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Best Ohio Poker Sites 2025
Is online poker in Ohio for real money legal? No, it’s not. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t play it! Worldpokerdeals team has analyzed the Ohioan poker legislation and market to select the best offshore poker sites for Ohio poker players. More so, reading further provides you with insights, which are vital to know for safe playing.
Where to play online poker in Ohio in 2025
Ohio doesn’t regulate online poker, so there are no legal poker operators in the Buckeye State. You can only pick between offshore or sweepstakes sites. If you’re inexperienced, you can easily stumble across fraudulent sites that might shut down at any time and get away with your funds.
To protect you from such occasions, we present you with a list featuring trusted poker sites that you can play from your area.
| OH poker site | Bonuses | Rakeback |
|---|---|---|
| BetOnline Poker | 100% up to $1,000 | VIP |
| ACR Poker | 100% up to $2,000 | 27% flat or up to 65% |
| Ignition Poker | up to $3,000 | up to 20% |
| CoinPoker | 150% up to $2,000 | 33%+ |
| Everygame Poker | 200% up to $1,000 | 36% |
Benefits of our affiliate service:
- Top rakeback deals.
- Professional support for all inquiries seven days a week.
Reach our team to find out more information:
BetOnline
BetOnline is an excellent choice if you're looking for a reliable and well-established poker room. It has been operating since 1991, which is a testament to its security and quality.
BetOnline is offering a solid 100% up to $1,000 bonus. Although this promo doesn't match CoinPoker's, the site has many other promotions, including weekly rakeback, daily leaderboards, etc. The site will be a great option for playing NLH and PLO games up to $1k.
CoinPoker
Coinpoker, a crypto-oriented poker site licensed in Curacao, welcomes newcomers with a $2,000 bonus that can be claimed on a first deposit.
The poker site offers good action in Texas Hold'Em, Omaha and 5-card Omaha and regular tournaments with prizes of over $10,000. CoinPoker also hosts the Cash Game World Championship for high-stakes players.
ACR Poker
ACR Poker is a popular poker site favoured by the likes of Chris Moneymaker, Tom Dwan, Ebony Kenny, and Nacho Barbero. The Venom Tournament, which ACR Poker runs on a regular basis, has a prize pool of up to $12,500,000.
As well as being a poker site for professional poker players, ACR also welcomes new players with a 27% flat rakeback and a $2,000 deposit match bonus.
How we choose the best Ohio online poker sites
Our experts have approached finding the best US-friendly poker sites for you with a certain algorithm. It suggests examining the platform according to these parameters:
- License. It’s a legal document that ensures the site prioritizes your safety, protecting you with KYC practices and SSL encryption. To learn if the site has a viable license, we find the license number and check it on the issuer’s website.
- Background. All the sites we present you with have been in the industry for years. This allows us to explore their reviews and gain insights into their weaknesses and strengths.
- Security. We don’t want you to lose your information or money when playing poker, so we recommend only encrypted sites with professional security managers.
- Cashier. Playing poker means making regular deposits and withdrawals. Transactions need to be fast and convenient, which is why we prefer poker sites with a good selection of payment methods, including cryptocurrencies.
- Games and traffic. We strive to bring you sites that offer the widest variety of poker games, including Texas Hold'em, 4, 5, 6 card Omaha, Stud and MTT variations. We also ensure that the site’s player activity matches the GMT-4 time zone used in Ohio.
Playing online poker in Ohio: step-by-step guide
- Visit the website. Make sure the poker site accepts players from Ohio.
- Register an account. Click the “Registration” or “Sign Up” button and create an account by providing your personal information.
- Download and install the poker client. Visit the site’s poker page and download and install a special poker client (some sites also allow you to play through a browser).
- Verify your account. Proceed to your profile and request an account verification (it requires you to provide a picture of your passport or driver’s license to comply with license-imposed AML and KYC practices).
- Deposit, pick a table and dive in! We recommend that you start with micro-stakes to build your confidence before moving up to higher stakes. Remember to always stick to bankroll management.
Is Online Poker Legal in Ohio?
Currently, Ohio doesn’t legalize online poker, as the state has not passed any laws regarding this type of gambling. It means that your area’s government does not recognize real-money online poker sites.
Still, it doesn’t mean that you can’t play poker online. Ohioan lawmakers don’t address offshore poker platforms, which is why they’re available to you. But treat those with caution. According to Chapter 2915 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC), engaging in or profiting from unauthorized gambling activities is illegal. Therefore, playing even at off-shore sites can cause issues for you, even though the government won’t likely attach any importance to your playing.
Ohio primarily targets poker operators rather than bettors. If a poker operator is spotted in your state, the government quickly acts to eliminate it and penalize the site’s organizers.
Speaking about the offshore platforms’ safety, it's exceptional. Poker sites presented in our list are licensed, which is why they protect your data with encryptions and security teams.
