VGW pays New York $8 million to settle AG's sweepstakes casino probe

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Sept. 9 that VGW Holdings, the operator of Chumba Casino, Global Poker and LuckyLand Slots, will pay $8 million to end her office's investigation of its sweepstakes casinos. The payment covers disgorgement, restitution, penalties and costs under an Assurance of Discontinuance that took effect Aug. 31.

The agreement describes how VGW sold Gold Coin packages bundled with Sweeps Coins worth roughly the purchase price; a $50 package, for example, came with 51.50 Sweeps Coins, and only Sweeps Coins could be redeemed for cash or gift cards. The attorney general's office said players were effectively buying the coins the way they would buy casino chips, at about one coin per dollar.

The office warned VGW in an April 25, 2025 letter that most sweepstakes casinos are illegal in New York. VGW stopped offering Sweeps Coins to New Yorkers on June 2, 2025 and gave customers until Aug. 1, 2025 to redeem them. Gov. Kathy Hochul later signed a statute expressly banning the model in December 2025. VGW neither admits nor denies the office's findings.

The deal also gives some players a second chance to cash out. For one year after the effective date, New Yorkers who did not receive VGW's earlier phase-out notice may ask the company to redeem Sweeps Coins that were in their accounts and eligible for redemption as of June 2, 2025, at the rate set in VGW's sweepstakes rules.

The settlement adds to legal pressure on VGW, which was sued by Kentucky's attorney general in June and Florida's in August, and which shut down its LuckyLand Slots site on Sept. 14.