Utah is renowned for having the strictest anti-gambling laws in the country, with no state lottery or retail casinos much less real money online casinos or sports betting. But anyone 18 and up in Utah can play casino games online at social and sweepstakes casinos and win cash prizes. Games include some of the most famous online slots, plus blackjack, roulette, and more, and jackpots can climb into the millions.
Utah Online Casino Gaming for Cash Prizes in 2024
The top sweepstakes casinos and social casinos accept players based in Utah. Claim these signup bonuses with our sweepstakes promo codes to start playing any of the games for cash prizes, no purchase required.
Gambling is for entertainment purposes only. Stay safe and ensure success when you gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER for confidential support. Visit SAMHSA’s National Helpline website for resources that include treatment center locator, anonymous chat, and more.
How Utah Sweeps Casinos Work
Utah doesn’t allow real money online casinos. However, players can win cash prizes playing at the sweepstakes casinos listed above, which offer slots, video poker, and table games. If playing strictly for fun, players can use valueless virtual credits, normally referred to as Gold Coins. For cash prizes, players use premium coins (often called Sweeps or Sweepstakes Coins), which can be redeemed for a cash prize.
You can receive free Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins if you follow any of the links on this page. These casino sites also give you free coins via ongoing promotions and contests. Players receive free Sweeps Coins if you purchase Gold Coins too.
How We Rank the Best Utah Online Casinos
We conduct rigorous reviews of legal online casino sites that operate in Utah. These are the main areas our experts focus on when ranking sweeps and social casinos.
- Availability: We only review social and sweepstakes casinos that operate legally in Utah. The sites featured on this page comply with Utah’s sweepstakes regulations, and they actively welcome players based in the Beehive State.
- Reputation: Our reviewers consider the reputation of each operator. We only recommend secure, trustworthy sites that host fair, accurate games from reliable suppliers. These social casinos must have strong safety measures in place to protect your data, and they should also offer responsive customer support.
- Game Selection: We assess the games on offer at each online casino to gauge the quality and variety. The best sweepstakes and social online casinos in Utah offer more than 800 games, including slots, table games, and potentially live dealer games, sourced from renowned suppliers.
- Bonuses: Our reviewers also break down the bonuses and promotions that each online casino provides. We consider the size and simplicity of the no deposit bonuses and delve into any recurring promotions, loyalty rewards, mail-order offers, social media contests, leaderboards, and discounts on coin purchases.
- User Experience: We analyze the user interface of the casino software as well. Some online casinos are clunky, with poor navigation, broken links, and cluttered pages, while others are glitchy and unreliable. We avoid those sites and identify high-quality online casinos, which make it quick and easy for players to find their favorite games. The sites and apps recommended above are secure, dependable, intuitively designed, and user-friendly.
- Payments: You may decide to buy coins at a sweepstakes casino in Utah. If so, the process should be quick, convenient, and straightforward. We assess the range of casino payment methods, the limits available, and the withdrawal speeds. That allows us to identify online casinos that offer instant payments and rapid withdrawals via multiple options (with no fees).
Utah Online Gambling Snapshot
| Gambling Type | Legal | Details |
|---|---|---|
| US Online Casinos | No | Online casino gaming is illegal in Utah, but social casinos can operate in the Beehive State. |
| DFS Contests | Yes | DFS operators such as FanDuel and DraftKings openly accept Utahns, as the state has never taken steps to prohibit fantasy sports contests. |
| Online Poker | No | Utah has never passed legislation that would permit online poker. |
| Pari-Mutuel Wagering | No | Utah does not permit online or in-person pari-mutuel bets. |
| Online Sports Betting | No | Online sports betting is illegal in Utah. |
Online Casino Games in Utah
The best social casinos in Utah offer a wide range of games from leading suppliers such as IGT, NetEnt, Pragmatic Play, Habanero, Betsoft, and 3Oaks. They mainly fall into the following categories.
Slots in Utah
Slots are the most commonly available games at all online casinos. They are simple, accessible, fast-paced games that offer a great deal of variety. These are the main types of slots in Utah.
- Video Slots | This catch-all term covers most of the modern online slots that offer graphics, soundtracks, and animations. They generally have at least five reels, but they come in all sorts of different themes, volatility levels, and return-to-player (RTP) rates.
- Megaways Slots | These video slots use the Megaways slot feature, which was developed by Big Time Gaming. It significantly increases the number of paylines on a slot, so there will often be more than 100,000 ways to win.
- Jackpot Slots | A progressive jackpot slot gives you the chance to earn a large payout from a small bet amount. A percentage of each wager placed goes into the jackpot pool. The pool continues to grow, with lots of players contributing, until one player wins it. There are also fixed jackpot slots, which offer the chance to win large, static payouts.
- Classic Slots | These games evoke the old-school, mechanical slot machines found at casinos in Nevada. Known as steppers slots, these tend to have three reels, simple graphics, basic gameplay, and low volatility, so they are popular with players seeking a straightforward experience.
