Casino Zoning Districts
Gambling & Gaming
Zoning for casinos and gaming floors where they exist, gaming-enterprise districts, casino overlay districts, and the land-use rules governing where gaming may operate.
Casino Zoning Districts Rules by State
Statewide law governs this topic in many states. Each entry links to that state's full page.
Arkansas
Heavy RestrictionsArkansas Constitutional Amendment 100 confines casino gaming to four locations statewide: Southland in Crittenden County, Oaklawn in Garland County, and one Racing Commission-awarded…
Colorado
Heavy RestrictionsColorado's constitution confines all commercial casino gaming to the historic commercial districts of Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek: nowhere else in the state is a casino…
Delaware
Heavy RestrictionsCasino-style gaming in Delaware is legal only at the state's three licensed video lottery agents, Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and Harrington Raceway, under 29 Del. C. § 4819(a). The…
Illinois
Significant RestrictionsIllinois doesn't let cities zone in casinos on their own: the Illinois Gambling Act (230 ILCS 10/7) hands out a fixed number of state owners licenses, each tied by statute to one named…
Indiana
Heavy RestrictionsIndiana law names the only places a casino may ever operate: eleven owner's licenses total, allocated by statute to Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, one Lake Michigan-county city, five…
Iowa
Significant RestrictionsIowa Code 99F.7 gives the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission sole authority to decide the number, location, and type of licensed gambling structures and excursion gambling boats…
Kansas
Significant RestrictionsKansas doesn't license private casinos: the state owns and operates them itself. K.S.A. 74-8734 caps casino gaming at one state-run "lottery gaming facility" per gaming zone in four…
Louisiana
Significant RestrictionsLouisiana authorizes casino gambling only on a short list of named rivers and lakes under La. R.S. 27:43 -- the Mississippi, Red outside Rapides Parish, Calcasieu, Mermentau, and…
Maine
Heavy RestrictionsMaine law confines legal casino gambling to two fixed locations under 8 M.R.S. § 1011: the Oxford County casino site and the Bangor commercial-track site. A new casino or slot facility…
Maryland
Heavy RestrictionsMaryland law names the only places a casino may ever legally operate: one site each in Anne Arundel, Cecil, Allegany, and Worcester counties, in Baltimore City, and in Prince George's…
Massachusetts
Significant RestrictionsThe Expanded Gaming Act divides Massachusetts into three casino license regions and caps category 1 licenses at one per region. A resort casino can open only in a city or town that…
Michigan
Significant RestrictionsMichigan's Gaming Control and Revenue Act reserves commercial casino gaming to cities whose local legislative body passes an ordinance approving it and signs a certified development…
Mississippi
Significant RestrictionsMississippi legalizes casino gaming only within two geographic bands carved out of its general gambling ban by Miss. Code § 97-33-1: the three southernmost Gulf Coast counties…
Missouri
Significant RestrictionsMissouri law confines casino gambling to "excursion gambling boats" that must dock only on the Mississippi or Missouri River, and only in a city or unincorporated county area whose…
Nebraska
Heavy RestrictionsNebraska bans casino-style games of chance everywhere except inside a licensed racetrack enclosure under the Racetrack Gaming Act. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 9-1102 permits games of chance…
Nevada
Significant RestrictionsNevada law won't let the Gaming Commission license a full casino inside the Las Vegas Boulevard corridor or the rural Clark County gaming zone unless the site sits in a designated…
New Jersey
Heavy RestrictionsNew Jersey's Casino Control Act, N.J.S.A. 5:12-1 et seq., confines legal casino gambling to a single city. State law defines an "approved hotel" eligible for a casino license as a…
New Mexico
Significant RestrictionsNew Mexico has no license for a stand-alone commercial casino. The Gaming Control Act confines casino-style gaming machines to two venue classes: horse racetracks running live races…
New York
Significant RestrictionsNew York's Upstate Gaming Economic Development Act divides the state into two casino development zones. Zone One is New York City plus Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and…
Ohio
Heavy RestrictionsOhio's constitution, not any city zoning code, fixes where casinos can operate. Article XV, Section 6(C) authorizes exactly four casino facilities statewide: one each in Cincinnati…
Pennsylvania
Significant RestrictionsPennsylvania caps mini-casinos at ten Category 4 slot machine licenses statewide under 4 Pa.C.S. § 1305.1, each barred from sitting within 25 linear miles of an existing Category 1, 2…
Rhode Island
Heavy RestrictionsRhode Island allows casino gaming at exactly two sites: Bally's Twin River in Lincoln and Bally's Tiverton, both licensed pari-mutuel facilities under R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-61.2-2(b). No…
South Dakota
Significant RestrictionsSouth Dakota confines all commercial casino gaming, slot machines, craps, roulette, keno, limited card games, and sports wagering, to the city limits of Deadwood under SDCL 42-7B-1…
Virginia
Significant RestrictionsVirginia confines casino gaming to a short list of statutorily defined 'eligible host cities' that meet strict poverty, unemployment, or tax-exempt-property thresholds under Va. Code §…
West Virginia
Significant RestrictionsWest Virginia casinos are not zoned in locally -- they are switched on by a county vote. A pari-mutuel racetrack can add West Virginia Lottery video lottery games only after the county…
Cities & Counties with Casino Zoning Districts Rules
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