Wyoming Lawmakers Back Felony Ban on Online Sweepstakes Casinos

A unanimous committee vote sends the draft toward the 2027 session. It would also reach the payment processors, hosts and advertisers behind the sites, while players would be exempt.

Francis Gable

14/10/26 · 2 minOctober 14, 2026 · 2 min read

Wyoming's Select Committee on Gaming voted unanimously to sponsor a bill that would make running an online sweepstakes casino a felony, at its Oct. 5-6 meeting in Rock Springs.

The draft reaches past the casinos. Anyone who knowingly provides services to them, from payment processing to hosting and advertising, would commit the same crime, according to the bill text. Players are exempt.

About $2.7 billion was wagered on legal gambling in Wyoming in 2025. Nicholas Larramendy, who heads the Wyoming Gaming Commission, told lawmakers 2026 should top $3 billion.

Draft Treats Sweepstakes Coins as Stakes

Wyoming bans online casinos but allows online sports betting. Sweepstakes sites have been treated as promotional advertising under consumer protection law.

The draft counts any coin in a dual-currency, free-play or sweepstakes-entry system that can be redeemed for prizes as something of value. That makes playing with it a wager.

Running an illegal gambling business already carries up to three years in prison, a $3,000 fine or both. The bill would take effect July 1, 2027.

Larramendy said sweepstakes complaints bounce between the commission and consumer protection staff in "a constant cycle," and that the bill "definitely makes it very clear that this is illegal gambling."

VGW Calls the Language Overbroad

Bill Gantz, a lawyer for sweepstakes operator VGW, told lawmakers the draft "is over broad" and that VGW has run sweepstakes games in Wyoming since 2012.

"If this language were adopted, Wyoming would be virtually the only state that I can think of that would not allow a free entry to be used in a game that is resulting in the award of a prize."

Gantz made that argument to the committee, WyoFile reported.

The committee shelved an earlier version in July, Wyoming Public Media reported. Crypto casino Rainbet has since opened a US social casino with redeemable prizes.

The committee's next step is sponsorship by the Legislature's Management Council, which decides whether the bill goes to the 2027 session.

Treat gambling as entertainment you pay for. 18+, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, help exists at BeGambleAware and GamCare.