Ban in force

California Sweepstakes Laws: The Ban That Reaches the Whole Supply Chain

California sweepstakes laws removed roughly a fifth of the industry’s US revenue in a single statute, and extended criminal liability to everyone who touches the transaction.

Statute AB 831
Signed 11 October 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom
Effective 1 January 2026
Reaches Operators, payment processors, geolocation providers, gaming content suppliers, media affiliates
Backing Tribal gaming coalition
Status In force

Why California was the one that hurt

California was the largest grey market in the country. AB 831 did not merely close it — it made the supporting infrastructure criminally liable, which converts a market-exit decision into a vendor-contract problem for every processor, geolocation vendor and content studio serving a sweeps operator anywhere.

The tribal lobby drove the bill. That is worth stating plainly, because it identifies the mechanism that will decide the next ten states: sweepstakes casinos are being removed by incumbent gaming interests defending licensed revenue, not by consumer-protection sentiment. The consumer-protection argument is the vehicle. The tribes and the commercial operators are the engine.

Operator behaviour before the effective date

Jackpota raised its minimum age to 21 across all states and stopped California marketing in August 2025. Modo.us added a California liability waiver. MegaBonanza, Hello Millions, PlayFame and SportsMillions pulled California marketing spend in July 2025. Waivers and marketing pauses are what a compliance function produces when it has no product answer.

AB 831 is the model statute the next wave will copy — supply-chain liability included.

What California does not prohibit. AB 831 prohibits the dual-currency sweepstakes model. A platform with one non-redeemable currency awards no prize and takes no consideration, and falls outside the statute. Flickloot operates in California.

Sources

  • Verified California AB 831 (2025), signed 11 October 2025, effective 1 January 2026.
  • Verified Legal Sports Report, “California Legislators Introduce Sweepstakes Casino Ban” (23 June 2025).
  • Verified Sweepsy operator-action tracker: Jackpota, Modo.us, MegaBonanza marketing withdrawals (July–August 2025).
Tracker: All states · New York · Indiana · The Readiness Framework

Last verified: 13 July 2026 against primary bill text and enforcement announcements. Flickloot corrects tracker pages in the same week a status changes. This page is a compliance reference, not legal advice.