Brand recognition as always been a big factor driving consumers’ decisions, and when it comes to casinos, nothing is more recognizable than Las Vegas. Knowing this, it’s only natural for people who have decided they want to move their casino game play online, instead of the local casino (if there is even one), to first ask “Can you play online at the Las Vegas casinos?”.
Sure, a quick search for online casino for real money would yield plenty of results, quite a few online casinos are available, but if you are a beginner at online gambling, all those brands would be unrecognizable to you. But the Vegas casinos, such as MGM, the Bellagio, the Golden Nugget – all Las Vegas casino icons and downright household names. Therefore most folks would instantly turn to searching for Las Vegas online casino for real money, trying to find if they can play at any of those Vegas casinos online.
First, let’s cut right to the chase – while online gambling in Nevada is technically legal and one has some options to gamble online, there is no Las Vegas online casino at which people from USA can play. All of the popular Vegas Strip names are still operating exclusively offline, in their real brick&mortar establishments. So, the answer to can you play online at the Vegas casinos, right now is a short “no”. This is not the whole story, however, and we go into details further along this guide, but if all you came here for was for an answer if you can play the Vegas casinos online from your home state, assuming you are located in the U.S., or from anywhere in the world, for that matter, then the answer is – you cannot.
Not all is lost, however. Below you can find some of our recommendations for online casinos with Vegas-style games, which are licensed and regulated abroad. These are the best alternatives to the Las Vegas casinos online, reputable and safe casino websites, which offer players from the US real money gambling. It is the best there is, until the Las Vegas casino brands get their ducks in a row and start offering their own casino games online.
| Real Money Casino | Compare to Las Vegas casinos | Free Bonus | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Talking about seizing the opportunity, Las Vegas USA was established in the distant 1999, and has offered Vegas-style online casino games ever since. With so many years of proven reliability and honest treatment of its customers, this online casino is easily the top choice for anyone looking for an alternative to the non-existent actual Vegas internet casinos. | $10,000 |  |
 | Bovada comes as close as possible to an actual Las Vegas casino experience, since in addition to the casino, this gambling site also offers a full sportsbook, racebook and a poker room. It's essentially Las Vegas, without the shows. Keep in mind that residents of 4 US states are restricted from joining this famous gambling site. | $3,000 | |
 | Another long-established online casino with focus on serving customers snubbed by the Vegas casinos. For over two decades Vegas Casino Online has offered all the popular casino games you would find at any land-based casinos, over 300 different slots, and one of the biggest casino bonus offers for first-time customers. | $10,000 | |
 | Admittedly SlotoCash is not themed after Las Vegas in any way, besides the hundreds of slots, table games and specialty games. But we love this casino website so much, we had to include it in our list. It offers some of the most fun slots, you can play for real money or just for fun, and with a track record proven over many years, you can safely and confidently entertain yourself for hours at this casino. | $7,777 + 300 spins | |
Some people may be surprised that “Sin City” is yet to fully engage in the online gambling business, falling behind such US states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where online casinos have been allowed to be licensed and regulated for a while now. Other states, like Michigan, are entering the final phases to allow the local casinos to offer real money casino games online; and boy, could Detroit use the revenue after the three casinos (the biggest cash-cow for the city) were shut down during the pandemic. So what’s the deal with Nevada, and in particular the Las Vegas casinos, why aren’t they offering online casino play?!? And when will we see real money casino apps from the Vegas casinos?
Especially when we consider that other forms of gambling online are already underway in Nevada. Online poker play in Vegas has been licensed, regulated and fully available for quite a few years now. A number of popular online poker sites are legally operating in Nevada as we speak. Online sports betting in Las Vegas is also an option. For this, however, the player must be physically present in the state, in order to place bets on sports online or via the betting apps and sportsbooks. Still, a Las Vegas real money casino online is yet to become a reality, even if it were to require the player to reside in the state, like the sports betting apps.
The issue here, in our opinion, has to do with two factors woven into the fabric of the Vegas casinos as the world’s premier gambling spot. First, Las Vegas has always been an “experience package”, instead of just a street with a few legal casinos. People from all over the USA make visiting Vegas an experience of a life-time, rather than just blowing some money at the blackjack table or legally betting on the Super Bowl. This type of experience would be impossible to fully replicate online, although the year 2020 might have changed to offline version of the Vegas trip forever, as well. Second, the Vegas casinos have always been afraid of the online casinos cannibalizing their properties. The casinos in Nevada make money from all the services related to gambling, not just the casino losses – room bookings, restaurants, shows, etc.
But 2020 has been a very profound year for the USA land-based casinos, and offering their patrons the option to play the same real money casino games, at the same casino they always have, is looking more and more like a must-do. The Vegas casinos are no different – online casino gambling is coming to Las Vegas, and at this point, it’s a matter of when, not if. With the recent MGM- IAC deal news, it seems that the wheels are already in motion for some of the big Vegas casino names, such as MGM Grand, to enter the online casino business very soon.
We wouldn’t be surprised if people can play at a Las Vegas online casino for real money within a couple of years. If the pandemic has thought us something, is that online presence is crucial for any type of business, not just gambling. The habits of people forced to isolate for many weeks have changed drastically, and many believe they have changed permanently. So even though a Vegas trip will remain a must-do for a large portion of the US population, expectations are that the frequency would decrease drastically. Drastically enough that the Vegas casinos will have no choice but to start offering online casino games as soon as possible.