During a recent House Gaming Oversight Committee hearing, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) stated it sent 18 cease-and-desist letters to companies offering iGaming to residents without a proper gaming license. The Board is now calling sweeps gaming ‘illegal online gambling’ and trying to weed out unlicensed operators from the state.
The PGCB wants legislative changes made to the Gambling Act of Pennsylvania to ban all sweepstakes operators from offering services. Cyrus Pitre, the PGCB's chief enforcement counsel, said in committee that sweepstakes casinos are illegal online gambling despite their misleading presentation.
The regulator sent 18 cease-and-desist letters to off-shore and in-state operators, all of which have stopped providing gaming in the state, at least for now.
The state legally allows online casino gaming and sports betting, with operators required to obtain licensing to offer services. Based on current gaming laws, sweeps sites do not have to be licensed to operate.
Gaming regulators in the state are joining other states in the US that have gone after sweeps services in recent months, calling the gaming activity ‘illegal’ based on licensing and zero regulations.
Social casino sites allow players to join for free and explore slots and table games using Gold and Sweeps Coins.
Sweepsy.com, a sweeps and social news site, notes that these sites do not require a purchase or deposit to play, but more GC can be purchased via coin packages. Sweeps Coin winnings from such platforms are eligible for real prizes such as gift cards or bank transfers. These sites operate without licensing due to the no-purchase-necessary sweepstakes format of services.
Steve Cook, the PGCB Chief Counsel, stated that regulators want to force out illegal operators who are not obligated to test for fairness to the player or to provide responsible gaming services, age verification, and other common consumer protections.
Right now, sweepstakes operators can circumvent Pennsylvania laws, but legislative changes to the Gambling Act definitions could ban sweepstakes gaming.
Russ Diamond, the Gaming Oversight Committee chairman, heard the regulators' call and is receptive to legal changes. Diamond stated that lawmakers have to make changes that will address what is happening today and try to anticipate what will happen in the coming years.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board cannot take legal action against sweepstakes operators due to the language of the Pennsylvania Racehorse Development and Gaming Act. The board is not a law enforcement agency, so it has no means to bring a criminal case to challenge the ‘illegal’ operators.
The board can pursue administrative and civil action, so that is what they are currently trying to do. However, the specific language of the law regarding online gaming and slots makes it almost impossible for the board to take action against the operators.
If the language of the law were to be changed to explicitly state that sweepstakes sites are banned, then the gaming operators would be forced to stop providing services in Pennsylvania.
In the past, when the PGCB challenged illegal skill games, the courts sided with the skill game operators. Right now, the issue is in the state Supreme Court after the Attorney General requested clarification on the issue.
Currently, the gaming sites that received the cease-and-desist letters have stopped operations, but they are not obligated to do so.
We may see new legislation introduced in the near future by Pennsylvania lawmakers to clarify the language of gambling measures to try and push out sweepstakes gaming. For now, players can still access the gaming option if sites have not removed services due to the cease-and-desist letters.
