On Tuesday, a popular sweepstakes casino abruptly emailed players in Iowa that it would be shutting down operations in the state, joining a recent wave of notable operators exiting the Midwest market despite there being no law banning sweeps casinos there.
Sidepot Casino, the sister site to Fliff, the leader in the sweeps sportsbook space, sent an email to its Iowa players on Tuesday, June 30, with the subject line: Sidepot Services Ending in Iowa.
‘We regret to inform you … ‘
Here’s what the email said:
We regret to inform you that Sidepot will be discontinuing services in Iowa on July 1st. Please review the important information below regarding access to your Player Account.
Key Dates
June 30, 2026: Final date to redeem Sweepstakes Coins and access to your player account.
After June 30, 2026, purchases will no longer be accepted, all player accounts registered in Iowa will be permanently closed, and any unredeemed Sweepstakes Coins will be forfeited.
We sincerely appreciate your loyalty and time you’ve spent with Sidepot. If you have any questions, please contact our customer support team at [email protected].
Thank you for being part of the Sidepot community.
Sweepsy is unable to confirm if Sidepot provided any more advanced heads up or warning messages on the site itself. The email, itself, is quite abrupt. Players received it June 30, and Sidepot was set to shut down in Iowa the following day. That left Iowa players hours to see the email and redeem any Sweeps Coins left in their account.
And those players may not even have until July 1. When Sweepsy checked Sidepot on Tuesday from an Iowa IP address, we got blocked and weren’t able to access our account. Instead, we got this message:
Not available in your area
Due to legal or regulatory reasons, our services aren’t available in your current location.
And it said the detected location was Iowa.
Interestingly, Sweepsy was able to access Fliff from an Iowa IP address on Tuesday and submit a pick using Fliff Cash, Fliff’s redeemable currency. There were no warning messages on Fliff regarding an Iowa exit as of Tuesday.
Who else is leaving Iowa?
Sidepot now joins several prominent sweepstakes casino operators exiting Iowa even though the state has not passed a law banning Sweeps Coin gameplay at sweeps casinos.
Instead, Iowa’s only sweeps-related legislation this year, Senate File 2289, authorizes the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to issue cease-and-desist orders to sweeps casinos operating in Iowa beginning July 1. Unlike laws passed in states such as Indiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Louisiana this year, it does not make sweepstakes casinos illegal.
Even so, High 5 Casino, Baba Casino, and Lucky Bunny Casino have also all fully departed Iowa. High 5 ended access on June 30, Baba Casino shut things down on June 28, and Lucky Bunny recently added Iowa to its list of excluded markets.
It’s common for sweepstakes casinos to leave a state before a new law takes effect. However, that’s really only happened when that law makes Sweeps Coin gameplay illegal. We’ve never seen a law like Iowa’s passed, where it simply gives the state regulator the right to send cease-and-desists.
What’s more, the sweeps industry isn’t exactly known to be rapid responders to cease-and-desists, and some operators have ignored them entirely. So a preemptive exit from a state because the regulator will now merely have the option to send out cease-and-desists is intriguing.
Of course, these operators may just be exercising an abundance of caution, trying to show an eager willingness to abide by regulatory frameworks in hopes of one day becoming regulated themselves — especially in a state as small as Iowa, where the revenue loss likely won’t be a significant blow anyway. Or it makes you wonder if Iowa regulators may have already begun contacting companies behind the scenes.
Perhaps time will tell if it’s the second explanation.
