Texas Online Casinos 2023

While online gambling in Texas is illegal, players in the Lone Star State can win big cash prizes and more by playing casino-style games at social casinos. Social casinos are a legal and exciting way to play a variety of slots, including progressive jackpots, plus blackjack, video poker, and more.

In Texas, due to strict anti-gambling laws, there are limited gaming options for residents and visitors. Texas is home to two land-based casinos and several horse racing tracks, but online, Texas gamblers will find the offerings very slim. State law prohibits any form of online gambling, including sports betting, online casinos, and horse race betting.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott won re-election to a third term, soundly defeating a challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke in November 2022. Abbott’s office had indicated in a statement that he would consider proposals to legalize commercial casinos in Texas, according to a report by the Houston Chronicle.

Texas gambling expansion is already on the 2023 legislative agenda, thanks to Sen. Carol Alvarado presenting Joint Resolution 17. The Democrat from Houston is asking her colleagues to consider passing what would ultimately head to voters so they can decide whether to amend the Texas Constitution.

On Feb. 6, State Senator Lois Kolkhorst and Representative Jeff Leach filed bills to attempt to legalize online sports betting in Texas. Sen. Kolkhorst’s SB 715 and SJR 39 would pair with Rep. Leach’s HB 1942 and JFR 102. Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa signed on as a joint author to Sen. Kolkhorst’s SB 715.

Texas Social and Sweepstakes Gaming Online

Despite the absence of legal online gambling in Texas, a variety of social casinos are legal. Players can win cash prizes and gift cards and more by playing their favorite casino-style games, including slots, blackjack, keno, video poker, and beyond. Here are the best promotional sweepstakes casino gaming sites available to Texas players:

Sports Betting In Texas

Social casinos look and feel like actual real-money online casinos. They offer huge selections of games, particularly slots, such as progressive jackpot slots and classic steppers.

Within the State of Texas, your options for social casinos are poker, casino-style games, and sportsbook. All these options allow players to redeem cash prizes by winning site tokens, usually known as Sweeps Coins, by playing the available casino games, beating other poker players, or making sports picks.

Other Sports Betting Options in Texas

FendOff  is another promotional sweepstakes sports betting site. It lists individual and team sports and racing and presents specific odds for pre-game and in-game picks. Pari-mutuel horse and dog racing picks are also available.

Some bettors prefer Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) options, and all of the best DFS sites are available in Texas.

How Are Social Casino Sites Different From Online Gambling Sites?

Online gambling sites take real-money deposits that are then reflected in your account accordingly.

You can use those funds to place bets on casino games or sporting events. Or, in the case of poker sites, buy tournament entry tickets, risk money at the tables, and pay rake fees.

You play the games with that money, and you can then withdraw whatever winnings you may have accrued. In that way, an online casino is a virtual reflection of a retail casino (though usually with much more player-friendly promotions, odds, and stakes than a brick-and-mortar facility.)

In online social and sweepstakes sites, you do not play with real money. Instead, you play with site-specific currencies. With some of those currencies, you can exchange winnings for cash prizes.

Another nice feature for social and sweepstakes casinos is that you can always play for free.  You can get free coins through signup offers, daily login bonuses, social media contest, mail-in offers, and more.

Keep in mind that real-money online gambling sites are illegal in Texas. While some offshore sites will accept players from within the state, they’re operating in violation of Texas law. Proceed at your own risk.

On the other hand, online social casinos are legal in Texas. You can purchase coins, play casino-style games, and redeem winnings for cash prizes and more, all within the law.

Can You Win Real Money At Social Casinos In Texas?

Not directly, but you can exchange your premium credits (Preminum Funzpoints, Sweeps/Sweepstakes Coins, or Fliff Cash, depending on the site) for cash prizes or gift cards. You just have to win enough to reach the minimum prize level.

For example, at Funzpoints, you can receive a cash prize once you’ve earned at least 2,000 premium coins, resulting in a $20 cash prize.

