Where sweepstakes casinos are banned, state by state, on 11 September 2026

California: AB 831

AB 831 was signed on 11 October 2025 as Chapter 623, Statutes of 2025. It adds section 17539.1 to the Business and Professions Code and section 337o to the Penal Code; we read it on the legislature’s site on 11 September 2026.

It defines an online sweepstakes game by three features: a dual-currency system, play that simulates gambling, and prizes in cash or a cash equivalent. Running one is a misdemeanor: $1,000 to $25,000, up to a year in jail, or both. Banks, payment processors, geolocation providers, content suppliers, platform providers and media affiliates may not support one. A site that promotes sweepstakes brands to California readers falls in that last group, which is one reason no page here points a California reader to one.

The text states no effective date, so California’s general start date, 1 January 2026, applies. Trade reports date the brands’ exits from 29 October to 30 December 2025.

New York: section 912

Senate bill S5935A, sponsored by Senator Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., with Assembly companion A6745A, became Chapter 605 of the Laws of 2025 on 5 December 2025 and took effect on signing. It adds section 912 to the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law. We read it on the Senate’s bill pages on 8, 9 and 11 September 2026.

An online sweepstakes game is one that “utilizes a dual-currency system of payment”, lets the player exchange that currency for cash prizes or equivalents, and “simulates casino-style gaming”. The text never asks whether the player paid, and it leaves the State Gaming Commission to decide what counts as a dual-currency system. Financial institutions, payment processors, geolocation providers, content suppliers, platform providers and media affiliates may not support such a game. The penalty is $10,000 to $100,000 per violation, plus loss of or ineligibility for a gaming license.

The 2026 wave: Indiana, Maine, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Iowa

Indiana. HB 1052 leaves sweepstakes poker out; trade press reported that an earlier draft’s $100,000 operator registration was dropped. The bill page did not load for us.

Maine. LD 2007 (SP 825) reaches anyone who operates, promotes or supports an online sweepstakes game. We read its signing and chapter in the legislature’s bill summary.

Tennessee. SB 2136 is enforced through the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act and followed the attorney general’s December 2025 notices.

Louisiana. HB 53 makes gambling offenses predicates for racketeering, which carries up to 50 years and $1 million. A law-firm analysis by InfoLawGroup on 27 July 2026 reads it with HB 883 as reaching suppliers, geolocation providers, affiliates and media partners.

Oklahoma. SB 1589 was vetoed on 7 May 2026, and the override on 14 May passed 34–10 in the Senate and 68–19 in the House. Trade press reports fines of $500 to $2,000 and imprisonment.

Iowa. Section 4 of SF 2289 lets the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission issue cease-and-desist orders and seek court injunctions against unlicensed illegal sweepstakes.

Bills that did not pass in 2026, as reported by trade press: Florida (SB 1580, HB 189), Maryland (HB 1226, HB 295), Massachusetts, Minnesota (SF 4474), Mississippi (SB 2104) and Virginia (HB 161). The District of Columbia’s B26–0656 would license online casinos and ban sweepstakes casinos together; it was pending when our sources were compiled.

Earlier laws: Montana, Connecticut, Nevada and New Jersey

Montana’s SB 555 adds online casinos “by whatever name known” to the internet gambling the state already prohibits; we know it only from SBC Americas. Connecticut’s SB 1235 bars sweepstakes organizers from offering real or simulated online casino games or sports betting; the General Assembly’s server refused our connection on 8 and 9 September 2026. Nevada’s SB 256 adds forfeiture and higher penalties for unlicensed operators, out-of-state ones included. New Jersey’s A5447 bans the “sweepstakes model of wagering”, and each day of a violation counts separately, as reported by iGaming Business and NEXT.io.

One New Jersey item needs care. On 27 July 2026 the websites of three New Jersey radio stations, WDHA, WRAT and WJRZ, ran a story saying state lawmakers had approved a sweepstakes casino ban and sent it to the governor. The story matches the 2025 coverage of A5447 and names Governor Murphy, who signed that bill in August 2025. We found no new 2026 New Jersey bill behind it; the ban it describes has been in force since 15 August 2025.

Attorney-general actions and lawsuits

Sweepstakes Ltd. is the name in the Florida report. The Stake.us terms we read name that platform’s operator as Sweepsteaks Limited, of Cyprus, and Stake.us and Stake.com are separate businesses. After the Illinois letters, Gambling Insider reported that Stake.us had put Illinois players on redemption only.

