Rainbet has existed for about three years. For every one of them, Texas has been on its blocked list — not because of anything that happened in Austin, but because the exclusion was written into the platform's terms before it opened its doors. This page lines up two timelines that a lot of searches assume are connected and actually aren't: Rainbet's static, unchanging US block, and Texas's own on-and-off attempt to legalize betting in the first place.
Rainbet Launched in 2023 With Texas Already Blocked
RBGAMING N.V. brought Rainbet online in 2023 under an Anjouan Gambling Authority license, and the United States — all fifty states, no exceptions — was named a restricted jurisdiction in the Terms of Service from the start. That's a different approach from an operator like Bovada, which went through each state individually and still deals to the thirty-four it didn't flag, Texas among them. Rainbet skipped that exercise. There was never a period when a Texas account worked and later got cut off — the block is as old as the brand.
Is Rainbet Legal in Texas? What Chapter 47 Actually Says
Set Rainbet's own policy aside and Texas law is its own separate question. Texas Penal Code Section 47.02 makes simple betting a Class C misdemeanor — the same tier as a broken tail light, capped around a $500 fine — and the felony provisions in Chapter 47 target bookmakers and game-room operators, not someone placing a personal bet. No Texan has been documented as prosecuted for using an offshore account. Texas also has no agency that licenses online sportsbooks or casinos, so there's no application process for any operator to go through, Rainbet included. On paper, that reads as one of the more permissive gray zones among states with no regulated market — it just doesn't connect to why Rainbet won't take a Texas signup.
Two unrelated timelines: Rainbet's US exclusion dates to its 2023 launch and has never been revised. Texas's most recent legalization push — HJR 134 and HJR 137 — stalled in committee in 2025, and because the legislature meets only in odd years, the next chance is 2027. Neither timeline moves the other.
Where Texas's Own Legalization Attempt Stands
Texas came closer to a ballot question in 2025 than in most prior sessions: HJR 134 and HJR 137 both proposed the constitutional amendment that legal sports betting and casino gaming would require, aiming for a November 2025 vote. Both stalled with “in committee” as their last recorded action, and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said publicly in December 2025 that he's “simply not there yet” on casinos and sports betting. Because the Texas Legislature is biennial and skips even-numbered years, 2027 is the earliest another bill can move. Worth stating plainly: even if a future session passed one, that would create a licensed in-state market, not automatic entry for an offshore, unlicensed operator like Rainbet.
Is Rainbet Legit? Two Years, a Mixed Public Record
Outside the excluded countries, Rainbet is a functioning operator — a real Anjouan license under RBGAMING N.V., provably-fair Originals that check out mathematically, and crypto withdrawals that commonly clear in under 15 minutes. The honest complication is that its public reputation is mixed rather than clean: alongside players reporting normal payouts, Rainbet carries a weak Trustpilot rating with a real share of one-star reviews citing withheld withdrawals and disputed odds. That's not a verdict either way — user review sites skew toward complaints by nature — but it's a genuinely different picture than a decade-plus incumbent with a long, independently documented payout history, and Texas can't test either version directly.
How Safe Is a VPN Workaround?
Not safe, and the mechanics don't change state to state. A VPN can get past the geolocation check that blocks a Texas IP address at signup, but Rainbet's terms separately prohibit VPNs and reserve the right to withhold withdrawals when the US restriction was circumvented to open the account. That clause tends to surface at the worst moment — a large withdrawal, or an AML review — which is exactly when a Texas address on file becomes the operator's justification for freezing a balance instead of paying it. No regulator on either side of that transaction has shown a track record of stepping in.
What Texas Players Can Actually Use
For a reader who wants what Rainbet offers — crypto-first banking, casino and sportsbook in one account — Bovada is the operator that actually answers for a Texas address. It has taken US players continuously since 2011, Texas isn't among the sixteen states it avoids, and its public track record runs more than a decade longer than Rainbet has existed. It comes with its own caveats: no US license, and a Curaçao registration that lapsed and was replaced by a weaker Comoros filing, both covered honestly in our Bovada Texas review. Either way, budget the money as entertainment spending — a Class C misdemeanor that nobody enforces doesn't change the math of a house edge, and neither does a longer track record on the operator side.