Are there casinos in Hawaii? No - here's what's nearest

Why there are no casinos in Hawaii

There is no state lottery, no licensed card room, no pari-mutuel racing and no charitable bingo circuit. Hawaii's gambling statutes are written as a general prohibition rather than a licensing scheme, which is why there is nothing for an operator to apply for. Social gambling in a private home sits in a narrow exception, not a licensed category.

That is worth stating plainly, because the phrasing of the question matters here. People searching for casinos in Hawaii are usually not looking for a directory listing - they are trying to find out whether the trip they have in mind is possible at all. The answer is that it is, but it starts at the state line rather than inside it, and how far you travel depends entirely on which corner of Hawaii you set off from.

Every casino below is across an ocean. The distances are great-circle, so treat them as flight distances - there is no drive time to quote.

What you can play inside Hawaii

Nothing licensed, in-state

This is the rare state where the honest answer to 'what can I play instead' is nothing that is licensed and commercial. There is no lottery ticket to buy and no cardroom to visit.

The Las Vegas connection

Hawaii's gambling trip is a flight, not a drive, and it has been that way for decades. Downtown Las Vegas has built a whole hospitality niche around Hawaiian visitors, to the point that Vegas gets called Hawaii's ninth island.

None of the above is a substitute for a casino floor, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. The point of listing them is that the practical question behind are there casinos in Hawaii is usually "what are my options" - and the honest options split cleanly into what is licensed in-state and what requires crossing a border.