Who’s Affected?
New York’s new law doesn’t just target the front-end sites like Chumba, LuckyLand, McLuck, or Fortune Coins. It goes after the entire support ecosystem, including:
- Payment processors
- Tech and game suppliers
- Geolocation vendors
- Media affiliates
- Platform partners
- Anyone tied to licensed gambling
If you help a sweeps casino run in New York, even indirectly, you’re considered part of the problem.
The penalties are designed to sting. Each violation can bring $10,000 to $100,000 in civil fines, and regulators can withdraw an existing licence or block you from getting one in future.
Been a Long Time Coming
If this feels sudden, it’s only because the paperwork finally caught up to reality.
Back in June, New York Attorney General Letitia James sent 26 cease-and-desist letters to sweepstakes operators. Every single one complied, from VGW (Chumba, LuckyLand, Global Poker) to Fliff, Fortune Coins and others.
Some brands didn’t even wait to see how the bill ended. VGW pulled Sweeps Coins from New York in May, and Novig, the sports prediction market using the sweeps model, announced its exit the moment Hochul signed the ban.
The new law is less of a surprise and more of a formal obituary.
Why New York Did It
State lawmakers didn’t mince words: in their view dual-currency sweepstakes casinos mimic gambling, feel like gambling, and should be treated like gambling.
Sen. Joe Addabbo’s bill basically writes that into law. If a product runs on two currencies, lets people turn play into cash, prizes or gift cards, and looks or plays like a casino or sportsbook, it’s now banned in New York.
You can call it a sweepstakes if you want, but as far as the state’s concerned, that label doesn’t change what it is.
New York Is Now Part of a Much Bigger Trend
New York isn’t acting in isolation, and that’s what should worry sweeps operators.
In 2025 alone, it joins a growing list of states that have already moved against casino-style sweepstakes: California, Connecticut, Montana, Nevada and New Jersey have all passed bans or near-equivalents that shut the door on dual-currency models.
And the pipeline for 2026 is already filling up. Maine has a bill on the table that mirrors other sweeps bans. Florida is taking another run at the vertical with HB 591. Indiana is going even harder with HB 1052, which wouldn’t just ban sweeps, it would make running them a felony with potential prison time.
This isn’t a few small jurisdictions tinkering at the edges anymore. It’s a broad, state-by-state rejection of the dual-currency sweeps model.
The Industry Pushback (and Why It Didn’t Work)
The sweeps industry didn’t take the bill lying down. The Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA) made a last-minute push to convince Gov. Hochul to regulate the sector instead of banning it. They argued New York would lose more than $230 million in economic activity each year, and that a regulated model could generate around $80 million in new annual revenue through licensing and taxes. They also warned a ban would just push players toward offshore sites and said sweeps already offer a safer alternative.
Lawmakers heard the pitch, and went ahead anyway.
With the Attorney General sending out cease-and-desist letters, state police involved, iGaming efforts stuck in neutral, and a messy fight over three New York City casino licences in the background, there was no real appetite for compromise.
New York wasn’t looking to reshape the sweeps model, it was looking to remove it entirely
So What Now?
For operators, the choices are simple:
1. Leave New York entirely, or
2. Strip down to Gold-Coins-only, no prizes, no redemption, pure entertainment.
For affiliates and payment partners, the message is even clearer:
If you stay tied to sweeps in New York, you’re risking fines, regulatory trouble, and your future eligibility for real-money gambling licenses.
And for the sweeps industry at large, New York’s ban signals something bigger than one state: The dual-currency model isn’t a loophole anymore. It’s a target.
The Bottom Line
New York didn’t just ban sweepstakes casinos, it set a blueprint.
And with several states already lining up similar legislation for 2026, this isn’t the end of the story. It’s the start of the fastest regulatory contraction the sweeps industry has ever seen.
Blaise Luis