To redeem winnings for any prize the very first time, you must verify your account. This involves providing your personal information, including your social security number, to comply with fraud prevention and other state regulations. The legit social and sweepstakes sites that we recommend do not store that info on their site.

What Kinds Of Bonuses Do Social Casinos And Poker Sites Offer To Players In Texas?

Bonuses at social casinos and poker sites begin with the signup bonus. So just for creating an account with Pulsz, for example, you’ll receive 2.3 Sweepstakes Coins.

If you choose to make a purchase, social and sweepstakes casinos will give you a great discount your very first time.  For example, with Global Poker bonus code FLUSH,  you get 150,000 Gold Coins for $10, plus 30 FREE Sweeps Coins.

What Kinds Of Games Are Available At Texas Social Poker Sites

Types Of Poker Variations At Global Poker

Global Poker offers Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Crazy Pineapple.

Tournaments, Sit & Go, And Ring Games

(Stakes for each game are presented in Sweepstakes Coins.)

Tournaments (Multi-Table)

To compete in a tournament at Global Poker, you’ll need to pay the tournament entry, which can be either Gold Coins or Sweeps. They also have regular freeroll tournaments that don’t require a tournament entry amount. You can compete against other players for rotating jackpots and prize pool tournaments too.

Tournament Entry Range: SC 0.11 – SC 33

Sit & Go

Sit & Go at Global Poker means you sit at a table and play until you’re eliminated, or you eliminate all the other players. This differs from a tournament because you don’t advance to a new table automatically if you win. Instead, the game ends with a winner, and you can join a new game and play again.

Tournament Entry Range: SC 0.5+SC 0.05 – SC 200+SC 18

Ring Games

Ring games at Global Poker mean you can sit down and play for as long as you want and leave the table whenever you want.

Small Blind/Big Blind: SC 0.02/SC 0.04 – SC 10/SC 20

Playing For Gold Coin Vs. Sweepstakes Coins

The stakes for all the types of poker games are organized by Gold Coins or Sweeps. Playing for Gold Coins means getting practice. Playing for Sweeps Coins means players can win and redeem their winnings for cash prizes and more.

Players throughout the United States and Canada (except Washington state and Quebec) can redeem Sweeps Coins at Global Poker, a massive potential playing pool. This makes Global Poker’s active monthly users on par or better than all legal US online poker sites, which are limited to only a few states. Unfortunately, Texas is not one of them.

What Kinds Of Slots Can I Play At Social Casinos?

All legitimate social casinos available to players in Texas feature a range of slots. With Pulsz Casino, you can play most slots in either the Gold Coin mode or the Sweepstakes Coin mode. So, despite being categorized as social gaming, the variety of slots is comparable to a regular online casino. You can find classic three-reel options, five-reel all-ways-pays slots, and everything in between.

Where most of the Texas social casinos fall short is the navigation. There’s no way to see what the slot is like unless you click on it. There’s no search bar. Instead, you have to side-scroll through all the options and choose one that looks good based on its preview image. That’s why we love Pulsz Casino: you’ll see a search bar right at the top of your screen when logged in. It also divides slots into easy categories like Megaways, Hold and Win, New Slots, and more.

Here are some tips on choosing a social casino slot in Texas:

• Choose based on themes, such as fantasy, Vegas, animals, and action and adventure.
• Play with GC to try out games until you find one you like, then play with SC and win to redeem cash prizes and more.
• Stick to the progressive jackpots for the largest potential redemption.

Other Casino-Style Games At Social Casinos

• Keno
• Blackjack
• American Roulette
• Casino Poker
• Jacks or Better video poker
• Scratch games

How Do Purchases Work At Social Casinos And Social Poker Sites?

Purchases at Texas online social casinos and social poker sites are more straightforward than they initially appear. Rather than deposit funds like at a real-money online casino, you must purchase standard site coins or tokens that sometimes include premium credits FREE. For example, the minimum purchase at Funzpoints is $4.99 includes 500 free premium Funzpoints, and the maximum purchase of $99.99 comes with 10,000 free Premium Funzpoints.

