Published May 22, 2026 · By Editorial Team · 8 min read

Stake.us Loses 21 States in 18 Months as Sweepstakes Crackdown Accelerates

In November 2024, Stake.us — the social-casino arm of crypto giant Stake.com — accepted players from every US state except Washington, Idaho, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada and New York. By May 2026, that footprint has collapsed to roughly 29 jurisdictions. The proximate cause is California Assembly Bill 831, which took effect January 1, but the AB 831 ban is the tail end of an 18-month enforcement wave that has redrawn the sweepstakes-casino map.

What happened

The sweepstakes casino model — dual-currency platforms where Gold Coins are sold and Sweeps Coins are awarded "free" but redeemable for cash — operated for nearly a decade in a regulatory grey zone. The legal theory rested on the federal Promotional Sweepstakes exemption and on states' historical tolerance of mail-in-entry promotions. State by state, attorneys general and gaming regulators have decided the theory does not stretch to crypto-redeemable, casino-style platforms.

California's AB 831, signed into law in October 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, was the watershed. It explicitly classifies dual-currency sweepstakes platforms offering casino-style games as illegal gambling under California Penal Code Section 330. Stake.us pulled out of California in the final week of December 2025, posting a geofence notice to affected players and converting outstanding Sweeps Coins balances to cash redemptions.

New York acted earlier. Senate Bill 5935, signed by Governor Hochul in March 2025, made it a misdemeanor to operate or accept payment from a sweepstakes casino in the state. In a parallel track, Attorney General Letitia James issued cease-and-desist letters to 26 sweepstakes operators in February 2025, naming Stake.us, Chumba, LuckyLand, McLuck and High 5 among the targets. Stake.us geofenced New York within 14 days of the AG action.

Montana followed in May 2025, with House Bill 725 banning sweepstakes casinos effective October 1. Connecticut's Department of Consumer Protection issued a Public Service Announcement in June 2025 classifying the model as illegal under existing state law, with enforcement starting July 1. Michigan's Gaming Control Board sent its own cease-and-desists in November 2024, citing MCL 432.225. Indiana's Gaming Commission followed in early 2025. Maine joined in March 2026.

Nevada and New Jersey, both with mature regulated iGaming markets, treated the sweepstakes model as incompatible with their licensing regimes from the start. Stake.us has not accepted players from either state at any point.

Why it matters

Stake's US strategy was always a workaround. Stake.com, the real-money product, holds no US licence and accepts no US players. Stake.us, run by Sweepsteaks Limited under Curacao licensing with sweepstakes-model US distribution, was the bridge. Losing more than 40% of the addressable US population in 18 months has commercial consequences that compound across the affiliate ecosystem, content partnerships (Drake's promotional contract is structured around US-eligible promotions) and the operator's North American media buying.

The regulatory pattern matters beyond Stake. Chumba Casino owner VGW exited Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Washington in 2024 and Connecticut and Montana in 2025. LuckyLand Slots ceased Michigan operations in November 2024 and pulled back from New York and Connecticut in the first half of 2025. McLuck, Pulsz and High 5 have followed similar partial retreats. The Social and Promotional Games Association, the industry trade body, reported a 22% year-over-year reduction in addressable US sweepstakes population in its February 2026 market update.

For the crypto-casino ecosystem specifically, the sweepstakes retreat strips away the closest thing to a domestic on-ramp. Players in restricted states who want crypto-funded casino action are left choosing between offshore real-money operators (which never accepted that they were "leaving" the US in the first place) and prediction-market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which target a different product category.

Who is affected

The most direct impact falls on the roughly 7 to 9 million US Stake.us monthly active users that the operator disclosed in mid-2024 marketing materials. Players in newly banned states have, in nearly all cases, been able to redeem outstanding Sweeps Coins for cash within 60 to 90 days of the geofence notice. The platforms have largely behaved responsibly on exit redemptions, in part because state AGs have made redemption procedures a focus of their enforcement letters.

Affiliates with North American traffic have been hit hardest in the long tail. Sweepstakes-casino affiliate programmes paid hybrid revenue-share with CPA top-ups; the loss of California alone, the second-largest addressable state by population, has cut affiliate-driven revenue from the segment materially. Several mid-tier US affiliate sites pivoted to either DFS, prediction markets, or offshore crypto casinos through the back half of 2025.

Within Stake's wider business, the US contraction has accelerated the operator's push into Latin America (where it holds a Brazilian licence through a local partner) and Eastern Europe (Estonia EMTA authorisation through 2025). The Stake.bet brand, used in jurisdictions where Stake.com cannot be marketed, has absorbed marketing budget previously allocated to US sponsorship deals.

Players in remaining states — including Texas, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and most of the South and Mountain West — continue to access Stake.us under the existing model. There is no immediate indication that any of these markets are queuing legislation comparable to California AB 831, though Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation issued an informal warning letter to sweepstakes operators in February 2026.

What players should do

Players in restricted states should not attempt to access Stake.us or comparable platforms through VPNs or address spoofing. The platforms verify location at sign-up, deposit, redemption and large-stake events using IP geolocation, device fingerprinting and bank-card BIN checks. A flagged account has its balance frozen pending review and, in adverse cases, forfeited under terms-of-service provisions that operators have consistently enforced through redemption disputes since 2024.

Players considering offshore real-money crypto casinos as a substitute should verify three things: that the operator holds a current Curacao OGL/2024 or OGL/2025 licence or equivalent (Anjouan, Tobique, Kahnawake), that the operator accepts cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals (avoiding wire-transfer friction with US-based banks that flag offshore gambling deposits), and that withdrawal limits and KYC triggers are documented in the terms of service.

Players in still-eligible states should track legislative developments at the state level. Texas, Florida and Illinois have all hosted preliminary sweepstakes-casino discussions in the current legislative session, though none have advanced to floor votes. The 22 state attorneys general who signed the multi-state warning letter in late 2025 signalled that further coordinated action is likely.

Conclusion

The sweepstakes-casino model worked because state regulators treated it as too small to litigate. That premise has collapsed. With California gone, New York gone, and Michigan, Montana, Connecticut and Maine all locked in, the model is now a 29-state proposition and shrinking. Stake.us will survive — Stake's broader business does not depend on the US — but the sweepstakes era as a workaround for the absence of federal online-gambling law looks like the late chapter of a category, not a durable model.