- Buy Bonus Slots | Most modern slots have bonus rounds, in which you benefit from multipliers, free spins, and other potentially lucrative features. Some have a buy bonus option, which allows you to pay a fee and skip straight to the bonus round.
Table Games in Utah
Table games are also popular at sweepstakes and social casinos in Utah. Some sweepstakes casinos only have a couple of virtual table games, but sites like Stake.us, High 5, and Sweeptastic offer excellent variety. These are some of the most popular games:
These games normally have higher RTP rates than slots, especially if you place the right bets and make the correct strategic decisions. The same is true of poker-style games at online casinos. The best sites and apps offer virtual table games, which are run by random number generators.
Some social casinos offer live dealer games, too. They will link you up with a real dealer based at a studio or retail casino. You can chat with the dealer and fellow players, and you can watch the action unfold via a video stream while playing.
More Utah Online Casino Games
Some casino games cannot be readily categorized as table games or slots. Such games include bingo and keno, which are available at some social and sweepstakes casinos. They are generally placed in “Other” or “Variety Games” sections.
Scratchcards and Slingo games are often slotted into this section, too. Some casinos also create their own versions of Mines, Hi-Lo, Plinko, and Dice. Stake.us is a great option if you are interested in those types of games.
History of Gambling in Utah
Utah has traditionally opposed gambling. The state prohibited all forms of wagering until 1925, when betting on horse races was legalized. However, that lasted only two years, as the Utah Legislature outlawed pari-mutuel wagering once again in 1927.
Stories of police raids on gambling activities dotted the 20th century, including a crackdown on Catholic nuns running a bingo game. No serious attempts were made to legalize gambling until the 1990s when Utah horsemen lobbied for the pari-mutuel betting ban to be lifted. However, voters rejected a ballot measure seeking to create a horse racing commission in 1992, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) opposed it.
The church issued a statement affirming its opposition to “renewed and vigorous attempts to legalize gambling, including a state-operated lottery, charitable gambling and pari-mutuel betting,” according to Deseret News. Since then, any efforts to introduce legal wagering in Utah have failed to gain traction.
However, reports suggest that 90% of the gamblers in West Wendover—a town just over the border in Nevada—come from Utah. “The Mormons who go over there just want a taste of the other side,” one Mormon mother-of-two told the New York Times.
Retail Casinos in Utah
There are no brick-and-mortar casinos in Utah. The state does not permit commercial casinos, and its federally recognized tribes cannot offer casino gaming on their lands, either. Utah also does not allow charitable gaming. There are no racetracks or off-track pari-mutuel betting parlors, so there is no scope for racinos to be built.
Utah Online Casinos – Bottom Line
Utah is widely regarded as the state least likely to legalize any form of gambling. However, many Utahns clearly enjoy gambling, as evidenced by the popularity of casinos in the West Wendover border town. Heading south to Nevada is inconvenient for players most of the time, so online social casinos have proven popular. They give folks in Utah a chance to play casino games for fun, but there is also the opportunity to redeem cash prizes or gift cards if you win during sweepstakes play.
More Resources for Utah Online Gamblers
Online Casinos in Neighboring States
Utah Online Casinos FAQ
No, online casinos are illegal in Utah. The state also prohibits online poker sites, sportsbooks, and racebooks. However, social online casinos allow you to play table games and slots for fun in Utah, and you can also use Sweeps Coins to seek cash prize redemptions during sweepstakes play.
Yes, you can redeem cash prizes at sweepstakes casinos in Utah. Sites like WOW Vegas, Pulsz, High 5 Casino, and Chumba Casino comply with the Beehive State’s sweepstakes laws. They allow you to take part in sweepstakes contests rendered as casino games, and you can potentially cash out a prize if you win with your Sweeps Coins.
Two-thirds of Utah’s population is Mormon. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not explicitly forbid gambling, but church leaders have long been morally opposed to it.
As such, Utah has the strictest anti-gambling laws in the United States, with no brick-and-mortar casinos, poker rooms, racetracks, off-track betting parlors, or sportsbooks. It does not even have a state lottery, making it one of just two states (along with Hawaii) in which residents cannot buy lottery tickets.
There is no official minimum gambling age in Utah, as it does not have a lottery, casinos, sportsbooks, poker rooms, or pari-mutuel wagering venues. However, sweepstakes contests are legal in Utah, which includes games at sweepstakes casino sites. You need to be 18 or older to participate in sweepstakes contests in Utah.
It is highly unlikely that Utah will ever legalize real money gambling. Around two-thirds of Utahns are Mormon, and leaders at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have declared their moral opposition to gambling. As such, it is hard to see any gambling bills gaining the requisite level of support within the legislature.
Utah has never explicitly prohibited or permitted DFS. Operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel openly welcome DFS customers in Utah, although they are technically operating in a legal gray area. The state does not receive any tax revenue from DFS contests.
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