However, if you use the Funzpoints bonus code link, your first purchase is doubled up to 2,000 free Premium Funzpoints (worth $20). So, if you go for the maximum, you can get started with up to 2,250 Premium Funzpoints in your account for free with signup and first purchase (for a total of 4,250 Premium Funzpoints).

What Do I Have To Do Before I Can Redeem My Sweeps Coins?

Take Funzpoints as an example. If you receive 4,000 Premium Funzpoints, you can’t simply redeem it for a $40 cash prize. Instead, only credits that you win (Cashable Funzpoints) can be redeemed for cash prizes. So, to redeem all the Funzpoints in your account for a prize, you must bet through it all once (1X rollover).

For example, when this reviewer first joined Funzpoints, they received 250 free on signup. They then played the 250 Premium Funzpoints on slot Barnyard Frenzy. In the end, they had 3,750 Cashable Funzpoints which can be redeemed for a cash prize of $37.50. And that’s without making a single purchase.

Other Online Gambling In Texas

Outside of promotional sweepstakes and social casinos, the Texas online gambling landscape is relatively barren. The options for online play are minimal. Here’s a rundown of where each form of online gambling stands in the Lone Star State:

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) In Texas

Texas has a relatively complex legal landscape regarding Daily Fantasy Sports. State legislators, the attorney general, and Daily Fantasy Sports operators have been in tight contention over whether DFS should be legal in the state. 

For now, DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo!, and other operators still offer Daily Fantasy Sports contests to Texans. It seems the state is more concerned with determining whether DFS is lawful rather than prosecuting anyone who participates. So, for now, Daily Fantasy Sports is a safe betting alternative for Texans while sports betting remains illegal in the state.  

Online Horse Racing In Texas

Texas expressly prohibits online horse race betting anywhere in the state. Off-track betting is also prohibited. Instead, bettors must visit one of the state’s licensed racetracks to gamble on horse racing. Online Texas horse race betting is definitely a possibility in the future, though.

Texas law is pretty strict, even compared to other states with conservative stances on gambling. Many states offer OTB facilities or allow online horse race wagering sites to operate freely, even with other forms of online gambling barred. 

For now, it seems Texas will hold steady in its stance, with no signs of legal online horse race betting on the horizon. 

Generally, horse racing is similar to sports betting, and many states that embrace one also embrace the other. If Texas eventually lightens its restrictions on sports betting, look for horse race betting laws at the same time or shortly after that. 

Texas Online Lottery

The Lone Star State does not allow the purchase of lottery tickets by mail, phone, or internet. Instead, anyone wishing to purchase a lottery ticket in Texas has to visit a licensed retailer. 

The Texas Lottery does offer an app for iOS and Android. Unfortunately, ticket sales are prohibited on the app. Still, it allows players to scan draw games and tickets to check if they’re winners, save lottery numbers, check jackpot amounts, view winning numbers, and locate licensed retail lottery sellers. 

State legislators have shown no intent to legalize online lottery in the near- or mid-term future in Texas. 

Texas Real-Money Online Casinos

Online casinos are prohibited by Texas state law. 

This is incredibly unlikely to change any time soon. No bills to legalize online casinos have even been suggested among state legislators. The state’s historic opposition to gaming expansion of any kind looks like it will hold firm here. The same goes for online poker. 

Online Sports Betting In Texas

State legislators failed to advance an April 2021 bill that would have legalized sports betting in Texas. Since the state’s legislature meets only in odd-numbered years, there will no further movement on the matter until 2023 at the earliest.

Of all online gambling forms, sports betting has received the most recent traction in the United States. Despite the stark outlook for sports betting in Texas, it may likely be the first form of online gaming to become legal in the Lone Star State. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said he is open to expanded gambling options in Texas.

