Sweepstakes casino revenue nearly doubled between 2023 and 2024, rising from about $1.9 billion to $3.4 billion in net gaming revenue, according to industry analysts Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. Those numbers would make headlines on their own, but the real story is who is involved. Drake, Paris Hilton and Ryan Seacrest have signed on as brand ambassadors for sweepstakes casinos platforms, bringing millions of social media followers along for the ride.
Sweepstakes casinos fall into a legal gray area that allows players in dozens of US states to access casino-style games for real prizes, all without technically wagering. It’s entertainment, promotion and potential payouts rolled into one, attracting exactly the kind of widespread attention that traditional online gambling has struggled to attract.
How a Legal Gray Area Built a Billion-Dollar Playground
Sweepstakes casinos use a double currency system that keeps them on the legal side of a very thin line. As of 2026, these platforms will operate legally in 33 US states, according to VegasInsider’s 50-state guide, compared to just eight states where real money online casinos have licenses.
This is how it works in practice:
- Players receive gold coins (GC) for free or through purchases; These are purely for entertainment.
- Sweeps Coins (SC) come as free bonuses along with Gold Coin purchases, through daily logins, referrals or mail requests.
- Sweeps Coins can be redeemed for real cash prizes after meeting playthrough requirements.
- Sweeps Coins cannot be purchased directly; This “no purchase necessary” route is what keeps the model classified as a promotional contest rather than a game of chance.
Only about 12% of players ever make a purchase, according to Optimove data cited by iGaming Business. But those who did spent a combined $8.5 billion on packs of gold coins in 2024. That’s a huge amount of money flowing through a system that, legally speaking, is not a game of chance.
When the American Gaming Association surveyed 2,250 players in June 2025, 90% of sweepstakes casino users said they considered the activity gambling. Sixty-eight percent said their main reason for playing was to win real money. The gap between the legal definition and lived experience is where all the tension lies.
When Paris Hilton meets the poker table
Celebrity endorsements in licensed gambling are strictly regulated. Sweepstakes casinos, existing outside that framework, give stars a way to partner with casino-style brands without the compliance burden that comes with traditional operators. The result looks more like a fashion collaboration than a gambling sponsorship.
According to Gaming Today, Drake’s deal with Stake.us is worth $100 million a year. He regularly appears in platform promotions and live giveaways, bringing his audience into a gaming environment that is familiar to anyone who has seen him celebrate a roulette win on social media. Paris Hilton took a different approach with WOW Vegas, working through her company 11:11 Media as a brand ambassador. He promotes the purchase of coins, leads the platform’s VIP programs and organizes ‘Paris Prize Drops’ for his 26 million Instagram followers. Meanwhile, Ryan Seacrest has been the face of Chumba Casino since 2023, lending Wheel of Fortune-level credibility to one of the oldest sweepstakes platforms on the market.
Amouranth, a Twitch streamer with over six million followers, also joined PlayFame as a brand ambassador, showing that the trend goes far beyond traditional celebrities and into the creator economy.
Regulators have taken notice. The Louisiana Senate held a hearing on illegal gambling in early 2025 that included a slideshow focused on celebrity sweepstakes endorsements, SweepsKings reported. Lawmakers argued that familiar faces like Hilton and Seacrest create a perception of legitimacy for platforms that operate without standard gaming oversight. These criticisms have not stopped the trend; If anything, it highlights how firmly sweepstakes casinos have established themselves in the mainstream.
Can popularity overcome regulation?
Despite all the celebrity buzz, the regulatory landscape is rapidly tightening. Six US states have enacted explicit bans on sweepstakes casinos during 2025, according to a WilmerHale legal analysis. Montana moved in first in May, followed by California in October (with AB 831 taking effect in January 2026), New York in December, then Connecticut, New Jersey and Nevada during the same period.
The departure from California alone was significant. The state accounted for roughly 17 to 20% of the U.S. sweepstakes casino market’s revenue, according to VegasInsider, and its ban expanded criminal liability to operators, payment processors, technology providers and media affiliates alike. Google also removed sweepstakes casinos from its advertising certification program in October 2025, eliminating an important marketing channel.
Eilers & Krejcik revised its 2025 revenue forecast downward from $4.7 billion to $4 billion, SCCG Management reported. Demand itself remains strong (the number of players is still twice as high in states without bans, according to the AGA), but the addressable market is shrinking.
Thirty-three states remain open. Texas, Florida, Ohio and Illinois provide full access, and operators launched more than 25 new brands in 2025 alone, bringing the total to more than 150 active platforms. The sweepstakes crowd shows no signs of losing interest.
So if platforms offering free access and real cash redemptions continue to be banned in major markets, will fans wait for traditional online gambling to expand or will demand push regulators to create an entirely new category?
The bet worth watching
Sweepstakes casinos have landed at a rare intersection between celebrity culture, gaming, and legal creativity. Endorsements from Drake, Paris Hilton and Ryan Seacrest indicate that this form of entertainment has moved from niche forums to mainstream broadcasts. The numbers bear this out, from billions in player spending to over 150 active platforms competing for attention.
The next 12 months will be decisive. States will continue to debate bans, operators will push for clear regulatory frameworks, and the celebrity associations that brought attention to the model will continue to expand. As HollywoodLife reported, gaming endorsements have become some of the most lucrative deals in entertainment, with salaries dwarfing traditional film and music contracts.
For anyone who’s discovered sweepstakes casinos through a favorite celebrity’s feed, the appeal is obvious: real games, real prizes, and a model that sits just outside the rules. If regulators can keep pace with an entertainment trend that has already outgrown the framework created to contain it; That’s the part worth seeing.
