Wyoming lawmakers have again left sweepstakes casinos in limbo after reviewing rival proposals that would either bring the products within the state’s felony professional-gambling law or permit them under a consumer-protection regime. The Select Committee on Gaming considered the drafts during Oct. 5-6 meetings in Rock Springs, but made no recorded choice between them and did not change state law.
The earlier reporting by TheLines showed the committee was still gathering information rather than settling on a legislative direction. Nicholas Larramendy, executive director of the Wyoming Gaming Commission, told lawmakers that sweepstakes platforms lacked effective barriers against underage customers, saying they would accept accounts from people of any age. He also said the commission lacked spending authority to pursue the operators.
The prohibition proposal, 27LSO-0098, would redefine professional gambling to include operating an online casino or sweepstakes game for someone else. Wyoming’s existing professional-gambling offence is a felony carrying up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $3,000, or both.
Its reach would extend beyond operators to people who knowingly provide geolocation, payment processing, server hosting, platform, gaming-content, data, promotional or advertising services. People participating solely as players would be exempt. The draft would also apply existing seizure provisions for gambling devices, records and proceeds to the newly covered activity.
The language seeks to cover a broad range of virtual-value systems, including single-currency, dual-currency, multicurrency, free-play, promotional-play and sweepstakes-entry models where units can be awarded, exchanged, redeemed or used to obtain property or a chance at it. When the proposal was first presented in July, Tamara Rivale said it was intended to address virtual currencies and tokens while concentrating liability on operators and service providers.
The competing measure, 27LSO-0200, would instead allow a sponsor to run online sweepstakes and exempt compliant activity from Wyoming’s definition of gambling. It defines an online sweepstakes as an internet contest or game offering a prize in connection with the sale of consumer goods or services, so long as no purchase is needed to enter or win.
Sponsors of casino-style games offering cash-redeemable prizes or other rewards would have to limit customers to one active account and bar those under 21. They would also have to verify that players are physically in Wyoming, offer self-exclusion and permanent account closure, provide prominent compulsive-play information, maintain privacy and account-security protections, and allow players to set limits on play time and spending. Sponsors would be required to collect and remit sales tax on taxable sales associated with the sweepstakes.
As reported in July, the committee had already paused the prohibition approach after Sen. John Kolb’s motion to send it to the Legislature’s Management Council for possible 2027 sponsorship failed for lack of a second. Members subsequently sought additional research on sweepstakes operations, other states’ responses, and the ban proposal’s definitions and enforcement provisions.
Rep. Jayme Lien requested the regulatory alternative based on statutory revisions supplied by Virtual Gaming Worlds. Representatives of Virtual Gaming Worlds, the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance, the Sports Betting Alliance and ARB Interactive had offered public comment during the July deliberations.
Sen. Joe Webb said the proposal was not close to ready and that lawmakers still faced unanswered questions about the desired policy outcome. Kolb said good legislation can take years and noted uncertainty over the makeup and views of the next Legislature.
Both drafts are marked as not approved for introduction and list July 1, 2027, as their effective date if enacted. The October agenda contained no further committee meeting, leaving potential Management Council sponsorship and consideration in the 2027 General Session unresolved.
Wyoming’s debate is part of a wider and uneven state response to sweepstakes casinos, which commonly use promotional structures and virtual currencies for casino-style games. Venable has noted that recent state measures have increasingly targeted both operators and supporting businesses such as payment processors, geolocation providers and media affiliates, while the legal treatment of such models remains fragmented across the country.
