LAS VEGAS - The rise of sweepstakes-style online casinos was a key topic at a gaming industry conference a year ago. On Tuesday, a panel of real-money gaming stakeholders at this year’s event said the games’ rise is effectively over.
- Industry experts at G2E 2025 say sweepstakes-style casinos are nearing their end amid legal, regulatory, and financial crackdowns.
- Over a dozen states have issued more than 100 cease-and-desist letters, with California, expected to join in banning the games.
- Stakeholders believe the sweeps casino decline could spur lawmakers to expand legalized real-money online gaming in the U.S.
Facing legal, regulatory, and financial battles on multiple fronts, sweepstakes casinos are leaving a growing number of U.S. jurisdictions, a trend that speakers at a panel at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) conference said will continue. With policymakers increasingly targeting these games and their third-party payment and tech suppliers, panelists expect more sweeps sites to stop operations.
“You really are seeing and hearing the death rattle of the last gasps of the sweepstakes industry as it is currently situated,” said Howard Glaser, global head of government affairs for real-money iGaming operator Light and Wonder, during a G2E session Tuesday.
Sweeps' rise and fall
Sweeps casinos, which allow users to play standard casino offerings such as slots and table games without depositing real money, now generate billions in annual revenue. The games allow users to play for free with “gold coins” or purchase “sweeps coins” that can be exchanged for prizes.
Critics have decried these games as a form of illegal gambling.
The games don’t operate as traditional sweepstakes, such as McDonald’s Monopoly promotion, with a finite eligibility period, said gaming attorney Daniel Wallach on Tuesday. Instead, they offer games 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and function practically and financially like a casino.
This argument has been picked up by a growing number of elected officials and state gaming regulators.
All four panelists at a G2E panel believe California Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign or allow to pass an online sweeps casino ban bill (that passed the legislature unanimously) into law; California generates an estimated 20% of all US sweeps casino revenue
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) October 7, 2025
More than a dozen states have combined to send over 100 cease-and-desist letters to sweeps casino operators. None have challenged the letters in court, a clear indication the operators know they would lose the legal battle, Wallach said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill declared the games illegal in the state in July, setting a precedent for similar determinations in other jurisdictions. Several state legislatures have also passed laws to ban the games, a group that is set to soon include California, which generates an estimated 20% of all U.S. sweeps casino revenue.
With most states set to reconvene their respective legislative sessions early next year, that list is expected to grow. Texas and Florida, the nation’s second and third-most populated states, are leading candidates to take action against sweepstakes casinos, panelists agreed Tuesday.
In the meantime, sweeps sites are still spending hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising, which gaming industry survey analysis shows is confusing Americans into believing the games are legal.
“It’s kind of like a moonshine appearing in an ad besides Anheuser-Busch,” said Shawn Fluharty, a West Virginia delegate and head of government affairs at real-money gaming operator Play’n GO. “I don't fundamentally see how we're allowing that, and it's waking up legislators across America to take a stand.”
Future for online, real-money casinos
Fluharty joined other panelists Tuesday in believing the sweeps casinos could stimulate long-stalled real-money gaming legalization efforts.
Only seven states have legalized real-money online casinos, compared to 31 states that have legalized digital sportsbooks. Digital slots and table games generate around three times the net revenue of sportsbooks and have been a top legislative priority for mobile gaming operators.
This push has been largely unsuccessful. Policymakers have feared societal ills of “a slot machine in every pocket” that can operate at all times, unlike the more limited availability of sporting events. The gaming industry has also been largely divided, with brick-and-mortar-focused companies that lack a strong digital footprint leading campaigns to stop the iGaming legalization push.
Panelists Tuesday said the proliferation of unregulated social casinos shows there is strong demand for such games nationwide. Speakers agreed that should motivate lawmakers to back legalization and regulation in statehouses and regulatory agencies.
“I think that's what this is going to do; spur that conversation,” Fluharty said, “which, rather ironically, means the sweepstakes companies are actually going to end up spurring the expansion of (legal real-money) iGaming in the U.S.”
