Ohio’s gambling scene is wall-to-wall: 11 casinos, racinos, and licensed online sports betting. Sweepstakes casinos squeezed through a side door nobody bothered to close, and a year later, they’re still here. Two ban bills filed in May 2025 went nowhere by July, and the people who’d have to push them through suddenly have other priorities.
Our page covers the sites we found for OH players, what’s up with those bans and the law, and which operators left anyway.
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How We Rate
You can still play sweepstakes casinos in Ohio, as they haven’t officially been banned. Two ban bills, HB 298 and SB 197, were introduced in May 2025, but both have stalled in committee, with no expected movement before the General Assembly ends on December 31, 2026.
Below, we cover what the legal status quo looks like and how your winnings are taxed.
| Are sweepstakes casinos illegal in Ohio? | No. No state law bans them, and no state agency has moved against operators. |
| Are any potential bans in the pipeline? | Yes, two: HB 298 and SB 197 would legalize regulated online casinos AND ban sweepstakes platforms in the same legislation. Both filed in May 2025, both stalled in committee. |
| Why are the bills stalled? | Governor Mike DeWine and House Speaker Matt Huffman both oppose expanding online gambling. Without leadership backing, neither bill has progressed. |
| Could the bills still pass before session ends? | Possibly, but not expected. The current General Assembly session ends December 31, 2026. No action is expected before the November 2026 governor election. |
| What happens after the 2026 election? | A new governor takes office in January 2027 (DeWine is term-limited). The next governor could revive the ban effort or shut it down. |
| Has the AG taken any action? | No. The Ohio Attorney General hasn’t issued an opinion on sweepstakes casinos or moved against any operator. |
| Are there civil lawsuits I should know about? | Yes. A class action against Crown Coins is pending in Ohio, where residents are seeking to recover gambling losses. This is private litigation, not state enforcement. |
| What can I legally play in Ohio? | 11 commercial casinos and racinos, online sports betting (since 2023), the Ohio Lottery, charitable bingo, and parimutuel horse racing. |
| Can I sign up to a sweepstakes site in Ohio? | Yes. Most major brands accept Ohio players. |
| Will I get in trouble as a player? | No. There’s no legal ground in Ohio to charge a player for sweepstakes participation. |
| Can I redeem prizes in Ohio? | Yes. Major brands process Sweeps Coin redemptions for Ohio players without restriction. |
| Could that change soon? | Possibly in 2027. Watch the November 2026 governor election. A new governor could revive the stalled ban bills. |
| Do I owe taxes on winnings? | Yes, federal and state. Tax law treats sweepstakes winnings as taxable income. Report filed on Schedule 1; Ohio taxes them at the state’s graduated rate (top 3.5% in 2026). |
Sweepstakes casinos that pulled out of Ohio
Compare Ohio to its neighboring states.
Because the bills that would ban sweepstakes also expand gambling, and expansion is what the leaders reject. HB 298 and SB 197 each pair a sweepstakes ban with the legalization of online casinos. Governor DeWine and Speaker Huffman oppose any growth of online gambling, so they will not let those bills move. The result is an accident of politics, since blocking the expansion also blocks the ban riding along with it. So, sweepstakes survive in Ohio not because anyone defends them, but because no one will pass the package they are buried in.
Because stalled is not the same as dead. Both bills remain technically alive until the session ends on December 31, 2026. More to the point, a stalled bill can be revived the moment the politics shift. That shift is exactly what a new governor could bring in 2027. So, the threat has not been lifted, it is simply waiting for the blockade to move.
Because the two are written to arrive together by design. HB 298 and SB 197 do not simply legalize online casinos, they ban sweepstakes in the very same stroke. The logic is plain, since licensed operators paying for the right to run do not want unlicensed rivals offering similar games for free. So the ban is really the price of legalization, bundled in to clear the field. That means sweepstakes would not fall to a moral objection, but to the arrival of a regulated competitor.
To a large degree, yes. The bills are stalled, mainly because DeWine and Huffman are standing in their way. But DeWine is term limited and leaves office in January 2027. Whoever replaces him could share that resistance or drop it completely. So, the November 2026 result is less about one election than about whether the wall blocking these bills stays up.
