Pragmatic Play Quits US Sweepstakes Casinos

Pragmatic Play has officially pulled all of its games from sweepstakes casinos.

The move comes after a civil lawsuit in California accused Stake.us of being an illegal gambling business, while also accusing Pragmatic Play, Evolution, and Hacksaw Gaming of “aiding and abetting” the operation by supplying games.

Both Evolution and Hacksaw removed their games from Stake.us in response, while Pragmatic Play went one step further by ending the supply of all its games to sweepstakes casinos across the country.

It’s a proactive legal move and one that’s caused great upset among sweepstakes players, who are now unable to access their favorite slots and live dealer games from Pragmatic’s epic catalogue.

• Pragmatic Play is one of the biggest providers of online casino games
• The company has recently been named in a California civil lawsuit against us
• It’s now stopped all supply of its games to sweepstakes casinos

Sugar Rush, Gates of Olympus, and Other Player-Favorite Slots Unavailable in Sweepstakes Casinos Following Pragmatic Play Exit

The US sweepstakes casino market is currently booming, with the likes of Chumba Casino and Stake.us boasting millions of combined players.

One of the reasons these casinos are so popular is because smash-hit slots and other games are provided to them by Pragmatic Play.

Now that Pragmatic Play has quit the sweepstakes casino market, though, it means the provider’s library of over 500 casino games will no longer be accessible to sweepstakes players, including popular titles like:

• Sugar Rush
• Sweet Bonanza
• Gates of Olympus
• Wolf Gold
• Big Bass Bonanza

Players have made quite a fuss about it on X, Reddit, and sweepstakes forums, with one user questioning “What is everyone now playing instead of the Pragmatic games?! Is there anything similar to Gates of Olympus and Sugar Rush? Those were my jam.”

Hacksaw Gaming has a huge range of slot games that are still available inside all the leading sweepstakes casinos, and there are other top providers like Twist Gaming, too, so there’s no need to completely panic.

But die-hard fans of Sugar Rush and other Pragmatic Play slots will, unfortunately, no longer be able to access these games unless they sign up with traditional online casinos instead, which Pragmatic Play will continue supplying.

Growing Legal Pressure on Sweepstakes Casinos

Before the recent civil lawsuit in California, legal pressure had already been growing against sweepstakes casinos for quite a while.

Since 2024 alone, Montana, Connecticut, New Jersey, and California have all explicitly outlawed sweepstakes casinos, with the likes of New York and Nevada currently in the process of doing the same thing having passed their own legislative bills.

When it comes to New York, Attorney General James sent cease-and-desist letters to sweepstakes operators demanding they stop prohibited gambling activity, so a total of 26 casinos ended their sale of Sweeps Coins in the Empire State.

And if New York successfully passes its proposed bill into law before either this or next year, it would arguably be the biggest blow yet to the entire industry.

A growing number of states could also be set to follow the trend as well, leading to a situation further down the line where as many as 15 states could have completely blacklisted sweepstakes casinos altogether.

The reason why this is happening is because of the controversy surrounding the “dual-currency” system that every sweepstakes casino uses, which many states deem to be exploitative.

Sweepstakes casinos let you play with Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, with the latter being exchangeable for real-life prizes if you collect enough of them.

Purchasing coin packages gives players a better shot at winning prizes, something that’s been labeled by many state lawmakers as a legal loophole to effectively let players gamble but without being impacted by traditional gambling laws.

This has led to a huge crackdown on sweepstakes casinos over the past couple of years, and signs now point to operators having to change their dual-currency systems in order to avoid further legal ramifications.

Will Pragmatic Play Be Back?

Seemingly, Pragmatic Play has looked at the legal dangers surrounding sweepstakes casinos and decided it no longer wants to be a part of it.

And based on what we know, the popular slot game provider is unlikely to ever return to the sweepstakes casino market unless, of course, significant regulatory changes are introduced.

For now, sweepstakes fanatics will have to wave goodbye to Pragmatic Play and instead try casino games from other providers.

Sweepstakes Casinos Set to Generate $3.6bn in 2026 Following California Sweepstakes Drama

The past twelve months have been extremely challenging for the sweeps casino market, from a growing number of US states outright banning them to several operators being hit with potentially devastating lawsuits (it was only earlier this year when a US federal jury ordered High 5 Casino to pay out $24.9 million in damages to players).

Unsurprisingly, heading into 2026, the sweepstakes casino market is in a much weaker position than it was before, having previously grown year-on-year up until 2025.

Next year won’t be as lucrative as usual, though, as Eilers & Krejcik are forecasting a significant downturn for the US sweepstakes casino industry.

The current projection is that total net revenue across all the operators will dip to $3.6 billion, a significant drop-off.

This doesn’t mean the sweepstakes casino market is over (far from it), but it does ultimately signify what was once one of the hottest niche markets in iGaming is struggling.

So, will sweepstakes casinos recover from this?

The truth is the sweepstakes gold rush of 2020 to 2024 is now on a downturn, but if operators like Stake.us and Chumba Casino can keep reeling in players from remaining states, you won’t be seeing them fade away anytime soon, even without Pragmatic Play in the picture.