We can officially add one more brand to the list of online sweepstakes casinos to pull out of Nevada.
In an email sent to its Nevada players this week, Ruby Sweeps announced that it will be leaving the state, effective Friday, Aug. 15.
“Due to changes in the state of Nevada, we can no longer provide our services anymore,” the email read. “You will have until Friday, 08/15/2025 to play through any Emeralds you may have on your account. We will be shutting down in Nevada on Friday 08/15/2025.
“This means that you will no longer be able to access Ruby Sweeps while in this unavailable area. It has been a pleasure to offer our service to you and if things change, we will certainly reach out.”
Emeralds are Ruby Sweeps’ version of Sweeps Coins, which can be redeemed for cash. The site also has Gold Coins, which cannot be redeemed for anything.
It isn’t immediately clear if players who don’t spend or redeem all their digital currency will lose that currency or if it will be transferred to another sweeps casino, but the email didn’t make mention of anything like that.
What are the ‘changes in the state of Nevada’?
In May, Nevada passed Senate Bill 256, which strengthens the state’s enforcement capability in cracking down on unlicensed gambling operators, a group that, in Nevada, includes online sweeps casinos alongside offshore betting sites. Because of this, the majority of sweeps casinos blocked access in Nevada long ago. VGW, for instance, announced back in December 2024 that it was going to pull its sites — Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, and Global Poker — out of Nevada.
SB256 doesn’t make any specific reference to sweepstakes gaming. However, it makes two changes to existing law when it comes to punishing unlicensed operators:
- One, it allows state courts to order unlicensed operators to return “any profits, gain, gross receipts or other benefit” earned while operating in Nevada. So, essentially: Pay us back what you profited off our residents.
- Two, it bumps up the charge of anyone who plays via an unlicensed operator from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to one year in jail.
Nevada has an intentionally broad definition of gambling because state law is written to protect Nevada’s retail casino industry. That way, many things can fall under the definition of gambling — and, thus, the state then has legal authority to clamp down on anything that can be considered competition to the casinos in Las Vegas, Reno, and statewide.
Advocates of sweepstakes casinos have long maintained their games are not gambling, noting they are free to play and that their sweepstakes model is the same as the ones used in promos from established brands, such as Hilton Honors and Marriott Rewards.
Opponents disagree, arguing the dual-currency model — where Sweeps Coins played on casino-style games can be redeemed for real cash — constitutes online gambling.
Small group of players getting bounced around
Another online sweepstakes casino, SweepSlots, shut down its entire platform on June 20 (just a couple weeks after announcing it was launching a meme coin called $SWEEPSLOTS on the crypto blockchain platform Solana).
As part of that shutdown, SweepSlots players were permitted to transfer their accounts to one of two other sweeps platforms: GoldSlips and Ruby Sweeps.
SweepSlots already had Nevada listed as an excluded state in its terms and conditions. So there technically shouldn’t have been any Nevada players transferring their accounts to Ruby Sweeps. But there may be a small group of players who transferred their accounts to Ruby Sweeps and then moved to Nevada — and now that group is facing another abrupt change.
Excluded states now up to 16, including Ohio
Ruby Sweeps, part of the minority of sweeps casinos that are 21-plus instead of 18-plus (alongside the likes of VGW and B-Two Operations sites), now adds Nevada to its list of excluded states found in the site’s sweeps rules. The full list is:
- Nevada
- Kentucky
- Rhode Island
- Connecticut
- Nebraska
- New York
- New Jersey
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Delaware
- Ohio
- Utah
- Washington
- Michigan
- Montana
- Idaho
Perhaps the most interesting state on that list is Ohio, where there are currently no state-levied restrictions on sweepstakes gaming. There is a bill — House Bill 298 — that would outlaw sweeps casinos, but it hasn’t budged since May and it would also legalize real-money online casinos, a move that faces staunch opposition in Ohio (including from Gov. Mike DeWine).
