Key Points
- Arkansas dropped the hammer on VGW & Co. on November 4th, 2026, with a lawsuit covering four of the company’s online casino brands.
- The complaint claims that these casino brands raked in about $66 million in taxable sales from Arkansas players, but that’s just what the lawsuit says, and the company hasn’t been proven guilty in court yet.
- We’ve already seen Kentucky and Florida go up against VGW, while New York managed to wrangle an $8 million settlement in September.
Players don’t actually pay a cent to play Chumba Casino. No, they buy Gold Coins and get a sweet bonus of Sweeps Coins on the side. And that’s exactly why Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin thinks VGW is hiding something: the bonus coin system is just a sneaky way to get around the fact that it’s really all about making money from people who are taking a chance on the outcome of a game. The lawsuit is aimed at Chumba, LuckyLand, LuckyLand Slots, and Global Poker, with a total of 10 affiliates being dragged into the fray. All the claims made here are just allegations for now, the courts haven’t had a chance to weigh in yet.
Griffin Thinks the Bonus Coin System is a Sneaky Way to Get Around the Law
Tim Griffin’s office thinks that even though people buy Gold Coins to play, the end result is still the same: people are spending money in the hopes of winning real cash. And even if VGW calls those coins something else, the fact remains that you can win real money playing on their site. The lawsuit is built around claims that the company broke the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and a claim of unjust enrichment. That last one is a doozy: it’s asking the court whether the company should get to keep the money it made off an arrangement that the court might decide is actually against the law.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen VGW caught in the crosshairs of a regulator. Back in April 2025, Delaware’s gaming commission said that the company had been putting on a show by calling its games sweepstakes, when in fact people were paying real money to play casino-style games. VGW said its games were perfectly legal, and then, with a bit of a twist, decided to leave Delaware voluntarily instead of taking the risk of a court battle. Now Arkansas is taking a different tack: instead of asking a regulator to decide whether VGW’s business model is legit, they’re taking it all the way to court.
The Lawsuit Zeroes in on $66 Million in Taxable Sales
The financial details are a big part of this lawsuit. According to the 42-page complaint, VGW’s defendants brought in about $66 million in taxable sales from Arkansas players. And then, in a pretty big deal, the complaint claims that the company managed to wriggle out of paying around $6 million in tax between 2022 and mid 2025.
The figure of $66 million comes courtesy of “suspicion & belief”, in other words, it’s a claim that hasn’t been proven in court yet. And to make things a bit clearer, the numbers are for all of VGW’s defendants combined, not for one company specifically. They’re also just allegations, not like the company’s books have been audited or anything. Some bits of the complaint have been redacted, so you won’t get the full picture. As for the age of players, the complaint says that people under 21 used to be able to play on the site until February 2025, which is a pretty interesting point in itself.
First, Kentucky and Florida Filed Suit, but New York Got Its Payment
The latest to join the legal fight against VGW is Arkansas. On 17 June 2026, Attorney General Russell Coleman filed a suit against VGW. Florida followed suit on 19 August as Attorney General James Uthmeier sued VGW in Hillsborough County Circuit Court.
According to the complaint filed by the Florida Attorney General, the company violated state gambling law and the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. In his request, Uthmeier asked for an injunction, the forfeiture of winnings and civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation committed deliberately. When the affected person is a senior or a disabled person, the maximum penalty increases to $15,000. According to Uthmeier, VGW could not “hide” gambling through a dual-currency system.
The lawsuit filed by Florida is 74 pages long. It also includes payment processors Yodlee, Trustly and Worldpay Holdco. The three complaints have been filed within 140 days. Florida has sued 63 days after Kentucky, while Arkansas has filed the complaint 77 days after Florida.
Unlike others, New York ended the issue with a payment instead of filing a suit. VGW made an announcement of its intention to end its sweepstakes business in the state on 30 May 2025. The next step taken by New York’s attorney general was the cease-and-desist letter on 3 June 2025, and the ban was adopted in December.
On 9 September, Attorney General Letitia James was able to get $8 million from VGW. The payment is for disgorgement, penalties and costs. The office of the attorney general claimed that some players from New York lost tens of thousands of dollars. “Our state’s gambling laws are designed to protect New Yorkers,” said James. According to Global Gaming Insider, VGW stressed it had not admitted liability.
Arkansas Lawmakers Faced Legislative Failure, But Attorney General Filled the Legal Gap
The consideration of the online gaming bill was held in 2025 in Arkansas, but the bill failed to pass the legislative process. SB524 was withdrawn on 20 March, and later its author withdrew HB1861 on 7 April for the interim study.
The industry representatives argued that states should regulate sweepstakes casino business rather than ban it. VGW has played a significant role in this process.
VGW Has Some Unwelcome News Headed Its Way in Arkansas
According to SBC Americas, Perth-based VGW are the world’s biggest sweepstakes casino operator. By April 2025, next.io put the number of states that had already seen the back of VGW at 6 (Connecticut, Michigan, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Washington). The company also closed down LuckyLand Slots back in September 2026, a move that gets a mention in that Arkansas complaint. Meanwhile, founder Laurence Escalante had by then had had enough and had resigned as CEO & Executive Chairman, a decision that came just a month after he’d started his leave of absence in January. He’s been replaced by Mats Johnson, who’s hanging on as acting CEO until the company gets itself a permanent replacement.
So, in short, VGW is facing legal action in no less than 3 different states, operating with one fewer brand, and without a permanent boss at the helm.
What an Expert Thinks: Griffin Is Really Going for The Jugular, Not Just the Company
We reckon the weakest part of the sweepstakes defence is actually not the ‘free entry’ label, the issue is more that VGW is facing state-level challenges in so many different places at once. It’ll have to fight its corner in every state, & a loss in one case could basically set a precedent for other regulators to follow suit. Each state attorney general is essentially asking whether or not the product is a game of chance, or just a wager dressed up with a few extras thrown in for good measure.
State consumer protection laws might make it easier for regulators to make this argument because they allow them to challenge how companies go about selling their products, alongside your run-of-the-mill gambling laws. We wouldn’t take anything for granted though, no judge has actually ruled in this case yet. VGW claims the company is within its rights to run casino-themed games & will defend its position in court.
The tax claims also deserve to be looked into closely. You can only really get to the bottom of a claim like that through discovery, & the $66 million that’s allegedly been raked in by the company in Arkansas is the figure that would be the top priority to scrutinise. An earlier case ended with VGW getting out of the state early, and there’s a good chance this one might end the same way. But these newer cases are also putting the company’s finances under a microscope, & the courts will have the final say on that.
The people who are in favour of the sweepstakes model are pointing out that millions of Americans are already playing these games. On the other hand, regulators are saying that the fact that they have a cash prize element puts them in a different legal category. We’re also a bit miffed about the lobbying that VGW and its pals have been doing with state legislatures. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask for clear rules, but the lawsuits in Kentucky, Florida and Arkansas suggest that regulators are prepared to take action without waiting for that to happen.
We’ve got three lawsuits in just 140 days so far. It’s a pretty clear indication that the company is going to be under even more pressure in the coming months. Players are stuck right in the middle of all this, and we’ll be keeping a very close eye on unredeemed coin balances if, heaven forbid, the courts decide in favour of the states. There’s still a decent chance that the company will try to settle, but you only have to look at New York’s $8 million payment to see what that can cost.
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