New York Sweepstakes Gaming Ban Bill Reaches Hochul’s Desk

A bill passed in the New York state Senate and Assembly this summer that would ban online sweepstakes casinos was delivered to the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo’s bill, SB 5935, unanimously passed in the Assembly in mid-June. Addabbo, the chair for the Racing, Wagering, and Gaming Committee, had no trouble steering his bill through the upper chamber.

The bill’s arrival on the governor’s desk started a 30-day clock in which Hochul can either sign the bill into law or veto it. SB 5935 would automatically become law if she does neither.

If enacted, New York banning online sweeps would punctuate what has been a disastrous 2025 calendar year on the legislative front for the industry. Similar legislation banning sweeps was enacted over the summer in California, New Jersey, Nevada, Connecticut, and Montana.

A refresher on the bill’s contents

The bill outlaws online sweeps, defining such offerings as “any game, contest, or promotion that is available on the internet and/or accessible on a mobile phone, computer terminal, or similar access device, that utilizes a dual-currency system of payment allowing the player to exchange the currency for any cash prize, cash award or cash equivalents, or any chance to win any cash prize, cash award or cash equivalents, and simulates casino-style gaming, including but not limited to, slot machines, video poker, table games, lottery games, bingo, or sports wagering.”

Addabbo’s bill gives the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) the power to “determine what constitutes a dual-currency system.” It also goes beyond banning only operators, making it “unlawful for any applicant, licensed entity, financial institution, payment processor, geolocation provider, gaming content supplier, platform provider, or media affiliate to support the operation, conduct, or promotion of online sweepstakes games within the state of New York.”

At the time of passage in June, the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA) released a statement by its executive director, former U.S. Congressman Jeff Duncan, labeling the legislation “drafted based on fundamental misunderstanding of our industry” and expressing concern it would be “hurting businesses and the New York economy in ways lawmakers did not intend.”

An Eilers & Krejcik study commissioned by the SGLA, which was released in September, estimated New York generated $762 million in online casino sweepstakes sales in 2024. That created $251.7 million in net revenue in the state and $230 million in direct and indirect economic impacts. The SGLA argued that regulating online sweepstakes — an argument that failed to gain traction among lawmakers in California — would generate approximately $100 million in new annual tax revenue.

As a point of comparison, New York’s tax revenue from mobile sports betting, which Addabbo helped launch in 2022 with a 51% rate on operators, generated $1.05 billion in receipts over the first 10 months of 2025.