If you’re a fan of slots like Gates of Olympus and Sweet Bonanza, your time playing those titles on websites that offer them as part of sweepstakes has ended. The studio that developed those games, Pragmatic Play, has announced that it will no longer service such sites.
Pragmatic Play’s move is the first fallout from a lawsuit that the state of California has filed against operators of websites offering casino-style, sweepstakes-based games and several companies that provide essential services. Pragmatic Play’s decision continues the evolution of sweepstakes gaming in the United States as well.
Pragmatic Play ends relationship with sweeps casinos
Zak Thomas-Akoo of Next.io broke the news about Pragmatic Play’s decision on Tuesday, sharing a statement from the company. That statement explained that Pragmatic Play would no longer license its content to sweepstakes casinos “in US states where restrictions were not already in place, in light of recent developments and evolving legislation.”
Many states have considered restrictions on sweepstakes gaming, with some, like Montana and New Jersey, enshrining new statutes. California is also considering a bill that would ban such games.
California is also the site of a recent action that might have proven the final straw for Pragmatic Play.
Lawsuit named Pragmatic Play among defendants
On Aug. 28, the state of California became the first state to file a civil lawsuit against the operator of a sweepstakes casino and the vendors it contracts with. While the company that operates Stake.us is the primary defendant in California v. Sweepsteaks Ltd., et al, Pragmatic Play was among the other defendants named in the brief.
The suit accuses the defendants of collaborating to run an illegal gambling ring for California residents. The filing asks the Superior Court of Los Angeles County to issue injunctions against Stake accepting players in California and to levy financial penalties against the defendants.
The lawsuit resembles a provision in the bill currently under consideration in the California Senate, Assembly Bill 831, in that it would criminalize providing services like licensing games to sweepstakes casinos. Whether or not AB 831 becomes law in California, the threat of prosecution under existing statutes could constitute a sufficient deterrent.
Regulatory concerns limiting sweepstakes casino operations
The first eight months of 2025 have seen the operations of sweepstakes casinos retract both in terms of geographic availability and robustness of game libraries. Many sweepstakes casinos have stopped servicing players altogether or reduced playing options to free-play only in several states, such as New York.
Pragmatic Play is not the first vendor to pull back from supporting such sites in 2025. Evolution and Hacksaw Gaming have ceased servicing such websites in select jurisdictions, as two examples.
In nearly all cases, companies have cited enforcement actions by regulators in the appropriate states or new legislation as the motivation behind their decisions. Pragmatic Play’s decision to stop servicing all sweepstakes casinos everywhere in the US represents an escalation of that contraction, and that’s the exact effect that government agents have intended.
