New York's sweepstakes casino market did not fade out through quiet geofencing. The major brands left in spring 2025, and on December 5, 2025 the state banned dual-currency sweepstakes casinos outright with S5935-A, which took effect the day it was signed.
The exits, brand by brand
Pulsz and its sister site Pulsz Bingo went first, leaving New York in late March 2025. High 5 Casino followed on April 10. McLuck, Hello Millions and PlayFame, all run by B-Two Operations, left on April 30.
VGW followed in June. It switched off Sweeps Coins play at Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots and Global Poker on June 2, 2025 and kept redemptions open until August 1, 2025, which gave players two months to cash out eligible balances.
Then came the law
S5935-A, Chapter 605 of the Laws of 2025, turned the exits into a legal requirement. It was signed on December 5, 2025 and took effect immediately. It bans online casino-style games that pair a purchasable play currency with a currency that can be redeemed for cash or prizes.
Penalties run from $10,000 to $100,000 per violation, and the law covers more than operators. Payment processors, geolocation providers, suppliers and media affiliates that support these games for New York players are also in scope.
That reach matters for publishers as well as operators: a site that promotes sweepstakes casinos to New York residents can fall under the media-affiliate provision.
Why operators left before the ban
Operators rarely explain an exit in detail. The New York pattern matches what happened in other states, though: brands leave once the legal risk outweighs the revenue, and they tend to leave in clusters once one major name goes. By the time the ban passed, the big brands had been gone for months.
The same brands had shown that pattern elsewhere in 2025. McLuck and Hello Millions left Maryland in February, weeks after the state lottery and gaming regulator sent cease-and-desist letters to sweepstakes operators, and Stake.us, High 5 Casino, McLuck and Hello Millions left West Virginia that month after its Attorney General subpoenaed 47 sweepstakes operators.
New York was not alone
New York's ban was one of several passed in 2025. Montana, Connecticut and Nevada bans took effect on October 1, 2025, and New Jersey's in August 2025. California's followed on January 1, 2026, and Indiana, Maine, Tennessee and Louisiana have passed their own since. Oklahoma's takes effect on November 1, 2026.
Where New York stands now
New York has no licensed online casinos, though online sports betting has been legal since 2022. For sweepstakes players, no site can legally offer Sweeps Coins play in the state.
Enforcement has moved on too. On September 9, 2026, VGW paid $8 million to settle with Attorney General Letitia James. It is permanently barred from cash-redeemable sweepstakes in New York and must honor Sweeps Coins redemption claims filed within a year of August 31, 2026, so players with old VGW balances have until August 31, 2027. Our New York ban explainer covers the settlement in more detail.
Updated September 23, 2026: This article has been rewritten. The original version said operators were geofencing New York rather than waiting for definitive enforcement. It was published seven weeks after S5935-A had already banned dual-currency sweepstakes casinos in the state.
