VGW keeps Arizona players despite felony warning

• Arizona sent VGW a cease-and-desist letter in 2024, but no charges have followed.
• Stake.us faced the same allegations publicly and later announced its Arizona exit.
• VGW-linked donations reached both parties ahead of the November 3 election.

Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW) continues to run Chumba Casino and Global Poker in Arizona nearly two years after the state’s gaming regulator sent it a cease-and-desist letter, according to an investigation by The Arizona Republic.

The findings land a week before Arizonans choose their next governor and attorney general.

Felony warning, no follow-through

The Arizona Department of Gaming wrote to VGW in 2024, alleging that Chumba Casino, Global Poker and LuckyLand Slots amounted to a felony enterprise in the state. The letter warned that civil or criminal charges could follow.

Douglas Jensen, the department’s chief law enforcement officer, signed it. Written partly in bold capitals, it directed VGW to stop all online gambling in Arizona immediately. It cited alleged felony promotion of gambling, illegal control of an enterprise and money laundering.

No charges have been filed.

VGW responded three weeks later with an 18-page letter. It compared its sweepstakes to a McDonald’s Happy Meal promotion and pointed to free Sweeps Coins available by mail. Jensen held his position in a reply dated December 10, 2024, restating that VGW was promoting unregulated, unlicensed and illegal gambling.

Same charges, different treatment

The dispute turns on VGW’s dual-currency model. Players use free Gold Coins or buy Sweeps Coins, which can be redeemed for cash prizes. VGW argues the games are not gambling because no purchase is required to win. Regulators say a free-to-play route does not change the nature of the activity.

According to the Arizona Republic, regulators accused Stake.us of the same three violations: promotion of gambling, illegal control of an enterprise and money laundering. The department handled the two cases very differently.

On June 27, 2025, it named Stake.us publicly alongside ReBet, Novig, Dallas Safari Club, Fanthem, BettorEdge and High 5 in a cease-and-desist announcement. Stake later announced its exit from Arizona.

VGW’s letter never appeared in a press release.

Silence as strategy

The department insists that keeping quiet does not mean doing nothing. Jessica Roza, spokesperson at the Arizona Department of Gaming, said:

“The absence of public announcements or disclosures regarding investigative and enforcement activities should not be interpreted as an absence of action by the Department, as disclosures can prematurely compromise those activities.”

Roza told the Republic on October 19 that the agency still regards VGW’s operations as illegal and is evaluating its enforcement options.

The department sits within Governor Katie Hobbs’s administration. Attorney General Kris Mayes’s office can prosecute gambling cases and advises the regulator on legal matters.

An aide to Mayes said VGW was on the office’s radar. The aide added that the company’s overseas headquarters creates significant jurisdictional and resource challenges for state prosecutors.

Hobbs spokesperson Christian Slater pointed to the role of federal authorities in cases involving transnational organizations and cryptocurrency. The governor’s office did not explain why that reasoning applied to VGW and not to the other offshore operators the state had targeted.

Donations across the aisle

The Republic reported that about $200,000 in VGW money reached groups supporting Hobbs and Mayes, both Democrats. Its October 21 report said this included $70,000 to a Navajo County-based fundraising vehicle. A further $75,000 reached the same entity through a transfer from the Democratic Attorneys General Association.

Republicans benefited too. VGW gave $140,000 to efforts to keep GOP control of the state Legislature. About $10,000 went to support Republican attorney general candidate Warren Petersen. The Arizona Mirror traced that sum to affiliate VGW Luckyland Inc. The company also hired a local lobbying firm in late 2025.

The reporting does not establish that the money influenced any enforcement decision. In an October 23 follow-up, however, the Republic reported that Hobbs and Mayes had delayed legal action against VGW for two years. Over the same period, regulators moved swiftly against its competitors.

Arizona is one part of a broader spending push. VGW has also made political donations in Florida, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky during the 2026 cycle.

VGW holds its line

VGW denies asking regulators to keep its case out of public view. Michael Bennet, spokesperson at VGW, said the company had:

“made no requests to the Arizona Department of Gaming with regards to the publication of any media releases.”

Bennet added:

“As with all stakeholders, we have respectfully engaged in good faith with the Department and cannot speak to their actions or decisions with regards to this engagement or public communications.”

The company says it remains committed to working with states on regulatory structures for what it calls Social Plus games. It also says it is fully confident in its compliance with the law. VGW did not address the Republic’s specific questions.

Pressure is building elsewhere. VGW agreed an $8m settlement with New York in September. It also faces a Florida lawsuit from the state’s attorney general, who sued Stake at the same time.

LuckyLand Slots, one of the three brands named in the Arizona letter, closed permanently on September 14. The closure did not affect Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Casino or Global Poker.

The group remains owned by Australian billionaire Laurence Escalante, who resigned as CEO and chairman in July.

A loose definition

Arizona law does not formally define sweepstakes. Its lawmakers have not taken up a ban of the kind now before legislators in Pennsylvania. That leaves the 2024 letter as the state’s principal formal enforcement action against VGW.

Mayes and Petersen meet at the ballot box on November 3. The winner inherits a two-year-old felony allegation against an Australian operator, an electorate that now knows about it, and no legislative backstop. The attorney general’s office, rather than the regulator, will decide whether the letter becomes a lawsuit.