Yes, but only with active state-by-state geo-restriction and ongoing legal monitoring built into the engagement — sweepstakes casinos are facing the fastest-moving wave of US state enforcement in gambling right now, and an agency that treats them like a normal casino affiliate client is building links for a business model that may not legally exist in half its target states by year end. State attorneys general have sent more than 100 cease-and-desist letters to sweepstakes operators since 2024, and at least one 2026 state law now extends liability to the vendors around an operator, not just the operator itself.
That last point is the one agencies building casino backlinks need to sit with. This isn't a compliance footnote the client absorbs alone — it's a due-diligence question an agency has to answer before signing, the same way vetting any gambling link building vendor requires checking who's actually liable if something goes wrong.
What is a sweepstakes casino, and why is its legal status different?
Sweepstakes casinos run on a dual-currency model: players buy "Gold Coins" for play-money entertainment, which come bundled with free "Sweeps Coins" that can be redeemed for cash prizes. That structure is designed to fit US sweepstakes law rather than gambling law, since no purchase is technically required to obtain Sweeps Coins. Brands like Chumba Casino, Pulsz, Stake.us and Global Poker built large US audiences this way precisely because most states never licensed real-money online casino play at all.
Regulators increasingly disagree that the structure holds up. A growing number of state gaming boards and attorneys general now treat Sweeps Coins redeemable for cash as "something of value" risked on chance — which is the legal definition of gambling in most states, sweepstakes carve-out or not. That reclassification is what's driving the 2026 enforcement wave.
Which states have moved against sweepstakes casinos in 2026?
The pace of state action accelerated sharply through 2025 and into 2026:
- New York — Attorney General Letitia James sent cease-and-desist letters to 26 sweepstakes operators in June 2025; a new state law (S5935A) made sweepstakes casinos explicitly illegal from December 5, 2025
- Illinois — the Gaming Board and Attorney General issued more than 60 cease-and-desist letters on February 5, 2026 to operators including Chumba Casino, Pulsz, Fliff and Stake US
- Tennessee — Attorney General Skrmetti issued cease-and-desist orders to roughly 40 operators in December 2025, followed by a state law banning dual-currency casino play
- Oklahoma — a 2026 law banning dual-currency casino play carries felony penalties and takes effect November 1, 2026
- California, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine and Montana have all passed or advanced explicit statutory bans during 2025-2026, while Michigan, Washington and Idaho enforce the ban through pre-existing gambling law
What does this mean for a link building or content campaign?
A backlink profile or content library built for a sweepstakes casino brand has to assume the legal map underneath it will keep shifting state by state, sometimes with only weeks of notice. Content and anchors that reference a brand as available "in all 50 states," or that don't reflect current geo-blocking, become liabilities the moment a new cease-and-desist or statute lands — and unlike a licensed operator working within one stable regulatory regime, there's no single source of truth to check once and move on from.
California's AB 831 raises the stakes further for agencies specifically: it doesn't just ban the sweepstakes casino model, it expands liability to the vendors that support it — payment processors, marketing partners and, per legal analysis from ZwillGen, potentially affiliates and service providers in the chain. That's a materially different risk profile than PBN links for a licensed casino brand, where the worst case is usually a devalued link rather than a vendor being named in an enforcement action.
How to vet a sweepstakes casino client before taking them on
Before building anything, confirm the brand's current state-by-state footprint directly with the client rather than trusting their marketing site, since compliance with cease-and-desist orders has been inconsistent — three months after Illinois's February 2026 letters, only two of the more than 60 targeted platforms had actually updated geo-blocking, according to SBC Americas' coverage of the crackdown. An agency building links or content that assumes broader availability than what's actually geo-blocked is building on top of the client's own non-compliance.
Get it in writing which states the client considers off-limits, build a process to re-check that list on a defined cadence rather than once at kickoff, and keep content generic enough that it doesn't need a rewrite every time another state acts. For agencies weighing whether the vertical is worth the operational overhead at all, treat it as a higher-touch, higher-monitoring engagement priced accordingly — not a standard casino backlinks for agencies package.
The bottom line
Sweepstakes casinos aren't categorically off-limits for link building, but 2026 is the year the legal ground under them got genuinely unstable, and California's vendor-liability language is a preview of where other states may follow. Treat every sweepstakes casino client as a moving target: verify their current state footprint before building anything, build monitoring into the retainer rather than treating compliance as a one-time check, and be honest with the client — and yourself — about whether the fee justifies the exposure.
Sources
- New York Attorney General — Attorney General James Stops Illegal Online Sweepstakes Casinos (official)
- Illinois.gov — Illinois Gaming Board and Attorney General's Office Issue More Than 60 Cease-and-Desist Letters (official)
- ZwillGen — California's AB 831 Bans Sweepstakes Casinos and Expands Liability to Vendors
- SBC Americas — Illinois Launches Sweepstakes Gaming Assault, Hits 60+ Sites
- CasinoReports — The State (By-State) Of Banning Sweepstakes In 2026
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iGaming link building & gambling SEO
Written and fact-checked by the iGaming Links team — the people who source, vet and place gambling backlinks across a network of 60,000+ casino and mainstream domains every week. Our guidance comes from running real guest-post, niche-edit and PBN campaigns for SEO agencies, iGaming operators and affiliates, not from theory.