Pragmatic Play Exiting Sweepstakes Casino Market in United States
Posted on: September 2, 2025, 04:00h.
Last updated on: September 2, 2025, 04:00h.
- Pragmatic Play is exiting the sweepstakes market in the U.S.
- Sweepstakes casinos continue to face legal scrutiny
- Pragmatic was named as a defendant in the Los Angeles civil suit
Pragmatic Play is pulling out of the sweepstakes casino business in the United States.
Pragmatic Play, a Gibraltar-based online gaming software supplier that is licensed in more than 40 markets, has allowed its iGaming slots, internet table games, and live dealer casino products to be used by sweepstakes operators. That will no longer be the case.
Pragmatic Play has chosen to discontinue licensing its games to sweepstake operators in U.S. states where restrictions were not already in place, in light of regulatory developments and evolving legislation,” a Pragmatic Play release read. “We remain committed to the highest standards of compliance and will continue to engage transparently with regulators.”
Pragmatic Play’s exit comes after being named in a civil lawsuit in California filed by Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto against Stake.us, a popular online sweeps site that is best known for being promoted by celebrity Drake.
Problematic Platforms
Sweepstakes platforms are the subject of much controversy, litigation, and legal scrutiny. Numerous state attorneys general and gaming regulatory agencies have sent the platforms cease and desist letters, while some state and local prosecutors are taking legal action.
Sweeps sites claim they aren’t violating online gambling laws because they are social gaming platforms where purchases are never needed. The online websites and apps offer a secondary digital token — called sweeps coins or the like — that are supposedly provided for free in exchange for the purchase of more social gaming credits.
Sweeps coins can be redeemed — not “cashed out,” as one site recently told Casino.org, because they “have no cash value.” But they can be redeemed for cash. Sweeps critics say that fact qualifies their operations as gambling.
No sweepstakes casino is regulated by a state gaming commission in the U.S. The websites are not traditional iGaming, where a player gambles with money, but instead use sweeps coins on slots and table games. Legal online slots and table games are only regulated in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
By masking its real money gambling platform as ‘America’s Social Casino,’ Stake.us and Defendants create a predatory, dangerous gaming environment,” the L.A. city complaint filed in California Superior Court alleged.
“This deliberately misleading environment draws in Californians across demographics, exposes them to substantial risks of gambling addiction, jeopardizes their and their families’ financial and mental health, and otherwise presents the type of hazards that California’s anti-gambling laws are intended to prevent,” Soto’s office said.
Pragmatic Play Competitor Named
Pragmatic Play is not a supplier to any legal, regulated online casino in the U.S. That isn’t the case for Evolution, a Pragmatic competitor that was also named in the Los Angeles complaint.
Pragmatic and Evolution both provide live dealer casinos. Several of Evolution’s subsidiaries, including Big Time Gaming, Red Tiger, and NetEnt, were also named as defendants in the L.A. case. Evolution has since stopped allowing its products to be used on Stake.us in California.
Pragmatic’s voluntary withdrawal from the sweeps market could hint that the company is readying a drive to enter the regulated U.S. iGaming industry.
Last Comments ( 6 )
Sugar Rush1000 is one of the only slots that I actually made $1000's of dollars playing on a 40 cent bet. Now some fucking morons in CA are crying about some douchebags that can't control their gambling addiction. Fuck you CA. You have homeless people everywhere and even hand out needles to druggies, but god forbid someone loses a buck at a casino. Worry about all the fucking crime in your state and leave the gambling sites alone. Nobody got hurt playing a few slots online. Idiots.
All states will follow because they want THEIR CUT
Such bs...Pragmatic Play is one of the best providers in the world. I hope they'll leave some sweepstakes sites alone. If not then I guess it's time to start playing with a VPN.
I don't blame pragmatic play for pulling out. It's definitely some bs that someone wants to blame their gambling addiction on someone besides themselves. Come on grow up and claim your own faults in this. They clearly state on all their sites/platforms No purchase necessary. There is no one sitting there with a gun to your head FORCING you to make a purchase. Always some douche bag out there to fuck it up for those who have control and the ability to step away from the sites and keep it as something that is enjoyable.
All because someone took it on the chin a few too many times and also the states and government cant get their greedy paws on it.People with power trying to control the narrative like always.Such a waste of American tax dollars as usual.They have nothing better to do apparently.Go do something productive and leave Stake alone.Not their fault people are morons and lack impulse control.Go sue the people that put up the 5G towers and all those pedos.I know there's still a staggering amount in Cali.Worlds pedo hub!
All bs as usual from California! So sick of their crap.