Millions of Americans got hooked on online gambling sites that swore up and down they were totally legal.
Now Florida’s top law enforcement officer just told the biggest ones exactly where to go.
Attorney General James Uthmeier taught the operators of online casinos – and the payment processors bankrolling them too – a tough lesson about sweepstakes.
The Scam They Called a Sweepstakes
Here’s how the con worked.
You couldn’t technically “buy” gambling credits.
Instead, you bought packages of worthless “Gold Coins” – and the company threw in bonus “Sweeps Coins” or “Stake Cash” for free.
Then you used those bonus coins to play slots, blackjack, roulette, and poker – and cashed out your winnings for real dollars, gift cards, or cryptocurrency.
The companies insisted this made them sweepstakes, not casinos.
“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,” Uthmeier said Tuesday.
He’s right, and Florida law has always made this clear.
Chapter 849 of the Florida Statutes prohibits gambling unless expressly licensed – and none of these companies ever applied for a Florida gaming license.
The lawsuits seek permanent injunctions, civil penalties, disgorgement of profits, and full recovery of every dollar Floridians lost under state gambling recovery laws.
The filings also go after the financial plumbing – payment processors Yodlee, Trustly, and Worldpay – the companies that kept the money flowing in and out.
A $10 Billion Industry Built on a Legal Fiction
This isn’t some niche internet scam.
Americans spent an estimated $8.5 to $10.6 billion on sweepstakes casino Gold Coins in 2024 alone – surpassing the entire regulated US iGaming market for the first time.
VGW, the Australian company behind Chumba Casino, LuckyLand, and Global Poker, reported $2.8 billion in revenue in a single year.
They built all of it on a loophole they invented and sold to regulators as a sweepstakes.
For years, it worked.
Then states started looking closer – and what they found was a slot machine with a fake label slapped on it.
Fourteen states have now banned these platforms outright – and most of them did it with a letter.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2090064704659976376?s=20
A cease-and-desist to 26 operators here, a cease-and-desist to 40 operators there.
The companies largely complied, packed up, and moved to the next state.
Florida isn’t sending letters.
Florida is filing lawsuits, going after the payment processors, and demanding every dollar back that Floridians ever lost.
More than 100 class action lawsuits have been filed nationwide against these operators, with VGW alone facing more than 20 separate suits.
Private plaintiffs have been fighting this battle for years.
Uthmeier just brought the state of Florida into the fight – and that changes everything.
Florida Has Been Watching This Longer Than You Know
Uthmeier didn’t wake up Tuesday and decide to file these lawsuits.
His office spent months building this case.
In late 2025, he issued subpoenas to multiple sweepstakes operators.
In early 2026, he launched “Operation Sunset Stakes” – raiding illegal gambling businesses across Lee and Collier counties, seizing hundreds of slot machines and nearly $300,000 in cash.
He warned them.
They kept operating.
Now he’s going after the entire financial infrastructure that keeps them alive.
Florida has also already been a battleground for these companies at the civil level.
In the Knapp v. VGW Holdings case filed in 2024, a Florida federal court refused to dismiss payment processor WorldPay from the lawsuit – a ruling legal experts called a warning shot to every bank and processor working with sweepstakes operators.
Uthmeier just escalated that warning to a full state prosecution.
This Is About Your Grandparents and Your Kids
Uthmeier’s complaint specifically calls out two groups the companies were targeting: minors and seniors.
These platforms accept credit cards and Apple Pay.
They run 24/7.
They use social media influencers to recruit players.
They advertise themselves as “100% safe” and “100% legal” – language the state calls flat-out deceptive.
They are deliberately designed to look and feel like entertainment rather than gambling, because the moment they look like gambling, their entire legal argument collapses.
https://twitter.com/OffThePress1/status/2090127370871078988?s=20
VGW – the company behind Chumba Casino – marketed its games as free social entertainment while building a system that funneled real money out of players’ accounts through compulsive play.
These companies incorporated in Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, and Australia for a reason: distance from American courts makes enforcement complicated.
Florida just made it a lot less complicated.
And here’s what a Florida win actually means.
When Uthmeier gets his injunction, these companies lose access to one of the last major states where they can still operate legally.
When he gets disgorgement, Floridians get their money back – not a coupon, not a settlement check for $11.50 – every dollar, under Florida’s gambling recovery statutes.
And when those payment processors get named in the lawsuit, every bank and processor in America that works with sweepstakes casinos gets a very clear message about what’s coming next.
Remember that name.
Sources:
- Florida Voice News, “Florida AG files lawsuits against popular online casinos, claiming deceptive ‘sweepstakes’ model,” Florida Voice News, August 19, 2026.
- Local 10 News, “Florida sues online casinos with ‘dual-currency model’,” Local 10 News, August 19, 2026.
- Venable LLP, “States Escalate Crackdown on Sweepstakes Casinos and Supporting Companies,” Venable LLP, May 22, 2026.
- Gambling Insider, “US Sweepstakes Casinos in 2025: Market Contraction Amid Rising Legal & Regulatory Pressure,” January 6, 2026.
- Lines.com, “Sweepstakes Casinos by State 2026: Legality Map,” July 2026.
- iGaming Business, “Gaming attorneys point to Florida lawsuit as harbinger of industry’s fight against sweepstakes,” January 30, 2025.
- Casino.org, “Florida Illegal Gambling Crackdown Continues With ‘Operation Sunset Stakes’,” June 12, 2026.
