More about the upcoming launch
Playstudios was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. It develops free-to-play casual games – including sweepstakes games – for mobile and online social platforms.
While online sports betting has already been legalized in 39 states, online casinos and social casinos have received less support.
Playstudios CEO Andrew Pascal believes that is changing, calling sweepstakes casinos a “dominant theme” in the gambling industry.
After just nine months since formalizing this effort, we’re now live in open beta across seven states and the early signals are promising,” he said. “Player retention, engagement and monetization are all trending in the right direction.”
Sweepstakes casinos aren’t like traditional online casinos, which are only legal in seven states. They utilized a dual-currency system, in which customers can but don’t need to purchase sweeps coins to play online games.
These platforms aren’t required to achieve licensing from state regulators, which also means that operators are able to retain a higher percentage of their revenues.
“This trend is pressuring traditional offerings, including our core social casino portfolio. That said, these dynamics were anticipated, and they’re exactly why we launched our reinvention program last year,” Pascal said.
Cause for concern?
While supporters of sweepstakes casinos point to them not requiring customers to make purchases to play their games, many state regulators and officials believe that they still constitute gaming.
The AGA’s recent survey – which was conducted online by Interpret on behalf of the AGA from June 11-24, 2025 – polled 2,250 real-money online casino, free-to-play mobile casino and sweepstakes casino players. The results showed that 90 percent of respondents believed that sweepstakes casinos constituted “real gambling.”
Additionally, 69 percent of the subjects said that they believed sweepstakes casinos were a place to wager real money, and 68 percent said they used social casinos with the goal of winning real money.
80 percent also said they used cash to wager at sweepstakes casinos on a monthly basis, and nearly half said they did so weekly.
“Consumers see right through the 'sweepstakes' casino facade and they're calling it what it is: gambling,” said AGA VP of Government Relations, Tres York. “These platforms operate outside the law and put players at serious risk.”
Nonetheless, many online sweepstakes operators have remained bullish on the market’s potential.
Playstudios reported $6.7 million in in-app sales during its second quarter, an enormous 107 percent year-over-year growth.
