157 Sweepstakes iGaming products and why the U.S. is tightening the screws on the model

Sweepstakes casinos sit in a strange middle ground: players buy Gold Coins, get Sweeps Coins for free, and redeem those for prizes, which is why the legality depends on how each state treats the dual-currency setup. For PSPs, acquirers, and banks, the important part is that the model has moved from a loophole people argued about to a target regulators are naming directly.

1. The sweepstakes casino model is built on a dual-currency structure. Players purchase Gold Coins, while the free Sweeps Coins can be exchanged for prizes. On paper, that means there is no payment for a chance to win, and in practice that distinction is what state laws keep testing.
2. The segment exists almost exclusively in the U.S., where licensed online casinos are allowed in only seven states. It started in 2012 with Chumba Casino from VGW and grew into a multibillion-dollar segment, helped along by white-label platforms that produced dozens of clone brands.
3. Since 2025, states have moved against the model. By September 2026, sweepstakes gaming had been banned in 14 states: California, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Idaho, Michigan, and Washington. New laws also treat the dual-currency structure itself as gambling and extend liability to platforms and affiliates.
4. That leaves 26 states still open. For payment providers, the practical takeaway is simple: the model is not a general U.S. opportunity; it is a state-by-state exposure question, and the legal frame is getting narrower rather than broader.
5. The source also lists 157 sweepstakes iGaming products, led by McLuck, High 5 Casino, Mega Bonanza, Funrize, Pulsz, Hello Millions, NoLimit Coins, Jackpota, The Money Factory, and Legendz. The breadth of that list is the point: this is no longer a niche experiment, but a crowded category with enough volume to matter for payment routing, merchant underwriting, and jurisdiction screening.

For high-risk PSPs, the useful read is that sweepstakes is not just another gaming sub-vertical. It sits on a legal theory that several U.S. states are now explicitly rewriting, and the enforcement perimeter includes the platform layer and affiliates, not only the brand at the front end.