Another proof of the reliability of offshore sites is their background. For example, BetOnline is one of them and it has over 20 years of experience with a lot of reviews. Reading them can give you a rough understanding of the experience you're about to get, including a picture of bonuses, payments, gameplay, etc.
Will OH regulate online poker?
Even though the Ohioan state hasn’t regulated online poker yet, lawmakers put in a solid effort towards such shifts. For example, in September 2024, State Senator Niraj Antani introduced Senate Bill 312, which proposed legalizing and regulating online poker with a 15% tax with allocations to counties, school districts, and other state funds.
This bill is currently in progress. Such strides shed a green light on the poker regulations, so you can expect them to occur in the near future.
Sweepstakes poker
Sweepstakes poker is a type of game where you don’t bet actual money. Thus, sweepstakes poker games don’t fall under the primary legal provision of gambling: betting or wagering any money or thing of value on a game of chance.
How exactly a sweepstakes poker is played? Such poker sites use virtual currencies for buy-ins. They come in two types:
- Gold Coins: currency purchased or earned with tokens that allow you to play for fun.
- Sweeps Coins: alternative currency obtained through promotions that allow you to engage in matches resulting in monetary prizes.
Sweep coin rewards differ depending on the playing platform. Generally, you receive redeemable cash cards. However, some sweepstakes sites also reward you with gift cards that you may apply to specific marketplaces.
Sweepstakes poker gameplay is identical to classic poker. You join a room by inputting a coin and compete against other players by striving to collect the strongest card combination.
Ohio card rooms
While the Ohioan state doesn’t regulate online poker, offline playing is legal. However, you can play only in specific venues. There are several land-based poker rooms in Ohio:
| City | Casino | Tables |
|---|---|---|
| Columbus | Hollywood Casino Columbus | 34 |
| Toledo | Hollywood Casino Toledo | 20 |
| Cincinnati | Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati | 31 |
| Cleveland | JACK Cleveland Casino | 28 |
Visiting these casinos will give you the entire spectrum of experiences a real poker game entails. You’ll reside in the playing room with tamed colors, surrounded by other players. Thanks to social presence, you’ll be able to analyze others’ behavior and mimics, which gives you another layer of bluff play.
Deposit and withdrawal methods
Even though offshore poker sites provide you with a wide range of payment methods, only cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals are available. Coin payments provide you with some of the fastest transactions and low fees.
The other non-credit/debit card payment options, like Skrill and Neteller, aren’t available to you. E-wallet policies don't allow deposits to gambling sites from the USA.
A brief history of poker and gambling in Ohio
As many other states did, Ohio legalized the lottery first. It happened in 1974, causing bingo and other charitable gambling games to be legalized a few months later. That’s when the first limited poker games took a starting point.
The next gambling milestone was achieved in 2009, with a new constitutional amendment approved. It allowed four major casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo. We’ve already presented you with these gambling spots in the “Ohio Card Rooms” section of this article.
As of today, Ohioan poker is well-regulated with the Ohio Casino Control Commission. It imposes taxes on local casinos, controls their games, and filters their visitors to comply with laws.
The final milestone, which has become a massive victory for the Ohioan gamblers, was the legalization of sports betting in January 2023. Unfortunately, online poker remains untouched by the law.
Best Ohio poker players
David Peters has earned the nickname "The Silent Assassin" for his tight and disciplined style of play. He began his poker career on PokerStars in 2005 as "dpeters17".
It took him only about two years of active online play to build up a bankroll for offline tournaments. His first serious cash came when he won the Heartland Poker Tour Main Event for $130,178 in August 2008.
Peters won his first World Series bracelet in 2016. In total, he won 5 WSOP tournaments (two of which were online tournaments).
From 2015 to 2021, David actively played very expensive tournaments and managed to win more than $1 million 12 times during this period. The biggest payout of $2,699,752 came for finishing second in the $200K High Roller at the WPT National Philippines Series in 2018.
David Peters' total live tournament earnings now stand at over $46 million.
The second highest ranked player in the state of Ohio, Byron Kaverman, has half that amount.
Conclusion
Online poker is in an uncertain state in Ohio. There are no local sites that operate under the law, which is why you can play only at offshore and sweepstakes platforms. But there are alternatives. Ohio offers you a solid choice of brick-and-mortar casinos in multiple cities, providing you with trusted playing spots.
Responsible gambling
Even though poker is a skill-requiring game, it still features a factor of chance, which causes the development of gambling addiction. When it hits, a player loses control of his spending, causing damage to his personal life. If you spot any unhealthy attitude toward playing, you may contact the following service for diagnostics and help:
- Ohio Lottery Commission’s Play Responsibly Initiative
- Problem Gambling Network of Ohio
- National Problem Gambling Helpline: 1-800-GAMBLER
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