VGW settles New York sweepstakes case for $8m

• VGW Holdings will pay $8 million in disgorgement, restitution, penalties and costs to New York.
• The settlement covers VGW’s three brands: Chumba Casino, Global Poker and Luckyland Slots.
• Attorney General Letitia James says the platforms let players redeem virtual “sweeps coins” for cash, in violation of state law.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured an $8 million civil settlement from VGW Holdings Pty. Ltd. and its affiliates, closing a state investigation into the operator’s Chumba Casino, Global Poker and Luckyland Slots platforms.

The Assurance of Discontinuance, dated August 31, 2026 and announced on September 9, requires VGW to pay disgorgement, restitution, penalties and costs after the company let New Yorkers engage in what the state says was illegal gambling through virtual coins redeemable for cash.

A coin by another name

VGW built its New York footprint slowly. Chumba Casino launched in the state in 2012, Global Poker followed in 2016, and Luckyland Slots arrived in 2018, all running on the same mechanic: buy a bundle of virtual currency and receive a second coin type, a “sweeps coin,” alongside it.

VGW’s position was that sweeps coins were a free bonus attached to the purchase, not a stake in a wager. The OAG’s investigation rejected that framing outright. Investigators found customers received roughly one sweeps coin for every dollar spent, a ratio that made the coins look less like a promotional extra and more like chips bought at a cash register.

The attorney general’s office said the conduct violated New York Penal Law §§ 225.10 and 225.20, which cover promoting gambling and possessing gambling records, along with Executive Law § 63(12), the state’s provision against repeated fraudulent or illegal business practices.

The bill comes due

The case traces back further than most coverage suggested. The OAG sent VGW an initial warning letter on April 25, 2025, and the company voluntarily stopped offering sweeps coins to New York players on June 2, 2025. Weeks later, on June 6, 2025, the office widened the action into a sweep of 26 platforms offering cash-redeemable virtual coins.

That enforcement groundwork led into a statutory fix. In December 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill S5935A into law, banning dual-currency sweepstakes gaming outright and handing the Gaming Commission, state police and the attorney general explicit enforcement authority.

James tied the settlement directly to that earlier action.

Letitia James, New York Attorney General, said:

“Online sweepstakes casinos like Chumba Casino, Global Poker, and Luckyland Slots posed a dangerous threat to New Yorkers and their financial and mental health. My office took action to stop these illegal platforms last year, and now we are holding VGW accountable for the damage done.”

VGW neither admits nor denies the findings, standard language for an Assurance of Discontinuance, but the agreement leaves James free to pursue further action if the company breaches its terms.

For one year from the settlement’s effective date, eligible New York customers who never received VGW’s phase-out notice can request redemption of sweeps coins that sat in their accounts as of June 2, 2025, at the exchange rate that applied under the platform’s rules at the time.

James keeps swinging

VGW is not an isolated target. In January 2026, James’s office sued Valve, the video game developer behind Steam, over gambling promotion it said reached underage players. In April 2026, it filed against Coinbase and Gemini over crypto-linked event contracts. In July 2026, it sued prediction market platform Kalshi.

Sweepstakes operators are drawing scrutiny well past New York’s borders too. Some face racketeering claims in Virginia federal court, and Tennessee passed its own dual-currency ban earlier in 2026, joining a growing list of states legislating the model out of existence rather than litigating it case by case.

New York had already tried a softer approach before this settlement, running an “Avoid Risky Bets” campaign aimed at steering residents away from offshore books and sweepstakes-style platforms. An $8 million penalty, attached to specific penal code violations rather than a warning letter, gives that messaging a figure other states can point to when their own cease-and-desist letters go unheeded.