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The Hawaii legislature is set to consider multiple forms of gambling this year, any of which would be a first for the state. One bill would establish a state lottery that could also offer online casino games, while another considers the potential for sports betting. A third, more limited effort would establish a single charitable card room for poker and similar games.
With the filing of these bills, 2025 becomes the third consecutive year in which the state’s government will see gambling legislation.
To date, consideration of such measures has been short-lived. However, this year’s bills are unlike those that came before, so there’s always the potential that things could go differently.
New bills propose establishing gaming regulatory body
Senate President Ron Kouchi, who has backed gambling expansion efforts in previous years, is behind SB1507, while Rep. Nadine Nakamura introduced the companion bill in the House. These bills create a new state agency dedicated to regulating gaming, the Hawai’i Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
The bills give the Corporation the ability to “offer wagering on games of chance and games of skill, including lottery, poker, and casino games.” However, another clause establishes that “the corporation shall not offer wagering on any sporting event or sporting contest.”
The HLGC would be able to select a commercial partner to offer these products online.
Interestingly, the text states that the Corporation may “enter into agreements with other state gaming entities for the offering of multistate games” and “utilize the broad reach of its gaming platform to offer legally compliant free-play games and sweepstakes with Hawaii-related prizes to individuals outside of Hawaii, for the purpose of attracting tourists.”
At this time, neither bill has a committee assignment. They aren’t the only gaming-related bills awaiting that action.
Card room bill establishes separate body
Another bill, HB1466, would create a different agency related to gambling in Hawaii. This proposal creates a social gaming control commission and provides for a social gaming facility in the state.
The framework the bill suggests would mimic card rooms in other states where players pay membership fees and engage in player-banked peer-to-peer games like poker while in the facility. Besides the membership fees, the facility would collect a “consumption tax” on the games to raise revenue for housing developments.
The enactment of any of these bills would represent a significant development in Hawaii due to its reputation for staunch opposition to gambling. These pieces of legislation do take a different approach than previous iterations.
Hawaii sports betting back on the table
In 2024 and 2023, gambling regulation proposals included legal systems for sports wagering. None of the proposals focused solely on that form of gambling but they all met similar ends, eventually being dropped from consideration.
Legislators voted the bills down in spite of specific funding measures. For example, a 2024 proposal earmarked tax revenue from brick-and-mortar casinos along with online sports betting to provide relief for victims of wildfires.
Explicitly excluding sports wagering from the lottery and online casino effort could provide some insight into whether officials are more amicable to legal gambling without that vertical.
Meanwhile, the sports betting effort is back in play, but as a standalone proposal, HB 1308/SB 1569.
Bills might legalize online casino play
Introduced versions of Kouchi’s bill do not limit gaming to be in person. In fact, the focus seems to be largely on an online platform, with language related to software, websites and geolocation.
It’s unclear to what extent in-person wagering would be part of it, beyond the mention of “no more than two gaming entertainment events per year, related to the corporation’s other game offerings, for the purpose of attracting tourists to Hawaii.”
If Hawaii were to legalize online casinos in the absence of any permanent in-person gaming, that would be a first in the US.
In the bills’ definitions sections, lottery games are defined as “any game of chance approved by the board and operated pursuant to this chapter, including but not limited to online interactive instant win games and draw games.”
Combined with the aforementioned clause about poker and casino games, the language could allow for the Hawai’i Lottery and Gaming Corporation to build out its own iGaming platform. While the bills do give the Corporation the ability to “select and contract with vendors,” whether that would apply to licensing existing online casino platforms could be up for interpretation.
The legality of online casino play and many other matters could be part of forthcoming discussions on whether to regulate gambling in Hawaii. For the third consecutive year, attempts to do so might be short-lived, but these bills represent some variation in the attempts.
