State database · PA · verified 2026-10-03
Sweepstakes laws in Pennsylvania
No sweepstakes-casino statute found; the Gaming Control Board told lawmakers in April 2025 it had sent about 18 cease-and-desist letters, and a 2026 bill with a sweepstakes ban sits in committee.
Disclosure: this site's publisher, Luck Incorporated LLC, operates Chance Infinite, one of the apps in these databases. Its entry is built from its own documents under the same rules as every other entry. This is reference information, not legal advice; official rules and statutes control.
- Status
- Regulator or attorney-general action
- Enforcement actions on record
- 1
- Ranked free apps open to residents
- 6 of 6
- Sweepstakes-casino brands and Pennsylvania
- 2 exclude it, 0 limit it, of 18 tracked
Bills
- HB 2801 (2025-2026 session): referred to the House Gaming Oversight Committee; no later action shown, September 24, 2026. [S1]
What the bill does
A broad gaming bill (printer's number 3912, sponsored by Representative Russ Diamond) that, among many other changes, would add 4 Pa.C.S. section 13B64, "Sweepstakes games prohibited." The text makes it unlawful for a person or entity to operate, conduct or promote online sweepstakes games in the Commonwealth, or to support or assist them, with fines of $50,000 to $500,000 per violation, revocation of a gaming license and a bar on receiving one. It defines an online sweepstakes game as an internet or mobile game, contest or promotion that uses a dual-currency system of payment allowing the player to exchange the currency for a prize, award, cash or cash equivalent and that simulates casino-style gaming, and excludes games that do not award cash prizes or cash equivalents. The Gaming Control Board and the Attorney General could investigate and issue cease and desist orders. (Status: S1; text: S2.)
Enforcement
- April 7, 2025, Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, Office of Enforcement Counsel: cease-and-desist letters, as described in testimony to the House Gaming Oversight Committee against Online sweepstakes casino operators, not named in the testimony. Status: issued. [S3]
What the record says
At an April 7, 2025 House Gaming Oversight Committee hearing on sweepstakes, the Board's Chief Enforcement Counsel testified that the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement investigates these sites and "if found illegal, the Office of Enforcement Counsel issues Cease and Desist Letters", adding: "To date, we've issued approximately eighteen such letters, all of which have been promptly complied with." The Board's Chief Counsel told the committee that the Board can act only against entities that voluntarily submit to its oversight and lacks authority to pursue legal action for criminal law violations.
Rules for any sweepstakes in Pennsylvania
- Lottery offense (18 Pa.C.S. section 5512): [S5]
What the rule requires
Makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to set up or maintain any lottery or numbers game, to sell or hold for sale unlawful lottery tickets or devices, or to advertise a lottery; declares unlawful lotteries common nuisances; states that the purchaser of a ticket or device is not liable to prosecution; and defines "unlawful" as "not specifically authorized by law." The section does not itself define a lottery.
Free sweepstakes apps open to Pennsylvania residents
Our ranked apps, by what each one's own official rules say about Pennsylvania. Chance Infinite is operated by this site's publisher.
| App | Our rank | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|---|
| Chance Infinite | 1, 81/100 | Open |
| Coinnect | 2, 71/100 | Open |
| Prizes by GAMEE | 3 (tied), 54/100 | Open |
| Winsome Rewards | 3 (tied), 54/100 | Open |
| PCH+ | 5, 51/100 | Open (app listed unavailable) |
| PCH Lotto | 6, 48/100 | Open (app listed unavailable) |
Sweepstakes casinos and Pennsylvania
What the 18 sweepstakes-casino brands in our database say about Pennsylvania in their own documents. These lists give no grade; some of these brands pay SweepstakeReport a commission through the links on their fact sheets. We do not judge whether any brand may operate in Pennsylvania, and documents change often.
- Exclude Pennsylvania: High 5 Casino, Stake.us
- Limit Pennsylvania (for example Gold Coin only): none
- Do not exclude it: Chumba Casino, Crown Coins Casino, Fortune Wins, Global Poker, Hello Millions, Jackpota, Legendz, LuckyLand Casino, McLuck, Mega Bonanza, Modo, Pulsz, Pulsz Bingo, Sportzino, Spree, Zula Casino
177 sweepstakes casinos' own terms do not exclude Pennsylvania: see the casino list for Pennsylvania.
