Florida AG Sues Stake, VGW and Payment Firms Over Sweepstakes Casinos

Florida’s top prosecutor has sued sweepstakes casino operators Stake and VGW, along with several payment processors that handle transactions on their platforms, escalating a crackdown that began with subpoenas earlier this year. Attorney General James Uthmeier filed two complaints in Hillsborough County Circuit Court alleging that Stake.us and VGW’s suite of games — including Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, LuckyLand Casino and Global Poker — amount to illegal online gambling under Florida law.

The lawsuits also name payment companies Worldpay, Trustly, Praxis and Breeze Labs, alleging they facilitated transactions tied to the platforms. Uthmeier is seeking permanent injunctions to bar the companies from operating in or soliciting Florida customers, along with forfeiture, disgorgement, restitution and civil penalties under the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

“It is a casino, and it is illegal”

“These so-called ‘sweepstakes’ and ‘social casinos’ are illegal online gambling operations,” Uthmeier said in a statement. “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.” He added that the companies “have been preying on Floridians, including minors and seniors, with deceptive marketing and 24/7 access, while dodging our state’s licensing, taxation, and consumer-protection requirements.”

Both complaints target the dual-currency model common to sweepstakes platforms, in which customers buy packages of non-redeemable virtual coins and receive a secondary currency that can be used to play slots, blackjack, roulette or poker. Once redemption thresholds are met, that secondary currency can be converted into cash, cryptocurrency or gift cards. Florida alleges the structure is designed to disguise what functions as real-money gambling while operators avoid licensing and tax obligations.

Payment processors drawn into the fight

By naming Worldpay, Trustly, Praxis and Breeze Labs as defendants, Florida is broadening its enforcement theory beyond the operators themselves to the infrastructure that moves money into the platforms. Because processors typically service many operators across the industry, a successful case could make payment companies more cautious about working with sweepstakes platforms generally — a strategy that may prove more effective than chasing offshore operators directly, since processors tend to have a substantial U.S. footprint and physical assets subject to state jurisdiction.

The lawsuits follow subpoenas Uthmeier’s office issued to sweepstakes operators in January, when he said his office was open to meeting with companies to better understand how the platforms worked. That posture has since hardened considerably, with the office now explicitly labelling the model illegal gambling.

Part of a wider U.S. squeeze on sweepstakes casinos

Florida’s action lands amid a broader tightening of state-level scrutiny of sweepstakes casinos across the United States. Five states passed bans on the model last year, and Indiana, Maine, Tennessee and Louisiana have enacted their own bans this year. Oklahoma’s ban is due to take effect November 1, while Iowa has given regulators expanded authority to pursue illegal operators.

Florida lawmakers themselves failed to pass several bills this year that would have strengthened the state’s illegal gambling statutes, including measures on internet gambling penalties and enforcement powers, leaving the Attorney General’s office to pursue the issue through litigation instead.

The case underscores a divide in how North American jurisdictions treat social and sweepstakes-style gaming compared with regulated markets such as Ontario, where operators must hold an iGaming Ontario licence, offer responsible-gambling tools like deposit limits and self-exclusion, and submit to AGCO oversight. Ontario players concerned about their gambling habits can access free, confidential support through ConnexOntario at any time.