Three more sweepstakes casinos have pulled out of California well ahead of the Jan. 1 deadline set by Assembly Bill 831 — including one of the most up-and-coming names in the industry.
Betty Sweeps, the sweeps arm of Betty, an online gaming company with real-money platforms in Canada and the United Kingdom, is no longer active in California, effective Nov. 7. The exit of Betty Sweeps marks arguably the most notable early departure in California since High 5 Casino.
SweepNext and Stackr Casino, two other well-known sweepstakes casinos, have also exited California, bringing the total list of known operators to leave the state to 14.
Where Betty Sweeps, SweepNext, Stackr Casino are still active
With the addition of California, the excluded list for Betty Sweeps now contains 15 markets:
- Arizona
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Washington
- West Virginia
Of these 15 markets, Betty Sweeps has only been publicly identified as a cease-and-desist recipient in one: Arizona, where it received that cease-and-desist in August alongside Fliff, Thrillzz, and Pulsz.
However, the operator is still exiting markets where there is a climate of pushback against sweeps gaming. It has not received cease-and-desists in Louisiana, Maryland, or Delaware, yet it has pulled out of those three jurisdictions despite no laws preventing sweeps casinos. The one thing those states have in common? They’ve sent cease-and-desist orders to sweeps operators.
SweepNext, owned by Boostora Ltd., now has 12 excluded states:
- California
- Connecticut
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New York
- Washington
And, finally, Stackr Casino, owned by Stackr Social LLC, now has 16 markets on its excluded list, making it the most restrictive of these three operators:
- Alabama
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Montana
- Nevada
- New York
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
- Washington
There is no public record of SweepNext or Stackr Casino receiving cease-and-desist orders.
At least one operator staying in CA as a social casino
Based on the language in these three sites’ terms and conditions, it appears they will shut down their platforms entirely in California — including both Gold Coin games (social gaming) and Sweeps Coin games (sweeps gaming).
Most sweeps casinos are following this same strategy in California, and in all states they exit for that matter.
At least one notable operator is following a different strategy.
A Modo Casino spokesperson last week told Sweepsy that the site will only shut down its Sweeps Coin gameplay after Dec. 31, 2025, and will keep its Gold Coin gameplay live and operational beyond Jan. 1. (Jan. 1 is the effective date of AB831, the sweeps gaming ban bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in October.)
So, Modo Casino will no longer be a sweepstakes casino, which will officially become illegal in California. But it will be a social casino, which is 100% legal in California. That likely won’t change soon, as the tribal sponsor of AB831, the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, runs its own social casino called Play.Yamava. They wouldn’t have permitted a bill that criminalizes its own online gaming site.
VGW, the owner of Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, and Global Poker, is known to also keep its Gold Coin platforms live in states where it shuts down its Sweeps Coin games, including New Jersey, New York, and most recently West Virginia, where a VGW spokesperson told Sweepsy that their sites will begin a Sweeps Coin phase-out process that will end Nov. 25.
And, frankly, there is still money to be made in social casino gaming — especially if you already have a significant audience, like Modo Casino and VGW do. Light & Wonder, for instance, a vocal opponent of sweeps casinos, makes about $200 million in quarterly revenue from SciPlay, the social gaming arm of its company.
Although social casinos don’t require anyone to spend money, users buy currency bundles, and in many of these apps they can also pay for add-on boosts, surprise loot mechanics, or special event access.
So, which 14 sweeps casinos have left California?
So far, 14 states have exited California well ahead of the legality deadline:
- High 5 Casino
- Carnival Citi
- Dara Casino
- Ruby Sweeps
- SweepsUSA
- TheBoss.Casino
- Grand Vault Casino
- CosmoSlots
- LuckySlots
- Vegas Gems
- Peak Play
- Betty Sweeps
- SweepNext
- Stackr Casino
Casino Beats reported on Peak Play and Vegas Gems, while Sweepsy was first to report the other 12.
Again, Modo Casino informed Sweepsy of its plans to keep its sweeps platform live up until Jan. 1. We also learned two weeks ago that WOW Vegas officials fully intend on keeping their platform operational up until the legal deadline. It’s not immediately clear if WOW Vegas plans to, like Modo Casino, only shut down its Sweeps Coin gameplay in California in 2026.
Operator responses to losing California are far from universal.
The operators that have already left appear to be doing so out of preemptive self-risk management — these aren’t huge companies, and a single compliance misstep could be fatal, so they’re choosing the safer cleaner early shutdown path.
Some, meanwhile, are trying to offset as much California revenue as possible by re-entering states they previously geo-blocked. Example: Spree in Alabama and Georgia, and Baba Casino came back in six states, while ACE Casino returned in four.
And a number of smaller operators won’t survive the loss of California. Vivaro.us, Starlight Casino, and Bitsler.io have already shuttered, with more likely to follow given that there are more than sweeps casinos in the U.S. and not all of them can absorb this kind of revenue shock — as Eilers & Krejcik Gaming analysts pegged California as providing a little more than 17% of the total United States sweeps gaming market in 2025.
