Florida sues Stake, VGW over illegal gambling

• Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed two lawsuits against Stake and VGW, the operator behind Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Casino and Global Poker.
• The complaints, filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, separately name Stake’s payment partners and VGW’s payment partners as co-defendants.
• Florida is seeking to block both operators from the state, recover consumer losses and impose civil penalties.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed two lawsuits on August 19 against Stake and VGW, the company behind Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Casino and Global Poker, alleging their sweepstakes casino platforms run illegal online gambling in the state.

The complaints, filed separately in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, allege violations of Florida’s gambling laws and its Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Gold Coins, real stakes

According to the complaints, both companies sell packages of Gold Coins, which carry no cash value, bundled with a second, redeemable currency called Stake Cash at Stake and Sweeps Coins at VGW’s sites. The complaints allege that redeemable credits can be wagered on casino-style games and cashed out for cryptocurrency, gift cards or money once players meet play requirements.

Uthmeier’s office argues the redeemable currency is essentially a casino chip by another name, and that the platforms lean on celebrity and influencer marketing to sell themselves as free, safe social entertainment. Stake’s suit also names its streaming platform Kick and cites rapper Drake’s public association with the brand, though neither Kick nor Drake is named as a defendant.

The two complaints name different payment partners. Stake’s suit names Breeze Labs and Praxis Tech; VGW’s names Yodlee, Trustly and Worldpay, all accused of processing transactions behind the platforms.

No mincing words

Uthmeier’s filings trade typical legal language for pointed accusations. He writes that Stake uses the promise of safe social gaming to pull players in before steering them toward unlicensed real-money betting. Stake co-founders Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani are also named as defendants.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General of Florida, said:

“These so-called ‘sweepstakes’ and ‘social casinos’ are illegal online gambling operations. If it looks like a casino, takes real money like a casino, and pays out like a casino, it is a casino — and it is illegal under Florida law. These companies have been preying on Floridians, including minors and seniors, with deceptive marketing, and 24/7 access, while dodging our state’s licensing, taxation, and consumer-protection requirements. They must be stopped.”

Both complaints seek permanent injunctions blocking the operators from doing business in Florida, along with restitution for consumers, forfeiture of the companies’ gains, civil penalties and attorneys’ fees.

Following Kentucky’s playbook

Florida is the latest state to move against sweepstakes casinos, and it’s part of a wider pattern. I

ndiana’s sweepstakes ban is already in effect, Oklahoma’s ban takes hold on November 1 after lawmakers overrode a governor’s veto, and Louisiana has signed new measures this year that treat illegal gambling as racketeering.

Michigan and Washington have relied on existing law rather than writing new statutes.

Uthmeier’s approach also echoes Kentucky, where Attorney General Russell Coleman filed three separate lawsuits against VGW, Kalshi and Polymarket in Franklin Circuit Court in June, choosing litigation over a public warning first.

Florida lawmakers tried and failed to settle this through legislation earlier in 2026. House Bill 591 died in a House subcommittee in March, and a companion Senate bill passed its chamber before stalling over House amendments.

Uthmeier’s lawsuits argue no new statute is needed, since Florida’s existing gambling law already covers the sweepstakes model.

Fallout beyond Florida

VGW is separately winding down its LuckyLand Slots platform on September 14, a different product from the LuckyLand Casino brand named in this suit.

Founder Laurence Escalante resigned as chief executive in July following a leave of absence earlier in the year; he is not named in the Florida suit. Virginia chose a different path in February, when its Senate Courts of Justice Committee continued its own sweepstakes bill to 2027 in favor of a state-run study due by December.

The two Hillsborough County cases give other state attorneys general a closely watched test of whether existing gambling and consumer-protection law can reach the dual-currency model, and add pressure on Congress to draw a clearer line between a sweepstakes promotion and a casino.