Hawaii Launches Working Group to Study Legalized Gambling

by Kevin Lentz, 3 February 2026

Hawaii takes its most formal step yet toward studying legalized gambling and tourism-based gaming models.

Hawaii considers new gambling policy. © Zetong Li, Unsplash

Key Facts:

• Hawaii formed a 24-member Tourism and Gaming Working Group
• Panel will study legalized gambling and tourism gaming models
• Illegal gambling estimated at $700–$800m annually
• Final report due to lawmakers by end of 2026

Only two US states outlaw all forms of gambling, and Hawaii is one of them, but that’s not for lack of trying. In just the first month of 2026, we have seen HB 2222, which would allow one casino in the state and authorize the formation of a Hawaii Gaming Control Commission.

There was also HB1945, which would allow gambling on cruise ships in Hawaiian waters, and several carryovers from the seven bills from 2025 that sought to expand gambling, including HB1434, which would create a Hawaii Lottery, and HB1308, which would allow legal sports betting.

So, it’s certainly not for lack of interest that there has been no progress on gaming legislation of any type in the past twenty years. Recent polling, however, suggests that Hawaiians may be ready for a change with slightly more than half of all residents supporting a lottery, and even the Governor saying in a recent interview:

We got a survey or poll of people, and about two out of three in our state wanted to do gaming as long as the monies went to an important set of projects, mostly housing. – Josh Green, Governor, KHON2

To better facilitate that discussion and perhaps cut the Gordian knot of legislative gridlock on the topic, Senate Concurrent Resolution 121 formed a 24-member panel charged with looking at illegal markets currently in the state.

They were also tasked with exploring potential infrastructure funding, especially around the Hawaii Convention Center and Aloha Stadium Development District, and crafting a carefully balanced policy framework that would attempt to weigh potentially increased addiction and crime against economic growth and tax revenue.

Inaugural Tourism and Working Group Meeting

In the group’s first meeting last week, they faced down the reality that just because Hawaii hasn’t regulated gambling markets, it certainly doesn’t mean that the State is gambling free. Law enforcement officials described a game of whack-a-mole with as many as 50 illegal operations ongoing on just the island of Oahu at any given time.

As soon as regulators shut down one, another opens somewhere else, and many of these rooms, often filled with illegal slots and backroom card games, can rake in more than $10,000 a day.

Combined with grey-market sweepstakes-style online casinos and unregulated, untaxed offshore sportsbooks and casinos, officials estimate an underground gaming economy of at least $700 million a year. Money that could be taxed and used to help fight gambling addiction. Current state spending on treatment for problem gambling is zero dollars.

2022 estimates from the National Council on Problem Gambling(NCPG) estimate at least 24,000 residents living with a compulsive gambling problem. Possible legalization and taxation of some forms of gambling to finally provide treatment is one of the charges placed on the task group.

However, the actual Hawaiian legal code mandates that state officials conduct themselves in accordance with the Law of the Aloha Spirit. While commonly seen to mean hello or goodbye, Aloha means something much more like mutual regard and affection, all of which is given with no obligation.

Many in the state still hold that legalizing gambling at the cost of hurting some to benefit many is too high a price. Its predatory nature violates the Aloha Spirit. It’s the opposite of Akahi (kindness) and Lokahi (unity) that has been a part of the native traditions in the islands for thousands of years.

Moving Forward

The task force has committed to monthly meetings throughout the coming year, with the next gathering at the end of February. They are expected to discuss the lottery question and infrastructure funding, and the Department of Health is expected to present an initial framework on the potential cost of future treatment and possible funding mechanisms.

With the number of new legislative bills around gaming starting to pile up, it wouldn’t appear that legislators or even perhaps the Governor are of a mind to wait a year on the Working Group’s report.

However, it’s still possible that the legislature will see the wisdom of at least appearing deferential and use the Aloha Spirit tenet of Ahonui (patience) to get all the facts, costs, and potential issues out in the open for everyone to see.

In the meantime, the tension under the surface between a government desperate for infrastructure and growth and an ancient culture intent on protecting its people from harm and predation will continue to bubble like lava at Kilauea.