Another sweepstakes casino is calling it quits in the United States.
Citing “increasing regulatory uncertainty surrounding sweepstakes casinos in the United States” in 2025, Vivaro.us has informed its players it will “permanently close operations” on Oct. 1.
“We strongly encourage you to log in and redeem your Sweeps Coins before the September 30 deadline,” a message greeting players on the Vivaro.us homepage reads.
Vivaro.us posted this shutdown message near the start of September. It’s not the first sweepstakes casino to pull the plug in the U.S. this year. But it is the first to publicly attribute that exit to the hotbed of regulatory and legal scrutiny the sweeps industry has faced in 2025. The move signals smaller sweepstakes casinos may face the harshest fallout as states crack down on the industry.
Timeline of the Vivaro.us shutdown
Here are further details of the Vivaro.us closure:
- Players cannot currently play any games, as Vivaro.us has “discontinued working with [its] game providers.”
- Players cannot currently initiate any Gold Coin package purchases and they also cannot spin the Daily Wheel, a promotion that offered daily bonuses.
- Players cannot currently be awarded any promotional bonuses or acquire Sweeps Coins via alternative modes of entry, such as mail-in requests.
So, in other words, there is no possible way to play games, get bonuses, or acquire Sweeps Coins anymore at Vivaro.us. However, players do have until the end of Sept. 30 to enact redemptions with what Sweeps Coins currently in their account.
Here are further details on those potential redemptions:
- Only “fully verified users” can submit redemption requests. The verification system is no longer up and running, so any players with Sweeps Coin balances whose accounts are not fully verified will lose their digital currency.
- Because of unusually high request volumes, processing may take longer than normal.
- Vivaro.us states: “We aim to process and approve all eligible redemptions before October 1, 2025, when the website and all services will permanently close.” However, that doesn’t appear to be a guarantee that all redemptions will be processed.
- The redemption rules stipulated in the terms and conditions still apply, so a player must have a minimum of 100 Sweeps Coins to submit a redemption request, players can only redeem a maximum of 10,000 Sweeps Coins per day, and players can have only one redemption request processed per 24-hour period.
“Important: After October 1, 2025, there will be no customer support, and no further redemptions allowed,” the site message concludes. “We are deeply grateful to our community for being part of this journey with us.”
Why cease operations now?
Vivaro.us is owned by SWS Operations, Inc., a company coincidentally incorporated in the state — California — that has become the focal point of the “increasing regulatory uncertainty surrounding sweepstakes casinos” Vivaro.us referenced.
The California Legislature last Friday passed Assembly Bill 831, which bans sweeps casinos and criminalizes any entities that “knowingly and willfully” support them. It’s now headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom, and he’s expected to approve.
Beyond that, on Aug. 28, California took a major step by filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Sweepsteaks Ltd., the parent company of Stake.us, streaming platform Kick, and several major game developers, including:
- Big Time Gaming
- Evolution
- Hacksaw Gaming
- NetEnt
- No Limit City
- Pragmatic Play
- Red Tiger Gaming
This lawsuit is notable because it’s the first time a state has directly sued sweeps operators — and that means these proceedings carry more weight, higher chances of success, and more significant penalties than the citizen-driven, class action lawsuits you see appearing against various sweeps casinos right now.
As a result, this California lawsuit has prompted swift action from industry partners.
Pragmatic Play has withdrawn from U.S. sweepstakes casinos. Playtech has ended its sweepstakes ties in California. Eleven vendors have left Stake.us within the state. Skywind has exited WOW Vegas nationwide. And more.
Then, Louisiana, already known for its aggressive stance on sweepstakes after issuing cease-and-desist letters to more than 30 in June, recently escalated matters further. The Louisiana Department of Revenue sued VGW and MW Services Limited (WOW Vegas), accusing them of failing to pay $44 million in sales taxes, along with interest and penalties.
And these recent actions are on top of everything else that has impacted the sweeps gaming industry in 2025. Some highlights (or lowlights, depending on who you ask):
- Governors in Montana, Connecticut, and New Jersey signed bills banning sweeps casinos from operating in their states.
- Nevada passed a bill strengthening enforcement capabilities against sweeps casinos.
- Various states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Arizona, Maryland, and New York, have issued a bevy of cease-and-desists to sweeps operators. New York also passed a sweeps ban bill, but Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to take action. West Virginia’s Attorney General also issued various subpoenas and cease-and-desists to sweeps operators.
- Sweeps ban bills are also active in Ohio and Massachusetts, although their odds of success feel a bit steep considering both bills would also legalize real-money iGaming, and that movement has seen significant resistance (including from Ohio’s governor).
The smaller the operator, the larger the impact
There have been several other sweeps casino shutdowns in 2025.
DingDingDing abruptly ceased operations in April. SweepSlots pulled its platform offline in June (and, in a terrible look for optics, did so a couple weeks after announcing it was launching a memecoin called $SWEEPSLOTS). There have been others, too.
None have publicly called out reasons for their shutdowns. Some — notably DingDingDing and SweepSlots — have come under questionable circumstances.
So Vivaro.us specifically listing “increasing regulatory uncertainty surrounding sweepstakes casinos in the United States” as its reason for pulling out of the U.S. is noteworthy.
It’s a sign that the U.S. sweeps gaming market tightening is likely going to most significantly affect the smaller operators. The ones that won’t be able to recover from losing up to 20% of their U.S. revenue with California off the table, if we use a recent Eilers & Krejcik Gaming market analysis as a basis.
VGW? B-Two Operations? They’ll be fine.
The smaller single-shop operators trying to carve out a niche in sweeps gaming? As Vivaro.us shows with its shutdown, they’re the ones who may find themselves on the chopping block.
