Here is all you need to know about the legal side of things, including sources, casino details, etc.
These are the best options for playing online slots and casino games in states where legal online casinos aren’t available, such as the Buckeye State.
The sweep coins casinos allow you to play all your favorite games for fun using virtual currency (Sweeps and Gold Coins), ensuring the process involves no real money, thus making them entirely legal. They are available in all states except Washington, Nevada, and Idaho.
A fantastic selection of games, incredible daily login bonuses, and sweepstakes coins that can be converted into redeemable cash prizes are featured at WOW Vegas casino. There are 750+ slot games to choose from, and even though the casino has recently removed table games, you won’t have the time to miss them as you will be busy enjoying all the exciting slot games. In addition, you can get promotional daily bonuses such as giveaways, weekly offers, and social media promotions.
Besides daily free Gold Coins, this casino provides hold-and-win games and a refer-a-friend option that allows you to win big by sharing with a friend. McLuck offers 450+ free games. Its game selection is fantastic, and you can play hundreds of the best social casino games with no purchase requirements; they’re free forever.
It also has a unique McJackpot feature, allowing you to win in any game.
What makes High 5 casino stand out is that it offers exclusive games with incredible slot content that you can’t play anywhere else as High 5 produces them.
Moreover, the casino has 800+ slots and live dealer games. Daily bonuses, free Gold Coins, free Sweeps Coins, and free diamonds are also available. In addition, you’ll be happy to know that you can redeem Sweeps Coins for cash prizes.
Ohio, famous for its vast number of land-based casinos and racetracks, has recently expanded its gambling industry to add online sports betting to the list of legal gambling activities.
Yet, online casinos remain illegal, thus sparking the rise of sweepstakes casinos, digital entertainment that requires no real money. These casinos are a perfect way for Ohioans to enjoy the excitement of casino-like games within the legal limits the state laws impose.
In the following part, we will dive into more details about the history of gambling in OH and its legalities and limitations.
In the past, most types of gambling were illegal in Ohio. Only recently, in 2009, did OH legalize gambling. That year, the Ohio Casino Approval and Tax Distribution Amendment 2 came into the picture, placing one casino in each of the four largest cities in Ohio, with the first casino opening in 2012.
Another law added sports betting to the gambling options in 2021 and finally launched in 2023.
Now, except for the flourishing land-based casinos, OH allows online sports betting, lottery, and daily fantasy sports (DFS). However, OH has no legal real-money online casinos, as its current focus is sports betting.
Still, who knows what the future might bring? Online casinos might soon become legal themselves. However, even now, some legal alternatives are available if you are eager to play casino-like games from home, including sweepstakes and social casinos.
The residents of OH can access some of the state’s top sweepstakes and social casinos, offering a great variety of games, from table games to slots. The best sweepstakes casinos provide players with the finest user experience, game variety, and ease of redeeming rewards.
Although some people consider unregulated offshore online gambling as another alternative to online casinos, it is not wise to use those sites as no governments oversee their operations.
Also, while it’s not strictly illegal, it is not safe because if they refuse to allow you to cash out your prizes, there is nothing you can legally do to force them. Furthermore, you risk an unreliable site leaking your private information. While no laws in Ohio state that these sites are illegal, you won’t receive any help from OH if you run into trouble with them.
On the contrary, the laws and regulations of OH regulate sweepstakes casinos, making them legal (except for b spot) because they use virtual coins and don’t require you to place a bet to play. Instead, you can convert the virtual coins into real money when you want to cash out your winnings.
While most sweepstakes casinos are technically legal, you must double-check if your chosen casino is legally available where you live.
Ohio isn’t the only state with a thriving gambling industry. Four of the five states that border Ohio offer legal online gambling options.
Many more US states have their own set of reputable gambling venues. For example, Oregon and Oklahoma provide their residents with similar sweepstakes casino offers, allowing them to enjoy this sweepstakes model of online gaming freely.