Regulator
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
Notes
Read the 4 research notes
- In the same testimony the Board's Chief Enforcement Counsel said: "Sweepstakes casinos, despite their misleading presentation, are, in our assessment, illegal online gambling." That is the Board's stated assessment, not a court ruling. (S3)
- The Board's Chief Counsel testified that sweepstakes "challenge the element of ‘consideration’", while in-person skill games challenge the chance element, and the Chief Enforcement Counsel said the Board had "shifted our focus to platform providers like Google, Microsoft, and Apple, urging them to restrict or remove these illegal sites from their platforms." (S3)
- A House co-sponsorship memo circulated April 7, 2025 by Representative Joe McAndrew, "Ending Sweepstakes Loopholes for Unregulated Online Social Casinos and Gaming Providers", announced plans to introduce legislation; the memo page showed no bill introduced from it on 2026-10-03. (S4)
- Our crackdown timeline does not list Pennsylvania; the primary record above is consistent with that, since no statute was found. (T1)
What we could not establish
- The testimony does not name the recipients or dates of the roughly 18 letters, and we found no published list of them in the sources checked on 2026-10-03. The Board's 2024-2025 annual report mentions cease-and-desist orders against unlicensed operators generally without naming sweepstakes sites.
- The Pennsylvania Attorney General's site search for "sweepstakes" on 2026-10-03 returned one result, a "Protecting Seniors" page, and no action on sweepstakes casinos; we found no Attorney General action on sweepstakes casinos. (S6)
- We did not complete a full-text search of all 2025-2026 Pennsylvania bills. HB 2801 and the McAndrew memo were located by web search and confirmed on palegis.us; other bills surfaced by the same search (SB 465, HB 2790, SB 810, SB 442, SB 1314, HB 1919) were opened and do not concern sweepstakes casinos. A site-restricted web search of palegis.us for "sweepstakes" on 2026-10-03 also surfaced SB 376, SB 423, SB 450, SB 1023, HB 1050, HB 2400 and HR 60, which were opened and do not concern sweepstakes casinos, and House co-sponsorship memo 48824 (June 3, 2026), which concerns safeguards for licensed online gambling and names no sweepstakes legislation.
- palegis.us statute pages load their text in a frame; section 5512 was read from the frame URL.
Common questions
Does Pennsylvania have a law on online sweepstakes casinos?
We found no statute in Pennsylvania that names online sweepstakes casinos in the sources we checked, last verified October 3, 2026. Status on this page: regulator or attorney-general action.
Which ranked free sweepstakes apps accept Pennsylvania residents?
Per their own official rules, Chance Infinite, Coinnect, Prizes by GAMEE, Winsome Rewards, PCH+ and PCH Lotto accept residents of Pennsylvania. Chance Infinite is operated by the publisher of this site.
Do sweepstakes casinos accept players in Pennsylvania?
Of the 18 sweepstakes casino brands in our database, 2 exclude Pennsylvania and 0 limit it in their own documents, last verified October 3, 2026. Documents change often, so read the current terms first.
Sources
- S1 Pennsylvania General Assembly, House Bill 2801, 2025-2026 Regular Session (bill information and history), retrieved October 3, 2026
- S2 Pennsylvania General Assembly, HB 2801, printer's number 3912, bill text, retrieved October 3, 2026
- S3 Pennsylvania General Assembly, House Gaming Oversight Committee, 7 April 2025, Hearing on Sweepstakes: testimony of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's Chief Counsel and Chief Enforcement Counsel, retrieved October 3, 2026
- S4 Pennsylvania House of Representatives, House Co-Sponsorship Memo 46324, Ending Sweepstakes Loopholes for Unregulated Online Social Casinos and Gaming Providers (April 7, 2025), retrieved October 3, 2026
- S5 Pennsylvania General Assembly, Title 18, section 5512, Lotteries, etc., retrieved October 3, 2026
- S6 Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Site search results for "sweepstakes", retrieved October 3, 2026
- T1 SweepstakeReport, The sweepstakes casino crackdown: a dated timeline (site page, compared against primaries) (secondary reporting), retrieved October 3, 2026
Related: All 50 states and DC · The crackdown timeline · The app database