Most casinos in Ohio require ID verification before you can step onto the floor. As the excitement of gambling increases the closer you come to the casino, you may find yourself fumbling for your ID or wallet to gain access to the establishment.
The same is true for many online casinos in the country, which require patrons to sign up with personal information and verify this information with identity documents. The same holds true for most types of casino platforms, including those providing the top online casino bonus offers and those offering near-instant payout of any winnings. Many of these sites allow users to quickly withdraw or deposit funds, often without having to provide supplementary documentation to confirm transactions, allowing them to access thousands of dollars worth of bonus funds in just a few clicks.
The brick-and-mortar casino industry is always trying to improve the experience for patrons, and the latest shift has significantly improved accessibility and convenience. Many of the casinos in Ohio are now accepting digital ID verification, meaning you can simply show your ID on your phone or smartwatch before stepping into the flashing lights and happy jingles of the casino.
The move towards digital ID verification in Ohio began in the middle of 2024 when the state launched the mobile driver’s license (mDL) program. mDLs were accepted at many businesses as well as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints.
Within two days of the program’s launch, over 75,000 people uploaded IDs to their mobile devices. Mid-January 2025, this has grown to 350,000 mDLs added to Apple Wallets.
Ohio was the fifth state to combine digital IDs with Apple Wallets, following in the steps of Colorado and Arizona. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was satisfied with not being the first state to make this move, stating “We feel like we’re on the cutting edge, but not on the bleeding edge of this,” he said, speaking to Government Technology. “We didn’t rush into it, we made sure that it worked correctly as advertised, we promoted it, and we continue to talk about it. You can have the ID, but if there’s no place to use it, it doesn’t do you that much good. So we’re creating environments in which to use it, with universities, casinos.”
Casinos are the perfect testing grounds for this new system. Ohio casinos are constantly struggling with people trying to gain access using fake IDs. The state saw 35 criminal cases related to falsified ID documentation, making it the second-highest reported crime according to the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC).
To tackle this problem, the OCCC made the move in 2024 to accept mDLs to verify age at all four casinos in the state. This allows visitors from Ohio and the other states that have mDLs (Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico) to present these digital IDs at the casino doors.
There has been some success according to Haley Carducci, press secretary of Husted. “Casinos have shared that patrons are using it, the first day of launch one casino had 20 patrons who used their Ohio Mobile ID.”
According to a press release by the OCCC, “From a regulatory perspective, accurate, safe, and secure identification for entry into Ohio’s casinos is foundational to ensuring the integrity of casino gaming. The Ohio Mobile ID leverages cutting-edge technology to provide a simple and secure method for verifying age and identity.”