Free-to-play sweepstakes casinos feature some of the same slots you’ll find at real-money online casinos, but there are exceptions, like Play’n GO, which affirmed today that it will never distribute its games to companies using that model. Play’n GO is the company behind franchises like Rich Wilde and Rise of Olympus, which have become staples for most regulated real-money operators in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut, and Delaware.
CEO Johan Törnqvist called the company’s commitment to regulated markets “absolute” and said that the company will never supply games to sweepstakes casinos.
Sweepstakes casinos are play-money social casinos that use federal sweepstakes law and a dual-currency system to award cash prizes while avoiding legal definitions of gambling. As efforts to expand regulated iGaming to new states have largely fizzled out since 2021, sweepstakes casinos have soared in popularity despite legal and regulatory pushback in some states.
Casino game suppliers have taken a range of stances in response. Some, especially those already serving other types of social casinos, have embraced the trend. Sweepstakes casinos sometimes even offer games that are unavailable at US real-money casinos, as their developers haven’t sought out the necessary suppliers’ licenses for real-money gaming, which can be a long and expensive process.
Perhaps the most diametrically-opposed supplier to Play’n GO is High 5 Gaming, which is both a slots supplier to the real-money industry and sweepstakes casino operator in its own right. Having one foot in each world landed it in some trouble with the gaming regulator in Connecticut, which suspended its suppliers’ license and demanded it cease its sweepstakes business in the state.
Political position leaves Play’n GO little choice
Play’n GO’s hardline stance on sweepstakes casinos may have been all but inevitable, given who it has as its Head of Government Affairs.
Shawn Fluharty holds that role, but also two others: He holds office in West Virginia as the Delegate for the state’s 3rd district, and the President of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS).
NCLGS has emerged as one of the political forces behind the sweeps pushback. Its Model iGaming Legislation, drafted last year, contains a ban on the sweepstakes model as part of its framework for regulated real-money online casino gambling.
The model legislation is intended as a template for new states looking to legalize online casinos. The current regulatory situation in the US is a patchwork, although states have borrowed ideas from one another. One of the goals of NCLGS is to move toward the standardization of regulations across the country.
That advocacy for the abolition of unregulated gambling alternatives would put Fluharty and Play’n GO in an awkward position if the company were working with those operators in the meantime.
Indeed, the release from Play’n GO quotes Fluharty even more extensively than its CEO. He had a warning to competitors choosing a different tack:
Regulators across the US in particular are rightfully beginning to crack down on these unregulated operations. And I can say with confidence that regulators have long memories – anyone doing business with sweepstakes casinos today will find it very difficult to do business in a future regulated market.
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