Sweepstakes casino exits from US states slowed in August after the wave of bans in June and July that covered Indiana, Maine, Louisiana and Iowa. But the month brought the largest enforcement action to date — from Florida — and a series of platform shutdowns.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed lawsuits against Stake.us and VGW (Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, Global Poker), accusing them of illegal online gambling. More significant: the suits also named payment processors Worldpay, Trustly, Praxis and Breeze Labs as defendants. The state is seeking an injunction, refunds to players and penalties. If processors exit Florida, operators will have to follow or find new partners. Florida is one of the most populous states and a major revenue source for the sweepstakes model.
Shutdowns and pivots
August saw The Money Factory shut down on 9 August, LuckyStake between 14 and 21 August, and the wind-down of CoinFrenzy (closing 7 September) and VGW's LuckyLand Slots (final closure 14 September). The sweepstakes map is contracting fast: a ban in Oklahoma takes effect 1 November.
At the same time, operators are looking for alternatives. On 12 August, Fliff and Onyx Odds registered subsidiaries (Fliff FCM LLC, Onyx Markets LLC) with the NFA — a step toward operating as Futures Commission Merchants in the CFTC-regulated prediction markets. That won't let them launch their own exchanges, but will allow them to act as intermediaries for clients. MyPrize (via Crypto.com), Novig, ProphetX and Betr made similar moves earlier. For companies losing states, the federal event-contract market is a new expansion route.
