaming revenue on mobile and 50% on retail, a contractual revenue share rather than a tax. Most states tax sportsbook revenue between 10% and 20%, against a national range of 6.75% to 51%.

• Extended in February 2026, the current term runs 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2028, with a final two-year option out to 2030.

What can you use in New Hampshire right now?

• DraftKings is the legal, licensed sportsbook. You bet against the house, and its margin is built into every price.

• Prediction markets let you trade against other participants at market-set prices. The CFTC regulates them; no state license is involved.

• Daily fantasy operators are registered with the commission under RSA 287-H, and 18 and up.

FanDuel's own legal map labels New Hampshire "Predicts" while New Jersey reads "Online Sportsbook + Retail Sportsbook + Predicts," which is FanDuel telling you directly it has no sportsbook here. And DraftKings Predictions runs in 48 states, with New Hampshire and Maine the two exceptions, so the one company allowed to take your sports bet here doesn't offer you its prediction product.

Where are the retail sportsbooks in New Hampshire?

• Five of a permitted ten. RSA 287-I:5 caps retail at "no more than 10 sports book retail locations" at any one time.

• Expansion needs a local vote. RSA 287-I:6 requires the town or city to have approved sports betting at the ballot box, after a public hearing held 15 to 30 days beforehand, which is why the existing five sit where they do.

• The venue isn't the book. These are charitable gaming halls running table games, poker and video lottery terminals under a charitable gaming license, issued by the same commission. The sportsbook inside each is DraftKings.

• Seabrook and Nashua sit minutes from the Massachusetts line.

Where do prediction markets stand in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire has taken no action against them, which puts it in a small minority of states.

• Novig, Kalshi, Polymarket and Robinhood let you buy a contract on an outcome at a market price, with no book setting the number. You buy between 1 cent and 99 cents, and it settles at a dollar if you're right and nothing if you're wrong. They answer to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not to a state regulator.

• Why it's a fight elsewhere. On 27 July 2026, 44 state attorneys general told the CFTC these contracts are sports betting under another name. New Hampshire's attorney general was not among them. Nor were Texas, Florida, Georgia or Missouri.

• The state has stayed out. No New Hampshire agency has sent a cease-and-desist letter, published an advisory or joined a suit, and it signed neither multistate letter to the CFTC nor the multistate brief backing Nevada against Kalshi.

• What officials have said. Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery, told NHPR in March 2026: "Given the overlap in sports offerings, we anticipate the expansion of prediction markets could erode New Hampshire revenues from sports betting." He added that the state hasn't yet seen a revenue impact. Given the size of the state's cut, that's a reasonable thing to watch. That's a budget concern. No enforcement action has followed.

• HB 1194-FN, signed by Governor Ayotte on 15 July 2026 and effective immediately, rewrote the clause of the criminal gambling statute that exempts sports betting. It previously read "Sports wagering as defined by RSA 287-I:1, XV" and now reads "The conduct of a sports book, or participation in sports wagering, authorized by RSA 287-I." The exemption now covers only what the state licenses. What lawmakers intended by it isn't on the record.

What's next for New Hampshire?

• Nothing about the one-app situation changes before 30 June 2028 at the earliest, and the extension option runs to 2030.

• Five of the ten permitted retail locations sit unused. Opening one needs no new legislation, only a local vote.

• The prediction-market question. Two federal appeals courts have ruled and they disagree: the Third Circuit sided with Kalshi against New Jersey in April 2026, the Ninth Circuit sided with Nevada on 28 August 2026. Four more circuits are still weighing it, and New Jersey has petitioned the Supreme Court. The CFTC has separately proposed a rule that would allow most sports event contracts while barring specific categories, including player injuries, officiating decisions and pre-collegiate sports. Either could settle the position nationally, including here, without New Hampshire doing a thing.

• In April 2026 state senator Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, said he planned to file legislation letting New Hampshire sue prediction-market companies alongside other states: "We have a revenue model for our sports betting that allows us to pay for education and other state services that Kalshi is completely going around by avoiding our gaming laws." No bill has surfaced and no suit has been filed.

New Hampshire sports betting FAQ

How can I sports bet in New Hampshire?

Download DraftKings Sportsbook, verify you're 18 or older, and bet while physically inside the state. You can also bet in person at one of five retail sportsbooks, in Seabrook, Manchester, Dover and two in Nashua.

Is sports betting legal in New Hampshire?

Yes, online since December 2019 and at retail since August 2020, under RSA 287-I. The New Hampshire Lottery and Gaming Commission regulates it.

What sports betting apps are legal in New Hampshire?

One sportsbook: DraftKings. Prediction markets and daily fantasy apps also operate in the state under separate frameworks.

Why does the New Hampshire Lottery allow only one sportsbook?

The state ran a competitive procurement in 2019 and sold exclusive rights. DraftKings pays 51% of mobile gross gaming revenue, against 21% in the bid that would have allowed several operators, and RSA 287-I:3 directs the commission to take the highest percentage from among the qualifying bidders. The money goes to the education trust fund.

What's the minimum age to bet in New Hampshire?

18 for sports betting and daily fantasy. Prediction markets set their own floors: Novig requires 21, ProphetX sets 18.

Can I bet on UNH or Dartmouth games?

Only as part of a bet on an entire tournament, where the outcome depends on all the games in it. Individual games involving an in-state college team are prohibited, as is any college game played in New Hampshire.

Are prediction markets legal in New Hampshire?

They operate here under federal CFTC regulation, and New Hampshire has taken no action against them. Confirm eligibility on each platform before you deposit, because the federal position is still being litigated.

Will FanDuel or BetMGM come to New Hampshire?

Not under the current setup. DraftKings holds exclusive rights to at least June 2028, and the commission's 2026 information request on multi-operator markets, RFI LOT 2026-02, explicitly does not commit the state to a procurement. None has followed.

Do I need to be a New Hampshire resident to bet?

No. You need to meet the age requirement and be physically inside the state when you place the bet.

Play responsibly. Must be 18+ for sports betting in New Hampshire. If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, the New Hampshire Council on Problem Gambling runs a free, confidential 24/7 helpline on 603-724-1605. The national helpline is 1-800-GAMBLER.

Sources

1. RSA 287-I, Sports Wagering - https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXIV/287-I/287-I-mrg.htm

2. House Bill 480 (2019), the authorizing act - https://gc.nh.gov/legislation/2019/HB0480.html

3. New Hampshire Lottery, yearly sports betting summaries - https://www.nhlottery.com/About-Us/Financial-Reports

4. RSA 647:2, criminal gambling statute as amended by 2026 chapter 322 - https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LXII/647/647-2.htm

5. New Hampshire Lottery, DraftKings mobile sportsbook - https://www.nhlottery.com/sports/draftkings-mobile-sportsbook-1

6. New Hampshire Lottery, DraftKings retail sportsbook locations - https://www.nhlottery.com/Sports/DraftKings-Sportsbook-Locations

7. RSA 284:21-a, State Lottery and Gaming Commission - https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXIV/284/284-21-a.htm

8. RSA 287-H, Fantasy Sports Contests - https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/xxiv/287-h/287-h-mrg.htm

9. New Hampshire Lottery, registered fantasy sports operators - https://www.compliance.lottery.nh.gov/games/fantasy-sports

10. New Hampshire Council on Problem Gambling - https://www.nhproblemgambling.org/

11. NHPR coverage of prediction markets in New Hampshire, March and April 2026 - https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2026-03-19/could-prediction-markets-deflate-march-madness-revenue-for-nh