It is uncertain when that will be or if it will happen at all. But, as states embrace the possibilities of revenue and job generation that sports betting provides, there’s a glimmer of hope that Texas may eventually join the fray and offer legal sportsbooks. 

For now, Daily Fantasy Sports are the closest alternative available to Texas bettors. 

Online Gaming History Of Texas

There’s very little history of which to tell when it comes to Texas’ online gaming past. The state has always held firm in its opposition to games of chance, even going so far as to prohibit all but two casinos from operating in the state. 

The online arena is no different, with Texas law prohibiting digital gaming in nearly all forms. 

Federal Online Gaming Laws

The US government prohibited all forms of online gambling under the Federal Wire Act of 1961. Since then, different legal and government entities have argued over what that law covers. Finally, the Justice Department declared in 2011 that the law only applied to sports betting. 

Texas is still wholly opposed to online gambling. Even a landmark Federal resolution allowing online gaming wouldn’t spark an immediate upheaval of the Lone Star State’s gaming laws. 

The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), struck by the United States Supreme Court in 2018, is the perfect example.

PASPA And Sports Betting

The SCOTUS decision to declare PASPA unconstitutional allowed states to enact their own sports betting laws. Many opted to allow the practice and have already regulated and launched full-fledged sports betting options for retail and digital.

Texas, meanwhile, has made no such move despite the tremendous success of legal sports betting in other states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Furthermore, PA and NJ sportsbook promos and apps are now viewed as a standard for the entire US market.

Generally, conservative states have been less likely to allow online sports betting, and Texas is among them. Texas hasn’t shown any intent to legalize sports betting even with federal restrictions lifted, so there’s very little to latch onto in terms of hope for Texas’ online betting future. 

Live Gambling In Texas

Texas law prohibits gambling, even in land-based properties, with only a few key exceptions. The state grants the right for Native American Tribes to open casinos on tribal land as part of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. The federal law allowed the National Indian Gaming Commission to regulate gaming for tribal properties. 

Instead of moving to expand gaming in any meaningful way, Texas law makes it difficult to stay afloat. This is true even if a casino already operates legally under Tribal regulations. As a result, only two casinos and a handful of racetracks are open in the state. 

Gambling In Texas At A Glance

Texas Casino And Racing Overview

Texas’ two casinos are Naskila Gaming, owned and operated by the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, and Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino Hotel, owned and operated by the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas.

The casino landscape in Texas is small, with only two properties open. In addition, casinos face long legal battles with the state of Texas to stay open, making it difficult for any new casinos to open. Since Texas is less friendly to gambling than most other states, casino operators stay clear to avoid unnecessary costs or loss of revenue due to strict state regulations. 

The one minor exception to Texas’ anti-gambling stance is horse racing. Though bettors can’t wager online, there are a few racetracks in the Lone Star State. 

For Texans close to the state border and willing to travel, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisiana all have active casinos a short distance outside the Lone Star State.

For anyone looking to play at a land-based gambling destination in Texas, here’s a rundown of the properties that offer casino gaming or horse race betting. 

Texas Horse Racing

Texas has a horse racing wagering scene. Four racetracks operate in the state and offer pari-mutuel wagering on those races. 

A few racetracks remain in Texas that still offer pari-mutuel betting. However, the state does not allow online or off-track betting, giving tracks a slim chance for meaningful revenue outside of in-person attendance and wagers. 

Horse Racing Tracks in Texas

• Lone Star Park: 1000 Lone Star Pkwy, Grand Prairie, TX 75050
• Sam Houston Race Park: 7575 North Sam Houston Pkwy W Gate 3, Houston, TX 77064
• Retama Park: 1 Retama Pkwy, Selma, TX 78154

Texas Online Gambling Options

More Information About Gambling In Texas

• Texas Lottery Homepage
• National Indian Gaming Commission Homepage
• FindLaw Texas Gambling Law Hub
• Texas State Law Library: Gambling Laws

Texas Online Gambling FAQs