With California poised to go off-limits for online sweepstakes casinos operating in the United States, one notable operator has made a sweeping change to its list of excluded jurisdictions, reopening access to players in six states.
Baba Casino on Wednesday removed Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas from its excluded territories — shrinking that list from 23 states to 17 states.
That 17-state list is still among the larger in the industry, though, so Baba Casino — part of the minority of sweeps casinos that are 21-plus instead of 18-plus — is still among the more cautious operators out there, despite this week’s move.
Baba Casino’s current excluded list is as follows:
- Idaho
- Michigan
- Nevada
- Washington
- Nebraska
- Hawaii
- Mississippi
- New York
- North Dakota
- Vermont
- Connecticut
- Montana
- Delaware
- West Virginia
- Maryland
- Louisiana
- New Jersey
This timing likely isn’t coincidence
Is there a chance Baba Casino had this change planned for a while and recent developments in California had nothing to do with it? Sure.
Do we think that’s the case, though?
Doubtful.
California last Friday passed Assembly Bill 831, which bans online sweeps casinos and criminalizes entities that “knowingly and willfully” support them. It’s now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, and he’s expected to give his final stamp of approval. If that happens, sweepstakes casinos will officially become illegal in California on Jan. 1, 2026.
Barring an unexpected veto from Newsom, AB831 is going to deal a significant blow to the sweeps gaming industry in the U.S. According to a recent economic analysis performed by independent research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, researchers projected California would be responsible for 17.3% of nationwide sweeps casino revenue in 2025.
That’s nearly 1/5 of the pie, all in one market.
Following the passage of AB831, Eilers & Krejcik modified its sweeps revenue projections for 2025 and 2026. Its new modeling predicts $4 billion of revenue in 2025 instead of $4.7 billion (a 15% decline) and $3.6 billion in 2026 (a 10% decline from previous estimates).
Operators are reacting quickly.
High 5 Casino has exited California, becoming the first known sweeps casino to do so. Vivaro.us informed players it will shut down on Oct. 1, citing “increasing regulatory uncertainty surrounding sweepstakes casinos in the United States” in a message posted on its homepage. There’s talk of operators already pulling marketing and affiliate deals in California, as well.
How relaunching in certain markets factors into things
The Vivaro.us example is concerning for smaller operators. VGW, B-Two Operations, WOW Vegas, Yellow Social Interactive, ARB Interactive — they’ll all be fine. The large operators will feel the pain of losing California, but their size and market penetration will make them survive the loss as they turn their focus to markets where sweeps casinos are still permitted.
The smaller operators, though, may not be able to absorb the hit as well.
So, they may start opening markets back up to compensate for the expected losses.
We saw it earlier this week when Spree relaunched its platform in Alabama and Georgia. And now we see it with Baba Casino, the sole site of Baba Entertainment LTD, reinstating access for players in six states. Others will no doubt follow suit in states like Alabama, Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas — where operators had exited mostly out of an abundance of caution rather than explicit regulatory or legal reasons.
Why are these 6 states deemed safe to re-enter?
Ohio
There are currently multiple active lawsuits against sweepstakes operators in Ohio, and there is also an active bill in the Ohio Legislature that would ban sweeps casinos. However, neither of these factors are concerning enough for most sweeps operators to leave Ohio.
First, the lawsuits are class action lawsuits — the same types of lawsuits that normally don’t amount to much of anything due to operators’ ironclad arbitration clauses or even issues with court jurisdiction.
Second, the bill, House Bill 298, hasn’t been touched since May and isn’t expected to gain much traction. The bill would also legalize real-money online casinos — a move that has been met with significant resistance in the U.S. in recent years, and one that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine specifically said he opposed while speaking with reporters at the state fair this summer.
Georgia
In Georgia, a lawsuit was brought against VGW in May 2024, yet the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ultimately threw the case out. The court ruled that VGW did not have a strong enough connection to Georgia to justify jurisdiction, despite the fact that residents of the state could still access its sweepstakes casinos.
Iowa
It’s not 100% clear why an operator would have chosen to previously exit Iowa. One reason could be the state’s attorney general, Brenna Bird, joined a bipartisan group of 50 attorneys general calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to crack down on the widespread expansion of illegal offshore gambling in early August.
There are opponents of sweeps casinos, including American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller, who put sweeps operators and offshore gambling sites (like Bovada, BetUS, etc.) in the same group.
Some sweeps casinos are based in the U.S., while others are based overseas.
Kentucky
There are several active class action lawsuits against sweeps operators in Kentucky.
The state has also taken a hard-lined stance against “gray machines” or “skill games” as the legislature passed a bill banning such devices in 2023 and the state’s attorney general has given state officials the full green light to investigate and prosecute operators of such devices.
If a sweeps operator was being ultra cautious, Kentucky’s treatment of gray machines may have deterred them from the state.
Tennessee
There is an active lawsuit against VGW in Tennessee that a federal court recently ruled must be heard in a Tennessee court, securing a small victory for the plaintiffs. Whether this lawsuit amounts to anything remains to be seen (and is doubtful), which is likely why Baba Casino felt comfortable relaunching here.
Tennessee also fined five offshore sportsbooks in July.
Arkansas
A bill that would have banned sweeps casinos, House Bill 1861, was briefly considered this spring in Arkansas before the author withdrew the legislation in April and it was recommended for committee study.
In addition, there are a couple of active lawsuits against sweeps operators in Arkansas.
But with HB1861 fully stalled out, and those lawsuits not amounting to anything as of yet, Arkansas was seemingly no longer viewed as off limits by Baba Casino.
