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RICHMOND, Va (Gambling911.com) - Senator Bryce E. Reeves introduced a bill to ban sweepstakes casinos in the commonwealth of Virginia earlier this year. It was revealed this week that the bill would be carried into the 2027 legislative period.
But that legislative session won't last long.
The main window will be from January 13 through late February. Virginia's Constitution provides for a 30-day regular session in odd-numbered years, 2027 being one such year. The General Assembly can legally extend an odd-year session further, by up to 30 additional days, with a two-thirds vote of each chamber.
This legislative period is largely a product of Virginia's traditional model of a part-time citizen legislature and its constitutional structure. The General Assembly was designed to conduct legislative business during a concentrated annual session rather than operate continuously like Congress.
The odds of legislation being passed to ban sweepstakes casinos during an odd number year are much lower than in even number years as a result. It can still happen, but a bill being granted inclusion in the 2027 session does not automatically give that bill formal priority over newly introduced 2027 legislation.
Unlike a real money online casino, sweepstakes - or social casinos - is an online platform that allows users to play casino-style games, including slots, bingo, table games, and even live casino games, using virtual currency instead of real money. These types of online casinos rely on additional real money purchases once the free play component is exhausted. In contrast, real money online casinos require a small deposit that can be increased through wins. Free play and cash bonuses are typically offered as well.
State lawmakers and regulators have focused mostly on the dual-currency model as opposed to language that would outwardly ban online casino gambling. The rationale here is that states may want to regulate web casinos at some point in the future. To date, only seven states do.
Indeed the Virginia sweepstakes casino ban includes such language.
The summary of this bill reads as follows:
"Illegal gambling; online sweepstakes games; civil penalty. Includes the (i) operating, conducting, or promoting of any online sweepstakes games and (ii) supporting or assisting in the operating, conducting, or promoting of any online sweepstakes game in the definition of "illegal gambling." The bill defines an "online sweepstakes game" as any game, contest, or promotion in which a prize is awarded based on chance that (a) is available on the internet and accessible on a mobile phone, computer, or similar device; (b) utilizes a dual currency system of payment allowing the player to exchange the currency for any prize, award, cash, or cash equivalent; and (c) simulates casino-style gaming, including slot machines, video poker, table games, lottery games, and sports betting. Persons who operate, conduct, or promote online sweepstakes games or take any action to support or assist in the operation, conduct, or promotion of online sweepstakes games shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $10,000 and not more than $100,000 per violation. The bill contains technical amendments."
Some sweepstakes-casino companies are trying to adapt their products rather than simply abandoning the U.S altogether., but in states that have enacted broad bans, there is increasingly little room to preserve the traditional dual-currency model.
Some of those creative adaptions include:
- Dropping the redeemable currency in banned states. An operator can theoretically continue offering a conventional social casino where virtual coins have no cash/prize redemption value. In this scenario, the sweepstakes casino sites can still operate for profit as players pay real money for virtual chips — they just can't cash those chips back out. DoubleDown Interactive operates exactly this kind of model. Its 2025 annual report says its social casino games are free, but it generates substantially all of its social-casino revenue by selling additional virtual chips. Those chips cannot be redeemed for money. Players may enjoy the casino games themselves, want to keep a long session going, compete on leaderboards, complete missions, level up, collect bonuses or interact with friends.
- Operators are contemplating the disabling of Sweeps Coin play/redemption for residents of prohibited states while retaining free-play/social features. Operators were already updating restricted-state lists and terminating sweepstakes play ahead of Indiana and Maine's 2026 bans.
- Modifying the promotional mechanics. Companies can attempt to structure promotions so they don't contain the traditional combination of prize + chance + consideration that regulators associate with gambling. The problem is that states are increasingly writing legislation specifically to prevent superficial changes to the dual-currency structure from escaping the statute.
- Operate only where legislation failed. This may actually be the industry's biggest strategy. In 2026, anti-sweepstakes legislation failed in several states even as other states enacted bans. Casino Reports counted six successful anti-sweeps measures versus seven that had stalled or failed during the first five months of the year.
Should Virginia's proposed legislation become law, operators will want to think twice before opting to remain in that market. The commonwealth would impose civil penalties ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.
- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com
