Hawaii Bans All Sports Betting and Bookmaking

Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 712, part III criminalizes every form of gambling and carves out no exception for sports wagering. HRS §712-1220 defines 'gambling' as staking or risking something of value on a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the bettor's control, on an agreement that someone will receive value based on the outcome -- language broad enough to capture a $5 bet on a football game between coworkers as readily as an organized book. The same section defines 'bookmaking' as advancing gambling activity by accepting bets from members of the public on the outcomes of future contingent events, which is precisely how a sportsbook operates.

The base offense, HRS §712-1223, makes it a misdemeanor for any person to knowingly participate in gambling activity, covering the bettor placing a wager, not just the operator taking it. Running the betting side carries far heavier exposure: HRS §712-1221 makes promoting gambling in the first degree a class B felony when a person recklessly advances gambling by bookmaking that receives more than five bets totaling more than $500 in any seven-day period, or handles more than $1,000 in a seven-day period through a lottery or mutuel scheme.

HRS §712-1222 makes negligent advancement of or profit from gambling activity a class C felony under the second-degree offense. Hawaii's only carve-out, the social-gambling affirmative defense at HRS §712-1231, requires equal-terms play with no house cut, no minors, and a location outside any bar, restaurant, hotel, or similar business -- and its sixth condition flatly states the activity 'is not bookmaking,' so sports wagering can never qualify even among friends. Repeated legislative attempts to authorize regulated mobile sports betting, including House Bill 2570 and companion Senate measures through the 2025-2026 sessions, cleared early committees but died before passage, leaving Hawaii and Utah the only two states with no legal wagering of any kind -- no lottery, no casino, no sportsbook.

Placing or accepting a sports bet violates HRS §712-1223 as a straightforward misdemeanor for the bettor. Anyone who takes the other side of the wager -- bookmaking for the public -- risks promoting-gambling liability instead: a class C felony for negligent advancement under §712-1222, or a class B felony under §712-1221 once bookmaking activity in any seven-day period exceeds five bets totaling more than $500, or a lottery/mutuel scheme's proceeds exceed $1,000. No permit, license, or registration cures either violation.