After a brief change of course, NoLimitCoins, Fortune Wheelz, and Tao Fortune — all brands belonging to sweepstakes casino operator A1 Development LLC — have lowered their minimum age requirements from 21 years old to 18.
The adjustment appears to have been made within the past two months, because, as recently as Aug. 12, the three sweeps casinos belonging to A1 Development LLC listed 21 as the minimum age requirement in the footer section of their websites.
Today, those footer sections now say the minimum age is 18.
However, even though it was confirmed to Sweepsy that the minimum age is now 18, NoLimitCoins, Fortune Wheelz, and Tao Fortune all still contain a “21+” symbol at the bottom of their websites.
The sites went 21-plus for 5 months
NoLimitCoins, Fortune Wheelz, and Tao Fortune increased their minimum age requirement from 18 to 21 back in May. The two other sweeps casinos from A1 Development, Funrize Casino and FunzCity Casino, did not make that change, and they remain 18-plus today.
At the time, the change was likely made in an effort to ease responsible gaming pressure being thrown upon sweepstakes casinos as the entire industry faced a headwind of scrutiny in the 2025 legislative sessions. They weren’t the only sites to make that change, either.
VGW got the ball rolling in February when it told Sweepsy it wanted to “exceed industry standards” and set the new baromter by increasing its minimum age requirement from 18 to 21 on its sites — Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, and Global Poker. (It should be noted, however, that VGW’s sites weren’t the first sweeps casinos to be 21-plus. Other operators, including High 5 Casino, had already been 21-plus.)
The three A1 Development LLC sites followed suit in May, and B-Two Operations sites (such as McLuck, Hello Millions, and Mega Bonanza) also upped their requirement from 18 to 21 in June.
Today, the majority of sweeps casinos are 18-plus, but the chunk of sites that are 21-plus is significantly larger than it was even one year ago. All members of the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance, for instance, which includes VGW and B-Two Operations alongside the likes of Modo Casino and Pulsz Casino and Pulsz Bingo, are all 21-plus.
By increasing the minimum age requirement to the most standard age for gambling in the United States, these sweeps operators were trying to show lawmakers and regulators they were happy to abide by the standard regulatory responsible gaming framework and sacrifice any revenue from 18-20-year-old customers to prove that.
However, now NoLimitCoins, Tao Fortune, and Fortune Wheelz have left the 21-plus club.
What the return to 18 means
The three A1 Development LLC sites reducing their minimum age requirement back down to 18 from 21 could signal any number of things.
But two immediately stand out.
One: The effort to appease regulators and lawmakers has failed so far, and it may be no longer worth cutting out a chunk of the gaming audience for these three sites. It’d be one thing if the tone surrounding the debate over sweeps casinos was in any way softened by these operators choosing to switch to 21-plus, but it really hasn’t.
Sweeps ban bills have passed in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Montana, and California this year, and a similar bill strengthening enforcement capabilities passed in Nevada. Outside legislation action, states including Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arizona, Tennessee, West Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania have sent cease-and-desist orders to sweeps operators in 2025.
Yes, bills have failed to gain traction in some states — including Florida, Illinois, Texas, Ohio, and Massachusetts — but no industry chatter suggests that’s due to sweeps operators bumping up their minimum age requirement from 18 to 21. Rather, it’s mostly due to legislative priorities falling elsewhere or lawmakers balking at real-money iGaming components of the bills.
In other words, perhaps this is something along the lines of: OK, us switching to 21-plus is having no effect? Nevermind then.
Or, two: This is a revenue play, as operators prepare for life without revenue from California.
With Assembly Bill 831 passing in California and Gov. Gavin Newsom not expected to veto, sweeps casinos will officially become illegal in California on Jan. 1, 2026.
That is a huge blow to the industry.
A recent analysis conducted by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming projected 17.3% of 2025 sweeps casino revenue would come from California. That same analysis estimated U.S. sweepstakes casino revenue would reach $4.6 billion in 2025.
But once it became evident AB831 was going to pass, EKG adjusted its forecast, with its revised projection pegging 2025 revenue at $4 billion and dropping more to $3.6 billion in 2026.
So … operators are reacting accordingly.
Some have begun reopening access in states that were previously restricted, likely to counterbalance the looming loss of California players. One example is Baba Casino, which brought its sweeps platform back online in six states in September.
Others, like Vivaro.us, are being forced to shut down.
Thinking along these lines, perhaps NoLimitCoins, Fortune Wheelz, and Tao Fortune are reopening for 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds to maximize revenue from all states where it’s active in order to, in a small way, offset the loss of California.
Pulsz executive: ‘We believe’ a limit of 21 ‘is where it should be’
During last week’s Online Social Games Expo, which the SGLA organized in response to being shut out of a discussion of the future of sweeps gaming at this week’s Global Gaming Expo, which only featured noted opponents of sweeps casinos, panelists discussed how all SGLA members are 21-plus platforms.
Paul Foster, director of Yellow Social Interactive, which runs Pulsz Casino and Pulsz Bingo, elaborated on why they’re choosing 21-plus over 18-plus.
“We believe that is where it should be,” Foster said. “We really want to focus on that. If our critics have sites themselves and they’re not doing it, that’s up to them. But we want to be the best and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“We want adults to have good entertainment and to enjoy themselves. If you’re going to make a purchase, we want to know that you’re above 21, not just that you have a credit card. We really do push this very hard.”
