Share 
State of Play’s TL;DR
- Indiana’s sweepstakes casino ban took effect on July 1, and Maine is set to follow in mid-July, bringing the total number of states with outright bans to eight.
- At the same time, lawsuits and California’s expanded liability rules are putting fresh pressure not just on operators but also on the vendors that power geolocation, payments, KYC, and game content.
Indiana’s HB 1052 became effective on July 1, 2026, making Indiana the seventh state to prohibit dual-currency sweepstakes casinos outright. Maine’s LD 2007 takes effect in mid-July, which would bring the total to eight states with outright bans.
California has already taken a broader approach. AB 831 took effect on Jan. 1 and extends liability beyond operators to payment processors, geolocation providers, gaming-content suppliers, platform providers, and media affiliates. The law carries a maximum fine of $25,000 per violation and up to one year in county jail for willful violations.
That wider enforcement theory is already showing up in court. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Aug. 29, 2025, lawsuit named Stake.us and related entities, but also listed vendors including Veriff, Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw Gaming, Evolution, Big Time Gaming, Red Tiger, and NetEnt. Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said Stake.us was operating “under the moniker of ‘America’s Social Casino’ and, despite claims that it is just a game, Stake.us is a rogue and real money gambling racket with destructive repercussions for its players.”
A second major case arrived on March 4, when Baltimore sued six sweepstakes operators. Discovery there could expose vendor contracts, RNG certification records, geolocation agreements, and payment-processing terms.
Sweeps still a billion-dollar industry
GeoComply is the dominant geolocation supplier in the sector. No major US sweepstakes casino operator publicly names its identity-verification or KYC vendor in public-facing documents as of June. Trustly is described as the open-banking rail behind most of the sweeps companies and was named in the August 2025 California complaint against VGW and co-defendants.
Game suppliers are also reacting to the legal climate. Pragmatic Play pulled its content from the US sweepstakes market on Sept, 2, 2025, citing regulatory developments and evolving legislation. Evolution and Hacksaw Gaming also pulled content from California as the AB 831 deadline approached.
The market remains large, which helps explain the intensity of the fight. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimated the segment at roughly $3.1 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2022 and projected $11 billion in 2025. KPMG modeled 2026 revenues anywhere from $4.6 billion to $14.3 billion, according to iGaming Tech.
But the direction of travel is clear: More states are restricting access, and lawsuits are testing how far liability can extend beyond the operator itself. The open question is not only which platforms can keep serving US users but which vendors will decide the legal exposure is no longer worth it.
That makes 2026 a pivotal year for the sweepstakes model.
Based on reporting by Casey Mitchell for iGaming Tech.
