Sweepstakes Casinos Aren’t Out Of The Woods Yet After Florida AG Lawsuit

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It kind of felt like the worst was over for sweepstakes casinos and sportsbooks, didn’t it?

After a couple of years of negative news on the legal, regulatory and legislative fronts, you would be excused if you thought sweepstakes operators had weathered the storm.

• Many states have moved on to the bogeyman of prediction markets. (However, some sweepstakes operators are also moving into prediction markets!)

• Perhaps we had reached the new normal, much like daily fantasy sports operators have in recent years.

• And after forecasting that the sweeps industry was more likely to contract than grow, Eilers & Krejcik now reported this summer that it believes the industry has grown considerably despite the legal headwinds.

But Florida’s attorney general had a message for everyone:

The AG’s press release was in Wednesday’s newsletter as well, but re-upping here in case you don’t read every word that comes to your inbox:

Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the filing of two lawsuits against the operators of major online “sweepstakes” casinos—including Stake and VGW’s Chumba Casino, LuckyLand, and Global Poker—and the payment processors that enable them. The complaints, filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court today, allege the defendants are operating illegal online gambling enterprises that violate Florida’s gambling laws and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

“These so-called ‘sweepstakes’ and ‘social casinos’ are illegal online gambling operations,” said Attorney General James Uthmeier. “If it looks like a casino, takes real money like a casino, and pays out like a casino, it is a casino—and it is illegal under Florida law. These companies have been preying on Floridians, including minors and seniors, with deceptive marketing, and 24/7 access, while dodging our state’s licensing, taxation, and consumer-protection requirements. They must be stopped.”

The AG even cut a video!

Attorney General James Uthmeier@AGJamesUthmeier

If it looks like a casino, takes money like a casino, and pays out like a casino, it is a casino—and it’s illegal in Florida. That’s why we’re suing predatory online gaming sites Stake and VGW to stop illegal gambling and recover money lost by Florida consumers.

1:13 PM · Aug 19, 2026 · 43.9K Views

68 Replies · 240 Reposts · 1.23K Likes

There are, of course, many other operators serving Florida beyond VGW’s brands. Going after the biggest one serves as a shot across the bow.

If Florida were to come off the map, that would further reduce an already shrunken addressable market. The “and the payment processors” phrase is an eyebrow-raiser. If payment processors start to get cold feet — or get in real legal trouble — that would further complicate things for operators.

In any event, sweepstakes operators face new headwinds in a very large state. Will the industry shrug this off, too, or are we on the cusp of a wave of more legal issues?

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• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission hosted a meeting that included discussion about prediction markets. More tomorrow at The Event Horizon.

• ProphetX CEO Urges CFTC to Preserve Two-Sided Exchanges in Sports Prediction Markets (press release): ProphetX, America's first federally regulated sports-native prediction market, today announced that Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Dean Sisun submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in connection with the August 20 meeting of the Innovation Advisory Committee.

  • "ProphetX applauds Chairman Selig and the CFTC for prioritizing pragmatic regulatory innovation across the sports prediction market landscape and for convening the Innovation Advisory Committee," said ProphetX CEO and Co-Founder Dean Sisun. "A two-sided, peer-to-peer exchange model operating under durable federal oversight is not simply another way to package the state sportsbook model. It is a structurally distinct, more consumer-favorable way to bring regulated sports event contracts into the financial system."

  • Sisun’s full comment letter here.

• Latest newsletter and roundup at The Event Horizon:

  • Believe it or not, I published this before this report from Punchbowl News:

    

    Jake Sherman@JakeSherman

    ☀️NEWS in @PunchbowlNews AM: WHAT JOHNSON TOLD US IN PA. THE SPEAKER sees Republicans "substantially" increasing their majority in 75 days. Johnson asserted that prediction markets showing Republicans will lose their majority are being swayed by foreigners betting on U.S.

    12:22 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 39.9K Views

    27 Replies · 22 Reposts · 67 Likes

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• NFL names Fanatics as non-exclusive sportsbook, casino partner (SBC Americas): “As the new NFL season approaches fast, the league has signed Fanatics Betting and Gaming as a new non-exclusive sportsbook and casino partner.”

  • 🔍 Confirmation that this deal is non-exclusive provides an extra piece of context to the news that broke on Tuesday with scant details. The NFL has historically held multiple concurrent official partnerships in the space.

• bet365 names the top-performing online slots in three US iGaming states (SBC Americas): “The July report from bet365 found that Playtech’s Oink Oink Oink: Pharaohs title made a big impact in Michigan’s market last month, taking the top spot as a new entrant to the state.”

  • “The Playtech game knocked ReelPlay’s Hypernova Megaways out of the No. 1 position and down to No. 2, while another new title, Boom Entertainment’s Lucky Money Dinos, came straight in at No. 3.”

  • Full July report here.

• KSA: 41% of new young adult gambling accounts opened at age 18 (NEXT.io): “Of those accounts, 5,244 belonged to young adults aged 18 to 24, with 2,144 – or 41% of those – held by 18-year-olds. Some 11% of these accounts were opened on the customer’s 18th birthday, while 38% were opened within one month of the user turning 18.”

• From Substack:

• DATA.BET expands 24/7 virtual sports content in LatAm (Yogonet): “The bot-vs-bot virtual football content has generated a 12% profit since its launch. The two core competitions offer full market coverage, while other included competitions feature a broader betting selection. Matches are settled automatically, with each tournament generating 60 to 90 matches per day.”