Onyx Odds Says Its Cash Currency "Cannot Be Purchased." Its Help Center Ties It to a $10 Purchase.

What Onyx Odds sells

Onyx Odds describes its app as "a free-to-play social sportsbook." The operator is Onyx Games LLC of New York. On both the Apple and Google app stores the app is listed as "Onyx - Sports Picks."

Users pick spreads, totals, moneylines and player props on real games, build parlays and same-game parlays, and make live picks during play. For suspended or protested games, Onyx's sports rules say it "follows Las Vegas gaming rules for settlement purposes."

Two currencies run the product.

Onyx Coins are bought with real money. Onyx's sweepstakes rules call the purchased currency Gold Coins and say they "cannot be redeemed for Prizes."

Onyx Cash is the currency that pays. The sweepstakes rules call it Sweeps Cash and say it can be "redeemed for cash and prizes." Onyx's pick-types guide uses it as the stake: "stake 200 Onyx Cash to win 100 Onyx Cash."

Onyx also offers a separate trading product through an affiliated company. This investigation does not concern that product.

What the Terms of Use say, and what they leave out

The Terms of Use a user accepts were last updated on August 7, 2026. Near the top, in capital letters, they say the service does "NOT OFFER 'REAL MONEY GAMBLING'" and that "NO ACTUAL MONEY IS REQUIRED TO PLAY."

Apart from "no purchase necessary" promotions, the terms say there is "no opportunity for a User on the Platform to win real-money or any prize while playing the Games, regardless of whether any purchase was made." The app listings add: "There is no real-money gaming and no real-money wagering offered in this app."

Purchases are final, and Onyx is "not required to provide a refund for any reason."

What the Terms of Use never mention, by any name, is the currency that converts to cash. The redeemable currency is described only in a separate document, the Sweepstakes Rules, last updated September 29, 2026.

How Onyx Cash reaches users

The Sweepstakes Rules are firm on one point: "Sweeps Cash cannot be purchased under any circumstances." They list two ways to get it.

The first is as a bonus "upon the purchase of specifically marked packs of Gold Coins."

The second is by mail: a handwritten 4x6 index card carrying a one-time code from the user's account, signed, dated and posted to a box in Manchester, New Hampshire, within one day of signing. Each card is worth five Sweeps Cash.

Onyx's homepage and help center describe the first route more plainly. The homepage offer reads "SPEND $10 Get 50 in bonus picks." The help center says the welcome bonus requires that a new user "Made a purchase of $10," and gives this example of a customer question: "I purchased $10 but didn't get my 100 onyx cash in free picks." Referral bonuses, it says, are issued only once a friend has "made their first purchase."

Onyx Cash must be played through at least once before winnings can be redeemed, after an identity check that can include a government ID, a "biometric facial scan" and a Social Security number. The help center calls the result "your sweepstakes winnings" and confirms they can be sent to a debit card.

Where Onyx Cash is offered

The Sweepstakes Rules exclude residents of Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia. The app store listings describe the app as available in "35+ states."

Onyx's own documents do not agree on that list. The Terms of Use bar access from Illinois and Maryland, which the Sweepstakes Rules do not mention, and leave out California, Indiana and Maine. The help center article "Where Can I Use Onyx?" lists California, Illinois, Indiana and Maine among the available states.

Either way, the lists were drawn by the company, not by a regulator. Where a company chooses not to offer its cash currency is often a better guide to the legal risk it sees than anything in its marketing.

Why this matters legally

Under most state laws, gambling has three parts: a prize, decided by chance, in exchange for something the player paid to enter. Sweepstakes products are built to remove the third part: because a free route exists, the argument goes, nobody paid for the chance to win.

The question this investigation asks is whether that holds up when the free route requires a handwritten index card for every five Onyx Cash, while the company's own homepage and help center tie bonus Onyx Cash to a $10 purchase. If users paid for their chance to win cash on the outcome of sporting events, that looks like sports betting, offered in states where it is not licensed.

Many states let a person recover money lost to gambling that was not licensed where they live, some in full and some with more on top. State consumer protection laws separately reach a business that tells customers a product is lawful when it may not be. Which applies depends on the state you played from.

Who may qualify, and what Maginnis Howard is doing

Onyx Odds is not a historical case. As of October 7, 2026, the site and app are live, and its sports rules took effect two days earlier.

You may qualify if you bought Onyx Coin packs with real money, played with Onyx Cash, and lost more than you redeemed, in a state where this kind of betting is not licensed. Helpful records include:

• Your purchase history in the app, or the receipts in your email if you bought through Apple or Google.
• Card or bank statements showing charges from "Onyx."
• Your redemption history, since net loss is the usual measure.
• The state you played from.

You do not need complete records to talk to us. There is no cost to have your situation reviewed, and no fee unless we recover money for you.

Frequently asked questions

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