Ohio’s brick-and-mortar casinos provide entertainment to its citizens through slot machines, table games, and more. Each of the four major cities in Ohio has a retail casino, and these casinos all have retail Ohio sportsbooks inside them. Ohio also has seven racetracks that host casinos. These racinos generally limit the types of gambling they allow and make use of video lottery terminals rather than traditional slot machines. So what is the situation in Ohio regarding online slots?
Online slots aren’t legal
Real-money online casinos might be legal across state lines in neighboring states like Michigan but aren’t legal in the Buckeye State. You can’t play online slots in Ohio. You can travel across state lines to Michigan, West Virginia, or Pennsylvania if you want to play legal online slot games.
On the other hand, sports betting has been legal in Ohio since January 2023. As online sportsbooks are regulated in Ohio, you can legally place online sports bets.
Social casinos and sweepstakes games
In Ohio, you can play at some online social casinos and legal sweepstakes sites. They aren’t regarded as legal betting sites because you don’t use real money to play the games. You will use virtual currency to play. In some cases, you may be able to redeem your winnings for cash prizes. Chumba Casino is one of the popular social and sweepstakes sites with many slot games. Funz Points is a relatively new site that features about 50 slot titles.
Prospects for online casinos
The newly formed Study Commission on the Future of Gaming in Ohio recently considered the prospect of legalizing online casinos. These were preliminary talks to inform possible future legislation. Ohio is unlikely to legalize online casinos in the near future. The regulatory framework and technology for iGaming already exist with online sports betting. More citizens are growing accustomed to making online sports bets. With the type of casino market growth all over the U.S., it could just be a matter of time before online casinos become legal in Ohio. When lawmakers see how much revenue sports betting brings in, online slots could follow.
Regulating online casinos could help problem gamblers
A key consideration when legalizing sports betting was to curtail the use of unregulated, offshore sites. The same reasoning could eventually result in the regulation of online casinos. Regulating online casinos could help identify problem gamblers and offer them support and treatment. Today, casino operators use player analytics and technology which can help to identify problematic gambling patterns. A data-driven approach could allow for personalized interventions based on actual observed behavior. Ohio is already rich in resources to help problem gamblers.
