Social gaming company PLAYSTUDIOS is on the verge of launching an online sweepstakes platform with casino-style games in parts of the United States. Ahead of that expansion, CEO Andrew Pascal addressed questions about legal and regulatory issues in the company’s most recent investor presentation.
Pascal stated that the legal and regulatory parameters will guide PLAYSTUDIOS’ marketing spend for its sweepstakes platform and that the company is going to rely on its proprietary game content to differentiate its platform. Pascal also claimed that PLAYSTUDIOS wants to help strengthen a positive narrative around sweepstakes gaming.
PLAYSTUDIOS is a member of the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance, alongside sweeps operators such as VGW (Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, Global Poker) and ARB Interactive (Modo.us).
‘We’re going to differentiate ourselves from our peers’
PLAYSTUDIOS has been creating gaming content for social platforms since 2011, with initial operations emanating from offices in California, Nevada, and Texas. That portfolio is set to expand significantly, according to Pascal.
“We expect to be live [with the sweepstakes website] across the full footprint of qualified US states later this year,” Pascal said during the company’s Aug. 4, 2025, Q2 earnings call.
Pascal spoke to the competitive nature of the market that PLAYSTUDIOS is entering. At the same time, he attributed the content that PLAYSTUDIOS already has in-house to the company’s belief that it can gain significant market share.
“One of the things that we’re investing in is leveraging our vast library of proprietary game content that we have, as well as leveraging a lot of the social mechanics and features that we know add progression and kind of a feature richness that drives deeper engagement and makes for a more compelling experience,” Pascal explained. “We think that as we come into the market and we start to introduce more of our own proprietary content, we’re going to further differentiate ourselves from our peers and make the case for how and why people should spend more of their time and money with our Sweepstakes alternatives as opposed to what else is out there in the market.”
That market is seeing uncertainty, given the efforts in multiple US states to restrict sweepstakes gaming. Pascal addressed that issue as well.
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Legal developments will determine market spend
Sweeps casinos have been banned so far in 2025 in Montana, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. California’s legislature is considering a similar bill. Cease-and-desist letters have also been issued in states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Maryland, and Arizona.
Pascal suggested that PLAYSTUDIOS will adjust its approach as these legal developments play out.
“Our approach is probably not all that different from most everybody else in the space, which is that we look at the market overall on a state-by-state basis,” Pascal said. “We go deep into really qualifying what the regulatory and legal risks are within each of those different markets. What are the ongoing or active efforts both in support and opposition of the sweepstakes model within those markets? Then we allow that to inform where it is that we’re ultimately going to be deploying our capital and how aggressively we get in and across these different markets
“To the extent a market that we think is relatively reliable ends up becoming higher risk, then, of course, we immediately start to moderate our spend in that market. It’s dynamic and it will be actively managed.”
‘Bring more credibility and legitimacy to this opportunity’
Pascal alluded to PLAYSTUDIOS’ desire to assist in curtailing further restrictions on sweepstakes casinos, too.
“What I would also say is that we intend to be very active in trying to help bring more credibility and legitimacy to this opportunity,” Pascal said. “So I think that there’s a position that we can take as we come into the market, which is that we’re employing sweepstakes mechanics as a promotional tool, the way that they are intended. I think that there’s a lot that we intend to do to try and legitimize just this opportunity overall and make the case for how and why it should be embraced and supported as opposed to opposed.”
Players in multiple parts of the US will have access to PLAYSTUDIOS’ games with a sweepstakes element before 2025 ends. Legal developments in those states will affect how robust those operations are.
