Best Online Casino Stories of the Week: News Roundup
Posted on: October 10, 2025, 08:27h.
Last updated on: October 10, 2025, 09:14h.
- LVS drops its digital arm
- Montana gets tough on online gambling
US casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp’s (LVS) flirtation with online gambling ended this week, as the company pulled the plug on its digital arm, Sands Digital Services (SDS).
LVS President and COO Patrick Dumont reportedly told the several hundred employees affected by the closure that the unit “was no longer aligned with the company’s core long-term objectives.”
Shifting Sands
The real wonder is that LVS ever got involved in the online space at all. The company’s late founder, chairman, and CEO, Sheldon Adelson, a Republican megadonor, was virulently opposed to the concept of legal internet gaming in the US, once vowing he would spend “whatever it takes” to banish it from the land.
After Adelson’s death in 2021, his successor, Rob Goldstein, was prepared to explore a new strategic direction for the company, establishing SDS in 2022 to stream live dealer content to states where it was legal.
The project failed to move the dial for an operator that makes most of its money from its land-based casinos in Macau and Singapore.
Banner Montana
Were Adelson alive today, he would find kindred spirits in the Montana legislature, which this week hardened its prohibition on online gambling by making it a felony. New laws that came into effect on Wednesday mean that anyone offering such services to state residents could face up to 10 years in prison.
Montana’s tough stance appears to be a reaction to the prevalence of online sweepstakes sites and prediction market platforms. However, leading prediction market platform Kalshi appears to be staying put. Its CEO Tarek Mansour has previously said he is not concerned about state gambling laws because the company is regulated at a federal level.
Montana is one of only a few states where the act of gambling online as a player is also illegal – theoretically, at least. No one has ever been prosecuted for doing so.
Unlucky 13
Finally, to another place where online gambling is illegal, Japan, and the disturbing news that a 13-year-old boy has been referred to a child behavioral center after making 7,000 visits to an online casino.
The boy confessed that he used a smartphone given to him by his parents to place bets, saying he first used his allowance and later began spending his parents’ money.
A recent survey by Japan’s National Police Agency found that around 3.37 million Japanese had accessed an offshore online casino, spending an estimated ¥1.2 trillion (US$8.8 billion) in the process.
The study found some 40% of users said they were unaware that accessing online casinos was against the law in Japan.
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