There may be something ominous brewing in New York for operators of sweepstakes casinos and sportsbooks.
New York State Gaming Commission Chair Brian O'Dwyer suggested earlier this year that sweeps were on the radar of the sports betting, casino gambling, and horse racing regulator and that a crackdown was possible.
On Monday, O’Dwyer made comments that suggest a crackdown could be imminent.
“I am concerned by the rise in the so-called sweepstakes casinos, wherein it may appear that online prizes are being offered for free when they are not,” O’Dwyer said during a commission meeting. “The commission is addressing this issue with the help of other agencies. Further announcements on this will be coming in the near future and I expect to have further announcements by our April meeting as to what actions commission and state will be taking.”
Get the brooms out?
The ominous noises made by the regulator of New York sports betting and casino gambling are part of a recent trend in the U.S., where lawmakers and regulators continue to get more aggressive in their treatment of sweepstakes casinos and sportsbooks.
That approach includes cease-and-desist letters sent by regulators (such as those in Michigan and Maryland) that view online sweeps sites as offering illegal gambling.
It also includes legislation proposing to clarify the “dual-currency” system used by sweeps to offer casino-like products does not make them immune from local gambling restrictions, even if there may be “no purchase necessary” at first.
Lawmakers in Connecticut advanced an anti-sweeps bill on Monday, and Maryland lawmakers continue to ponder sweeps-related legislation of their own.
A similar bill has been making progress in the New York Senate, the sponsor of which has suggested regulatory and legal action is still a possibility.
An industry group for the online sweeps industry has pushed back on the New York bill, calling it “deeply flawed legislation [that] is an affront to personal freedoms, an insult to New York voters, and a colossal waste of government resources.”
“The correct approach to support innovation, consumer choice, and the economy of New York is sensible regulation and taxation of social sweepstakes games that millions of adults enjoy responsibly and safely,” the Social and Promotional Games Association said earlier this month.
One state senator (@SenJoeAddabbo) sees legalized iGaming in New York as an inevitability, even if it looks like it is inevitably going nowhere this year. But fiscal pressure and the sweeps invasion could help persuade other lawmakers:https://t.co/Ti6RyTToJM @Covers
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) March 15, 2025
But the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr., has said sweeps lack the same “safeguards” of New York’s regulated sports betting and casino gambling industry.
“Now it's on the radar of the legislature, the attorney general's office, and the governor's administration through the Gaming Commission,” Addabbo told Covers earlier this month. “So hopefully we do something.”
