NASHVILLE — Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced Monday that his office has successfully halted the operation of multiple illegal online sweepstakes casinos in Tennessee. This action is part of the Attorney General’s ongoing effort to protect Tennessee consumers from predatory and unregulated gambling operations.
Online sweepstakes casinos typically allow participants to play traditional casino-style games like slot machines, table games, or bingo with two types of virtual currencies, one of which can be redeemed for cash or other real-world prizes. This dual-currency system serves as a façade to hide the fact that participants may engage in real-money gambling on these platforms. The promotional sweepstakes model used by these casinos constitutes an illegal lottery prohibited by the Tennessee Constitution and violates Tennessee gambling and consumer-protection laws.
The Attorney General sent formal cease-and-desist letters to almost forty online sweepstakes casinos operating illegally. All platforms that received a letter have already disabled the unlawful components of their platforms or have agreed on a date in the coming weeks for winding down their illegal services, effectively shutting down their illegal sweepstakes casinos…