Based on a recent industry analysis, Sweepsy has determined that four more sweepstakes casinos have pulled out of California, bringing the total number of early operator exits ahead of the state’s sweeps casino ban going into effect on Jan. 1, 2026 to nine.
The newest additions to the California exodus are:
- TheBoss.Casino
- Grand Vault Casino
- CosmoSlots
- LuckySlots
Those four sites join High 5 Casino, Carnival Citi, Dara Casino, Ruby Sweeps, and SweepsUSA as the other sweepstakes casinos that we know have already shut down in California surrounding Assembly Bill 831, which bans sweeps casinos, passing in September and Gov. Gavin Newsom signing it into law earlier this month.
Updates to the terms and conditions, access blocked
Sweepsy determined TheBoss.Casino, Grand Vault Casino, and CosmoSlots made their early California exits based on analysis of their most recent terms and conditions, and comparing them to previous versions.
TheBoss.Casino already boasted one of the industry’s more robust excluded territories lists, even before the California addition. Jurisdictions excluded from access to TheBoss.Casino are blocked for both social gaming (with Gold Coins) and sweepstakes gaming (with Sweeps Coins), with a full platform shutdown. Here’s the 22-market list as it currently stands:
- Arkansas
- California
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New York
- New Jersey
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- Washington
The California departure for Grand Vault is also a full platform shutdown, as its terms and conditions say players residing in the excluded territories cannot access standard play (Gold Coins) or promotional play (Sweeps Coins). Its more modest, 12-market list is as follows:
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Montana
- New York
- New Jersey
- Nevada
- Washington
It’s the same, full-platform shutdown story for CosmoSlots, whose nine-market excluded list is currently:
- Washington
- Rhode Island
- Montana
- Delaware
- New York
- Connecticut
- New Jersey
- California
- Michigan
LuckySlots has not as of yet added California to its excluded list in its terms and conditions. However, Sweepsy attempted to access this sweepstakes casino while using a Los Angeles IP address, and we received the following blocked access message:
“Your access has been restricted based on your IP location.”
We verified that this blocked access message wasn’t an error by attempting to access the site from an IP address in New Jersey, a market that is listed in its excluded lists, and we received the same message. Meanwhile, we were able to access the sites from IP addresses in North Carolina and Massachusetts, which have no current bans on sweepstakes casinos, with no problems.
The excluded list for LuckySlots is currently:
- Connecticut
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Washington
- West Virginia
Not a surprise for smaller operators
Most of the largest operators of sweeps casinos, such as VGW, B-Two Operations (McLuck, Hello Millions, SpinBlitz, Mega Bonanza, PlayFame, Jackpota), ARB Interactive (Modo Casino), Yellow Social Interactive (Pulsz Casino, Pulsz Bingo), and A1 Development LLC (NoLimitCoins, Tao Fortune, FunzCity, Fortune Wheelz, Funrize, Storm Rush), are at last check still offering their platforms in California and haven’t yet given indications of plans regarding their exit strategy.
And there isn’t necessarily a significant rush. Yes, Newsom signed AB831, which bans sweepstakes casinos and criminalizes any entity that supports them, into law on Oct. 12, but the bill’s effective date isn’t until Jan. 1, 2026.
So, technically, operators can remain in California until that time.
The operators that have already left California, then, are doing so out of an abundance of caution. For smaller sites, like most of the nine that have exited California so far, there’s a legitimate argument for leaving early. These aren’t always massive, financially strapped companies, and they could face a disastrous financial problem if anything slipped through the cracks and they were offering illegal gaming options in 2026.
Staying active until the 11th hour is likely less daunting for these larger companies, though. That’s apparently the case with WOW Vegas, as Sweepsy last week learned that WOW Vegas officials plan to keep their sweepstakes casino live and operational in California up until the end of 2025.