Brand exits by state

Sister sites often leave on the same day because one company runs them; who owns which brand explains why. Whole-platform closures are a different event; for VGW closing LuckyLand Slots everywhere, see LuckyLand Slots closing. Rows marked read come from the brand’s own documents.

A partial exit, with Gold Coins kept and Sweeps Coins stopped, is common; for a player who wants the prize side it works like a full one. If your site gives a window, the steps are on redeeming before a shutdown. Pragmatic Play, a game supplier, was reported to have left the US sweepstakes market on 2 September 2025.

Each brand’s own excluded-state list

Lists as each brand’s own documents print them, with the clause and the day we read it (for an archived copy, the capture date). Where a brand keeps two tiers, the whole site closed and Sweeps Coins play off, both are shown. A state missing from a list is not a statement that the brand serves it.

Where the documents contradict themselves. Stake.us’s help article 8513660, updated 23 July 2026, lists 20 states against 22 in its terms and in article 8570633. Mega Bonanza’s terms list 16 states, its help center 18. Global Poker’s terms v25.2 omit Indiana and Maine, which its newer rules add. Jackpota’s terms stop at 17 while its rules and help center add California. PlayFame has one help article listing 17 states and another listing Tennessee as available. Dara’s rules and terms list 15 states, its help center nine. High 5’s help page shows its Classic social casino still open in 13 of the 21 states, and its prose leaves out Washington, which its own table marks closed. WOW Vegas’s help center also bars registration from Idaho, Nevada and Washington. Rolla, Hello Millions and Spree cap prizes for New York residents although New York is on their excluded lists. Florida is on none of these lists, yet most of these brands cap prizes there, typically at US$5,000 per spin, day or entry period.

States that license real-money online casinos

A state-licensed online casino is a different transaction: a named state agency issues the license and publishes who holds it, and deposits are money, not coins. The sweepstakes documents we read name a sponsor company instead. We list a state only where its regulator’s own site said so.

The same day, the Michigan Gaming Control Board’s site returned errors, Connecticut’s state portal did not resolve, and the West Virginia Lottery front page covered lottery tickets only; Rhode Island and Nevada were not reached. Delaware and New Jersey are on most of the brand lists above, Pennsylvania on two. Deposits, withdrawals and ID checks at licensed sites are compared on real-money online casinos.

Crypto casinos and the United States

Offshore crypto casinos are licensed abroad, most often in Curaçao, not by a US state. Their own restricted-country lists say whether they take US players.

Our operator file holds 100 crypto casinos. For 38 we captured a restricted-country list from the operator’s own terms on 26 August 2026, some live and some from an archived copy. 32 of those 38 lists name the United States. Several of the other six are fragments, such as a one-line licence note or an anti-money-laundering page, and a list that does not name a country is not a statement that the site accepts players from it. For the other 62, Vave, our advertiser, among them, we captured no list and say nothing either way.

Stake.com, the crypto casino, states “No US Bets” on its licences page (archived copy, read 26 August 2026); Stake.us is a separate business. The two federal statutes cited by name on online gambling are the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, 31 U.S.C. § 5363, and the Wire Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1084; neither, read alone, settles what is lawful in a given state. Licences, coins and withdrawals are compared on crypto casinos vs sweepstakes.

What a block means, and what this page leaves out

A block is the operator’s decision, whether the reason is a law, a letter, a payment or geolocation vendor that declined the work, or caution. The documents tie eligibility to where you are and prizes to a verified identity. Stake.us pays no prize before its identification process is complete (13.1(e)) and wants mail-in requests posted from the state of the verified address (8.3(i)). LuckyLand voids purchases made from its excluded states and refunds them minus a fee of up to 10% (Terms of Service 3.2).

We give no ways around a block, here or anywhere else. We never describe reaching a service from a state its own terms exclude, never call a state safe, and never tell anyone a site is lawful where they live.

What is left does not depend on getting past a list. You can redeem what you hold inside your operator’s window. You can play where there is no prize currency, as several brands kept offering in California, according to reports; social casinos sorts out which brands are which. Where a state regulator licenses one, there is a state-licensed online casino. The full comparison is on sweepstakes casino alternatives, and every brand there should be checked against its own list above.

Where to get help

A ban, a closure or a frozen balance can push a player to chase play somewhere new. The National Council on Problem Gambling runs the national helpline, 1-800-GAMBLER. Where a row on this page says reported, we have not read the official text.