Ohio sweepstakes laws: casinos, bills and free apps

Disclosure: this site's publisher, Luck Incorporated LLC, operates Chance Infinite, one of the apps in these databases. Its entry is built from its own documents under the same rules as every other entry. This is reference information, not legal advice; official rules and statutes control.

Last verified October 3, 2026. On October 16, 2026 an automated check re-opened 9 of its 9 sources and found no change. Every line below cites a document; numbers in brackets point to the source list.

Status: Bills, no law
Enforcement actions on record: 0
Ranked free apps open to residents: 6 of 6
Sweepstakes-casino brands and Ohio: 0 exclude it, 1 limits it, of 18 tracked

Bills

HB 298 (136th General Assembly, 2025-2026): pending in committee: referred to the House Finance Committee May 21, 2025; the committee held hearings on May 27 and June 3, 2025; no vote or later action listed. [S1]
What the bill does
Would authorize internet gambling regulated by the Ohio Casino Control Commission with a 28% tax on receipts, and would prohibit any person from conducting online sweepstakes games in Ohio. The Legislative Service Commission analysis says the bill defines an online sweepstakes game as a game, contest or promotion available online or through a mobile app or similar device that uses a dual-currency system of payment letting a player exchange the currency for a cash prize, cash award or cash equivalent (or a chance to win one), that simulates a gambling game, and that is not a form of gambling expressly permitted by law. Introduced May 20, 2025.

Rules for any sweepstakes in Ohio

Definition of a sweepstakes (Ohio Rev. Code 2915.01(BBB)): Ohio's gambling chapter defines a sweepstakes as a promotion in which no consideration is required to enter: “any game, contest, advertising scheme or plan, or other promotion where consideration is not required for a person to enter to win or become eligible to receive any prize, the determination of which is based upon chance.” [S6]
Sweepstakes terminal devices (in-person) (Ohio Rev. Code 2915.02(A)(5) and (A)(6)): Conducting a sweepstakes with a sweepstakes terminal device at a sweepstakes terminal device facility requires a current annual certificate of registration from the Attorney General, and such a sweepstakes may not award, among other limits, a merchandise prize with a wholesale value over ten dollars as a single entry. These rules concern physical terminal devices, not online sweepstakes. [S7]

Free sweepstakes apps open to Ohio residents

Our ranked apps, by what each one's own official rules say about Ohio. Chance Infinite is operated by this site's publisher.

App	Our rank	Ohio
Chance Infinite	1, 81/100	Open
Coinnect	2, 71/100	Open
Prizes by GAMEE	3 (tied), 54/100	Open
Winsome Rewards	3 (tied), 54/100	Open
PCH+	5, 51/100	Open (app listed unavailable)
PCH Lotto	6, 48/100	Open (app listed unavailable)

Sweepstakes casinos and Ohio

What the 18 sweepstakes-casino brands in our database say about Ohio in their own documents. These lists give no grade; some of these brands pay SweepstakeReport a commission through the links on their fact sheets. We do not judge whether any brand may operate in Ohio, and documents change often.

Exclude Ohio: none
Limit Ohio (for example Gold Coin only): Legendz
Do not exclude it: Chumba Casino, Crown Coins Casino, Fortune Wins, Global Poker, Hello Millions, High 5 Casino, Jackpota, LuckyLand Casino, McLuck, Mega Bonanza, Modo, Pulsz, Pulsz Bingo, Sportzino, Spree, Stake.us, Zula Casino

202 sweepstakes casinos' own terms do not exclude Ohio: see the counts for Ohio.

Regulator

Ohio Casino Control Commission

Notes

Read the 3 research notes

HB 298's status page lists two actions: introduced May 20, 2025 and referred to the House Finance Committee May 21, 2025 (S2). Its committee activity page lists a first hearing in the House Finance Committee on May 27, 2025 and a second hearing on June 3, 2025, with no committee vote listed (S9). Its long title says the bill would “prohibit online sweepstakes games” (S3). The legislature's site lists the 136th General Assembly as 2025-2026 (S8), so the bill remains pending in committee as of October 3, 2026.
Per the Legislative Service Commission analysis, HB 298 would expand the criminal offense of gambling in Ohio Rev. Code 2915.01 and 2915.02 to include conducting, or participating in the conduct of, a sweepstakes in the form of an online sweepstakes game (S1).
SB 197 (136th General Assembly), an internet-gambling bill introduced May 13, 2025 and referred to the Senate Select Committee on Gaming May 14, 2025 (S4), is not listed as a sweepstakes-casino bill: its Legislative Service Commission analysis describes its sweepstakes provisions as transferring oversight of sweepstakes terminal devices from the Attorney General to the Casino Control Commission as of January 1, 2027, and does not describe an online sweepstakes prohibition (S5).

What we could not establish

We found no Ohio Casino Control Commission or Ohio Attorney General action aimed at online sweepstakes casinos in the sources checked on 2026-10-03. The commission's news pages (casinocontrol.ohio.gov/news) load through a portal that returned no searchable release text to our fetch, and we could not run a keyword search of the Attorney General's releases, so this is a bounded negative.
The Ohio Legislature's legislation search loads its results by script and returned nothing to our fetch. Bills other than HB 298 and SB 197 were not systematically searched, so a 2026 bill on the subject could be missing.
Private lawsuits by players against sweepstakes-casino operators were not surveyed for this record; they are not state action.

Common questions

Does Ohio have a law on online sweepstakes casinos?

We found no statute in Ohio that names online sweepstakes casinos in the sources we checked, last verified October 3, 2026. Status on this page: bills, no law.

Which ranked free sweepstakes apps accept Ohio residents?

Per their own official rules, Chance Infinite, Coinnect, Prizes by GAMEE, Winsome Rewards, PCH+ and PCH Lotto accept residents of Ohio. Chance Infinite is operated by the publisher of this site.

Do sweepstakes casinos accept players in Ohio?

Of the 18 sweepstakes casino brands in our database, 0 exclude Ohio and 1 limit it in their own documents, last verified October 3, 2026. Documents change often, so read the current terms first.

Sources

S1 Ohio Legislative Service Commission, H.B. 298 Bill Analysis, As Introduced (May 20, 2025), retrieved October 3, 2026
S2 Ohio Legislature, House Bill 298 Status, 136th General Assembly, retrieved October 3, 2026
S3 Ohio Legislature, House Bill 298, 136th General Assembly (summary and long title), retrieved October 3, 2026
S4 Ohio Legislature, Senate Bill 197 Status, 136th General Assembly, retrieved October 3, 2026
S5 Ohio Legislative Service Commission, S.B. 197 Bill Analysis, As Introduced (May 13, 2025), retrieved October 3, 2026
S6 Ohio Legislature (codes.ohio.gov), Ohio Revised Code 2915.01 Gambling definitions (effective September 30, 2025), retrieved October 3, 2026
S7 Ohio Legislature (codes.ohio.gov), Ohio Revised Code 2915.02 Gambling, retrieved October 3, 2026
S8 Ohio Legislature, Search Legislation (General Assembly selector), retrieved October 3, 2026
S9 Ohio Legislature, House Bill 298 Committee Activity, 136th General Assembly, retrieved October 3, 2026