• Ohio Regulated Online Poker
• Ohio Online Poker Legal

Some people would make you think that the very best online poker rooms for Ohio residents are simply the ones that will allow them to play but this is far from the truth. In fact, Ohio residents are not really bound to a certain group of poker sites at all... they are free to play where they want which is good because the same thing is always the best for certain people/scenarios.

• Legality of Online Poker Gambling in Ohio Real money online gambling, as a whole industry, is still very new in the US. To make things more complicated, regulations towards specific kinds of online gambling differ from state to state. Fortunately, Ohio is very lenient with its internet gambling laws.
• Ohio Online Poker Law With its first two casinos opening in May 2012, Ohio is still a casino-hosting infant. Ohio’s first two real casinos opened in May 2013, and two more were opened soon after. Already, casinos did more than $493 million in business as of Sept. 2013, generating more than $138 million in taxes.
• Advantages of Playing Online Poker in Ohio Due to the location of Ohio it is not difficult to leave the State and find direct flights to major cities around the world and as such it can be a long drawn out procedure when you wish to take part in a Poker Tournament being held overseas.

Immediately below this paragraph we discuss legal aspects of the activity however you can skip to the bottom of the page to will see our favorite places for playing online poker in Ohio. All of the sites listed here are trusted and accept Ohio citizens.

Is It Legal For Ohio Residents To Play Poker Online?

According to state laws, yes, it is perfectly legal to play online poker in Ohio, and until further notice, the state has no legal opinion on the operation of online poker rooms within the state's borders. You can find online poker rooms all over the Internet willing to do business with people from the Buckeye state, and as long as you abide by United States laws related to online gambling and funds transfers, you're acting fully within your rights to play online poker in the state of Ohio.

Where Can Ohio Residents Play Poker Online?

Despite the fact that Ohio online casinos regulated by the state won't be found, there are still a great many options to those living in the state. Poker sites operating outside of the United States generally allow players from the U.S. to sign up for accounts with their sites. Ohio players are certainly in that group that can do so.

Online Poker Ohio As mentioned above, players are technically allowed to play on offshore poker sites. You may find that very few poker sites will reject players from Ohio, but the majority of the top US poker site brands will be available to you.

Across all platforms, you are going to be hard pressed to find another site as complete as Bovada, especially when it comes to their poker software. They use state of the art servers and have a proven operating system which has been certified to be fair for all players who decide to play there.

Additionally, Bovada makes your dollar go futher by offering all Ohio players a one-time 100% to $1,000 matching bonus when you make the first deposit. All you need to do is deposit at least $20 using any of the deposit methods accepted here: wire transfers + VISA credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

With that bonus, players can earn extra money when playing cash games, in the sit n go tourneys, or in their scheduled tournaments like the Sunday afternoon content that has $100,000 in guaranteed prize payouts for that one tourney alone. This tourney almost dwarfs what other poker sites taking OH residents can offer in guaranteed tournaments in a month!

Visiting the homepage for the poker room at BetOnline, and you will notice several things. Among them, is an active and live list for the upcoming poker tournaments that are available for players to enter. This lets the player know what tournaments are on the schedule, including details on the buy-in and what stakes are on the table. If you are an Ohio player looking for some of best tournaments with a wide range of buy-ins and prizes, than BetOnline is certainly a great poker room choice for you.

With more than $150K in guaranteed tournament money each month, there is the chance for players to get in on many tournament at one time, as much as you can handle. BetOnline wants to be flexible and cater to their players. When it comes to tournaments, they do a great job with this.

Online Poker Regulation In Ohio

As it stands, Ohio has no immediate plans to enact regulation and move forward with the potential for legal Internet poker or other gambling sites that are legal for Ohio players. While there is a push across some states in the U.S. that have either already passed, or are trying to get passed online poker bills, Ohio is on the back burner. This is not to say that we will not see future regulation within the state. But it is pretty safe to say that Ohio is not like Nevada or New Jersey leading the charge to try and have more legalized poker in the U.S.

Ohio Online Poker Law

With its first two casinos opening in May 2012, Ohio is still a casino-hosting infant. Ohio’s first two real casinos opened in May 2013, and two more were opened soon after. Already, casinos did more than $493 million in business as of Sept. 2013, generating more than $138 million in taxes. The casinos joined seven slot-only racinos, with more racinos scheduled to open in 2014.

Ohio allowed casinos after watching its residents drive their entertainment dollars to the casinos located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The final push occurred when Pennsylvania voted to allow casinos in 2010. West Virginia has had slots at racetracks since the 1990s, and legalized table games starting around 2000.

As of late 2013, there were no pending online poker or casino bills submitted to legislators in Ohio, or any interest reported publicly by the lawmakers. In fact, in 2013, Ohio Senators passed a law that cracked down on the more than 600 Internet cafes that dot the state.

The cafes are essentially slot parlors where computers take the place of slot machines. They existed through loopholes in Ohio law. The change made it illegal for payouts any higher than $10. There are two ways to look at this and understand how it might pertain to online poker legalization.

The first way to look at it is that the change was passed because the Senate truly cares that slots parlors opened up in old Pizza Huts and strip malls across the state. They truly want to protect their constituents from unscrupulous slot games and think that statewide gambling is truly a problem in Ohio.

This is summed up by Republican Sen. Larry Obhof: “To me, the question is a pretty simple one: Do we want statewide gambling in Ohio, and did voters ever authorize statewide gambling in Ohio? I think the answer to each of those questions is no.”

The second way to look at the law change is as a maneuver by state officials to protect a new, big chunk of the state’s operating budget. It’s fairly certain that the casinos demanded it. That’s one of the perks when your industry produces almost $140 million for the state — protection.

If it’s truly the first one, online poker fans in Ohio may have reasons to worry, especially if an online poker law is lumped in with a general online casino gambling bill.

Ohio Regulated Online Poker

If it’s the second one, then online poker players should remain optimistic that one day, soon, online poker will come to their laptops again. It also helps that Pennsylvania and West Virginia will allow its residents access to online poker sites by 2016, and most likely sooner.

When Will I Get to Play Online Poker in Ohio?

This is truly a tough one. On one hand, the state is now enjoying the proceeds that come by hosting a casino industry, but on the other, there seems to be a very real concern among some members of the Senate about statewide gambling expansion. Assuming they feel the same way about online gambling, an online casino gambling bill will face serious resistance. A sole online poker bill would have a considerably easier time (especially if one goes through in Pennsylvania). Still, even if that’s the case, look to no earlier than 2016, probably later.

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