In some states, including Hawaii and Utah, gambling is illegal. However, they turn a blind eye to casual betting, like an office pool on a sporting event.
Many states have partially legalized casino gambling in different ways, such as California, Michigan, and North Dakota, which have limited casinos only on tribal lands.
Some states are very progressive when it comes to gambling, such as New Jersey and Delaware, with Delaware being the first US state to legalize online gambling to improve its economic situation.
Nevertheless, sweepstakes casinos are available in almost all US states (including Ohio), each offering a unique experience while engaging in this alternative to traditional online gambling.
The legal age for brick-and-mortar casinos in OH is 21, and you must be at least 18 to play at sweepstakes casinos. Other states may have 18 as the legal age across the board, or it may vary depending on the gambling activity.
Whether playing in land-based casinos or online, the best way to protect yourself is to strictly follow house rules and state laws. Therefore, staying updated with the newest gambling and sweepstakes casino rules is wise.
Don’t forget that laws constantly change. Thus, check the relevant information frequently. You can find all you need to know about sweepstakes casinos and gambling in OH in these statutes:
The Ohio Casino Control Commission, the Ohio Lottery Commission, and the Ohio Racing Commission oversee gambling in OH. The OCCC regulates the operations at the four casinos in the state, and the racing commission watches over the racing at the seven racetracks.
However, the Ohio Lottery manages the VLTs on-site at the racetracks as they are technically lottery games.
Sometimes, it’s challenging to choose which casino games to play when the selection available is as extensive as it is in OH sweepstakes casinos. All these games are available in land-based casinos, but if you want to play them online, sweepstakes casinos are your safest option. Here are several fun recommendations.
Slots are popular in land-based casinos and sweepstakes casinos all over the state of OH. They offer a fantastic range of premises and themes. Some famous sweepstakes slots are Gold Party, Buffalo King, and Olympian God. Sweepstakes casinos with a splendid selection of slots are Pulsz and LuckyLand Slots.
Roulette is a fun and easy game to play, a signature game in most land-based casinos. However, online roulette is still illegal in OH, so you can only legally play it when you play it for sweeps. The available variants keep changing, but you can usually get American, European, and French roulette, which are only available online. Roulette is available at Fortune Coins, Chumba casino, and Stake.us.
Blackjack is among the most popular table games in the US, including OH, ensuring that all sweepstakes casinos offer a wide range of virtual blackjack games because online blackjack for money is illegal in OH. You can play many variants in different casinos, including the popular Back Blackjack, Bet the Set, and Blazing 7’s Progressive. Chanced casino, Golden Hearts Games, and Ding Ding Ding casino are the best options to play blackjack legally in OH.
Although many sweepstakes casinos are readily available in OH, choosing the best one for your needs can still be challenging as you always have to consider the safety and validity of any given casino. You must carefully select the most reputable platforms with adequate regulatory bodies and operating licenses, as those are your best chance of having a safe, stress-free casino-like experience.
If the casino you are looking at can’t provide these assurances, it’s better to look elsewhere to avoid potential issues. Other factors to have in mind when deciding on your sweepstakes casinos in OH are:
Compare Ohio with its closest neighbor states
The top-rated sweepstakes casinos in OH are WOW Vegas, McLuck, and High 5 casinos.
Sweepstakes casinos are legal throughout OH (except for B spot) because they offer free games without a real money deposit.
It might be, different states have different laws, and sweepstakes casinos are illegal in some. Therefore, check the regulations before logging into your account in another state.
You need to be at least 18 years old, and when talking about brick-and-mortar casinos, you need to be 21 or over.
The OH portion of taxes for sweepstakes casino winnings is 4%. Your chosen casino will withhold that amount. Still, you may owe more or less due to the graduated system.
Standard bonuses at OH sweepstakes casinos include daily bonuses like giveaways, weekly offers, and off-site bonuses, such as social media promotions and a refer-a-friend option.
