Here’s All the States Where You Can Now Legally Bet on College Football This Season
- The College Football season kicks off this Saturday with Week 0’s six games before the festival of football in Week 1 over Labor Day Weekend
- There are now 10 states where you’ll be able to legally bet online for the duration of the season
- See a run down of the states and some of the best promotions for new users to cash in on below
The only thing left to do is kick off. The season begins in earnest this Saturday, with a six pack of games for Week 0 littering the college football odds board.
No Top 25 teams are in action, but there’s plenty of betting action to delve into, including Nebraska taking on Illinois, UCLA battling Hawaii and Fresno State taking on UConn – one of the schools that opted out of last season.
The season will wind to the eventual College Football Playoff, where four teams will make the cut, and play on New Year’s Eve. The two winners will compete for the National Championship, to be played January 10th.
With plenty of sportsbook promos available to new users in legalized states, we’ve summarized the best we can in the table below with which offer you should be using at sign-up.
States Where You Can Legally Bet College Football
| State | FBS Schools | Suggested Promo |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado | Air Force, Colorado, Colorado State | First Bet $5k Risk Free |
| Illinois | Illinois, Northern Illinois, Northwestern | |
| Indiana | Ball State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue | First Bet $5k Risk Free |
| Iowa | Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa | |
| Michigan | Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Michigan, Michigan State, Western Michigan | First Bet $5k Risk Free |
| New Jersey | Rutgers | First Bet $5k Risk Free |
| Pennsylvania | Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple | |
| Tennessee | Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee, Vanderbilt | First Bet $5k Risk Free |
| Virginia | Liberty, Old Dominion, Virginia, Virginia Tech | |
| West Virginia | West Virginia | First Bet $5k Risk Free |
Betting on in-state teams is prohibited in Virginia and New Jersey. Online sports betting coming soon to Arizona, Maryland, Louisiana, New York and Florida
States New to Legalized Betting This Season
Several states have allowed legalized sports betting in the last 18 months.
Illinois, Michigan and Montana were systems go in March of 2020. They were followed by Colorado and Washington, DC in May.
New Hampshire went live in August and Tennessee legalized sports betting in November.
A few new states have allowed sports betting in time for the start of the 2021 College Football season.
One of them is Virginia, though fans in that area are prohibited from betting on in-state teams. They’re still eligible, however, to jump on DraftKings’ college football kickoff promo, where you can bet $1 on any college football game and, get $200 free, just for betting.
North Carolina is another state that took its first bets in March of 2021, though it’s limited to sports betting in-person, via tribal casinos.
A bill legalizing mobile sports betting in North Carolina continues to move swiftly through the legislature. Currently, it has passed the Senate’s second reading.
The bill could be signed into law and in effect by Jan 1, 2022.
No wagers have been made as of yet, but Connecticut enacted legislation in May authorizing retail and online sports betting, online casino gaming and online daily fantasy sports.
This month legislators approved a gaming compact between two gaming tribes and the state, which still needs federal approval. The hope is online betting could become a reality as soon as the start of the NFL season.
States That Just Missed the Cut for Kickoff
Both Arizona Wildcats and Arizona State Sun Devils fans will have to wait just a few more weeks, as Arizona sports betting is expected to launch on September 9th.
Although some had plans to launch in September, sports betting in Maryland and Louisiana sports betting are on hold for the time being. There are hopes they will be available to bettors later on in the Fall for both college and NFL season.
On the slower side, New York sports betting just began accepting applications from different operators – leaving a launch during the 2021 football season in doubt. Meanwhile in Florida sports betting news, a federal lawsuit was filed to block the Florida gaming compact by West Flagler Associates, on behalf of Magic City Casino and the Bonita Springs Poker Room.
The lawsuit is against Deb Haaland, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and challenges her approval of the 2021 Florida gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe.
Week 1 Action Starts With Plenty of Fireworks
The top-ranked team in the nation, Alabama, will kick things off with a nice non-conference test against 14th-ranked Miami. The Crimson Tide are always in the title picture and they’re the early betting favorites in the College Football Championship Odds.
The biggest matchup of the week, however, will put one of the premier programs behind the 8-ball early in the quest to get into the playoff. The #3-ranked Clemson Tigers will play the 5th ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Sept. 4th in Charlotte.
THE HYPE FOR WEEK 1 IS REAL 🔥@AlabamaFTBL ✖️ @CanesFootball @GeorgiaFootball ✖️ @ClemsonFB @NDFootball ✖️ @FSUFootball
@UofLFootball ✖️ @OleMissFB pic.twitter.com/yFGCQVLiUP— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) May 18, 2021
The Oklahoma Sooners, ranked second, will kick off the Week 1 slate as they visit Tulane. Meanwhile, 4th-ranked Ohio State will open on the road on Thursday, Sept. 2 in Minnesota against the Golden Gophers.
Having worked in and around sports since 1997, Eric is truly a knowledgeable expert. The two-time journalism grad specializes in all things NBA and NFL. From TSN.ca to CTV's Olympic Broadcast Consortium, Eric's work has appeared in local and national publications alike.
