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State database · VA · verified 2026-10-03

Sweepstakes laws in Virginia

No sweepstakes-casino statute or enforcement found; 2026 bills that would have barred unlicensed sweepstakes failed in conference, and SB 579 was continued to 2027.

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.

Last verified October 3, 2026. On October 16, 2026 an automated check re-opened 10 of its 10 sources and found no change. Every line below cites a document; numbers in brackets point to the source list.

Status
Bills, no law
Enforcement actions on record
0
Ranked free apps open to residents
6 of 6
Sweepstakes-casino brands and Virginia
0 exclude it, 0 limit it, of 18 tracked

Bills

  • SB 579 (2026 session): continued to 2027 in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee (14-Y 1-N), February 11, 2026. [S1]
    What the bill does

    Introduced by Senator Bryce E. Reeves. As introduced, it would add operating, conducting or promoting online sweepstakes games, and supporting or assisting them, to the definition of illegal gambling, defining an online sweepstakes game as an internet or mobile game, contest or promotion awarding prizes by chance that uses a dual currency system of payment exchangeable for a prize, award, cash or cash equivalent and simulates casino-style gaming, with a civil penalty of $10,000 to $100,000 per violation. On February 11, 2026 a committee substitute was offered that would instead direct the Virginia Lottery Board to convene a work group, including representatives of the online sweepstakes and social games industry, to study interactive online sweepstakes games and report by December 1, 2026; the committee continued the bill to 2027 the same day. (Status and summary: S1; substitute: S2.)

  • HB 161 (2026 session): failed to pass from conference, March 14, 2026. [S3]
    What the bill does

    Introduced by Delegate Marcus B. Simon to authorize internet gaming regulated by the Virginia Lottery Board. The House-passed substitute would add a section, "Unlicensed sweepstakes games prohibited; civil penalties", under which offering or conducting a sweepstakes in which a person present in Virginia may participate by paying or proffering something of value for the chance to win cash or a cash equivalent, except by a licensed internet gaming operator, would be illegal internet gaming, with civil penalties up to $100,000 for a first offense and $250,000 for each later offense, each day a separate offense. It passed the House 67-30 on February 17, 2026 and the Senate with a substitute 21-17 on March 4; the House rejected the Senate substitute 0-94 and the bill failed to pass from conference on March 14, 2026. (Status: S3; text: S4.)

  • SB 118 (2026 session): failed to pass from conference, March 14, 2026. [S5]
    What the bill does

    Introduced by Senator Mamie E. Locke to authorize internet gaming regulated by the Virginia Lottery Board. The Senate-passed substitute contains the same "Unlicensed sweepstakes games prohibited; civil penalties" section. It passed the Senate 19-17 on February 16, 2026 and the House with a substitute 70-29 on March 4; the Senate rejected the House substitute 0-40 and the bill failed to pass from conference on March 14, 2026. (Status: S5; text: S6.)

Rules for any sweepstakes in Virginia

  • When a purchase counts as a bet (Va. Code section 18.2-325(1)): [S8]
    What the rule requires

    Defines illegal gambling as making, placing or receiving a bet or wager of money or other consideration for a chance to win a prize dependent on an uncertain or chance outcome, and states that a bet or wager includes "the purchase of a product, Internet access, or other thing made in exchange for a chance to win a prize, stake, or other consideration or thing of value by means of the operation of a gambling device", "regardless of whether the chance to win such prize, stake, or other consideration or thing of value may be offered in the absence of a purchase." The purchase rule applies to chances played through a gambling device as the section defines it.

Free sweepstakes apps open to Virginia residents

Our ranked apps, by what each one's own official rules say about Virginia. Chance Infinite is operated by this site's publisher.

AppOur rankVirginia
Chance Infinite1, 81/100Open
Coinnect2, 71/100Open
Prizes by GAMEE3 (tied), 54/100Open
Winsome Rewards3 (tied), 54/100Open
PCH+5, 51/100Open (app listed unavailable)
PCH Lotto6, 48/100Open (app listed unavailable)

Sweepstakes casinos and Virginia

What the 18 sweepstakes-casino brands in our database say about Virginia 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 Virginia, and documents change often.

204 sweepstakes casinos' own terms do not exclude Virginia: see the counts for Virginia.

Regulator

Virginia Lottery

Notes

Read the 3 research notes
  • The House-passed HB 161 substitute and the Senate-passed SB 118 substitute both define "Sweepstakes" as a promotional, advertising or marketing event, contest or game in which a prize is awarded, directly or indirectly, through means such as a dual currency system of payment, as determined by the Board. (S4, S6)
  • The 2025 internet gaming bill SB 827 (passed by indefinitely in Senate General Laws and Technology, 12-Y 0-N, on January 22, 2025) contains no sweepstakes or dual-currency language in its introduced text. HB 271 (2026, Virginia Gaming Commission, continued to 2027) mentions sweepstakes only in its amusement device definition. Neither is counted above. (S7, S9)
  • Comparison with our crackdown timeline: it lists Virginia among states where bills "failed or died". HB 161 and SB 118 failed to pass from conference on March 14, 2026, which matches; SB 579 was continued to the 2027 session rather than defeated. (T1, S1, S3, S5)

What we could not establish

  • We found no Virginia regulator or Attorney General action aimed at online sweepstakes casinos in the sources checked on 2026-10-03. The Attorney General's news-release search page returned no results in the text we retrieved, and we did not find a Virginia Lottery notice on the subject.
  • legacylis.virginia.gov returned "source database is temporarily unavailable"; bill pages were read on lis.virginia.gov in a browser. The LIS keyword search could not be pointed at the 2025 session, so the 2025 check rests on SB 827 and web search rather than a full-text search.
  • We did not read the conference reports or the final Senate substitute of HB 161 in full; the sweepstakes section was confirmed in the introduced, House and Senate versions.

Common questions

Does Virginia have a law on online sweepstakes casinos?

We found no statute in Virginia that names online sweepstakes casinos in the sources we checked, last verified October 3, 2026. Status on this page: bills, no law.

Which ranked free sweepstakes apps accept Virginia residents?

Per their own official rules, Chance Infinite, Coinnect, Prizes by GAMEE, Winsome Rewards, PCH+ and PCH Lotto accept residents of Virginia. Chance Infinite is operated by the publisher of this site.

Do sweepstakes casinos accept players in Virginia?

Of the 18 sweepstakes casino brands in our database, 0 exclude Virginia and 0 limit it in their own documents, last verified October 3, 2026. Documents change often, so read the current terms first.

Sources

  1. S1 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, SB 579, 2026 Regular Session (summary and history), retrieved October 3, 2026
  2. S2 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, SB 579, Courts of Justice amendment in the nature of a substitute, offered February 11, 2026, retrieved October 3, 2026
  3. S3 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, HB 161, 2026 Regular Session (summary and history), retrieved October 3, 2026
  4. S4 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, HB 161, House substitute HB161H2 (as passed by the House), retrieved October 3, 2026
  5. S5 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, SB 118, 2026 Regular Session (summary and history), retrieved October 3, 2026
  6. S6 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, SB 118, Senate substitute SB118S2 (as passed by the Senate), retrieved October 3, 2026
  7. S7 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, SB 827, 2025 Regular Session (history and introduced text), retrieved October 3, 2026
  8. S8 Virginia General Assembly, Virginia Law, Code of Virginia section 18.2-325, Definitions, retrieved October 3, 2026
  9. S9 Virginia General Assembly, Legislative Information System, HB 271, 2026 Regular Session (history) and House substitute HB271H1, retrieved October 3, 2026
  10. 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