ACE Casino has resumed operations in 4 U.S. states—Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Maryland—marking a serious strategic reversal for the sweepstakes on line casino operator. The re-entry comes months after the platform had withdrawn from these markets, signaling a renewed push by the business to safe different income sources forward of California’s upcoming ban on sweepstakes-style gaming.
Expansion Amid California’s Looming Ban
California’s Assembly Bill 831, set to take impact on January 1, 2026, will prohibit sweepstakes casinos statewide, eliminating almost 20% of the U.S. market’s complete income. Facing one of the business’s largest contractions to this point, operators like ACE Casino are re-evaluating their market methods and re-entering states beforehand deemed too dangerous or unclear beneath native legal guidelines.
Between spring and late September, ACE quietly eliminated Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Maryland from its excluded markets checklist. This shift mirrors a broader business pattern of re-expansion following a wave of withdrawals earlier in 2025. Several different operators, together with Baba Casino and Spree Casino, have made comparable strikes, re-launching in a number of states after the passage of AB 831.
While California’s market dimension stays unmatched, the mixed populations of the 4 states—roughly 29.9 million residents—supply operators an opportunity to recuperate half of the misplaced quantity. Even so, business analysts be aware that these markets are considerably smaller, with Georgia’s 11.2 million residents being the biggest amongst them.
Each of the 4 states presents a novel regulatory panorama.
Alabama has been one of essentially the most legally difficult markets as a consequence of its strict anti-gambling legal guidelines and ongoing lawsuits—greater than a dozen class actions towards sweepstakes operators are presently lively there. Despite this, most instances are stalling as a consequence of binding arbitration clauses, prompting some operators to take the calculated threat of re-entering.
In Georgia, a 2024 lawsuit towards VGW was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, which discovered the corporate’s native ties inadequate to ascertain jurisdiction. That ruling might have inspired different platforms, together with ACE, to renew operations.
Tennessee has seen an aggressive stance from its Sports Wagering Council (SWC), which beforehand pressured a number of operators, together with Sportzino, Legendz Casino, and Bovada, out of the market. Yet, latest class motion fits have made little headway, and no new enforcement actions have been taken towards ACE Casino, permitting it to cautiously resume enterprise.
Meanwhile, Maryland continues to subject frequent cease-and-desist orders towards main sweepstakes manufacturers reminiscent of VGW, Stake.us, and McLuck by means of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. However, ACE Casino and its mum or dad firm, Full Stop Limited, haven’t acquired any direct regulatory motion. According to Deadspin, many operators see VGW’s ongoing presence in Maryland as reassurance that the state could also be much less inclined to pursue instant enforcement.
Adapting to an Uncertain Market
ACE Casino’s renewed growth underscores how fluid and fragmented the U.S. sweepstakes market stays. Without federal oversight, operators should interpret state-level legal guidelines independently, typically navigating shifting boundaries between authorized sweepstakes fashions and unlicensed playing exercise.
This method represents a big change in tone for the business. After years of retreat in the face of authorized ambiguity, many sweepstakes casinos now seem extra assured in testing regulatory limits. ACE Casino’s re-entry follows the identical sample seen with McLuck and Hello Millions, each of which returned to Alabama and Georgia earlier this yr.
Industry analysts from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) mission that the general U.S. sweepstakes on line casino market will shrink from $4.6 billion in 2025 to about $3.6 billion in 2026 as soon as California’s ban takes impact. While reopening in smaller states can not absolutely substitute California’s contribution, operators hope it will probably soften the blow and keep participant engagement nationwide.
ACE Casino’s determination to re-enter these 4 states might sign a broader part of risk-taking and re-expansion throughout the sweepstakes sector. Many firms seem more and more keen to function inside authorized grey areas, anticipating that class actions or cease-and-desist orders will probably be much less disruptive than as soon as feared.
Still, the technique is just not with out threat. Legal pushback stays a risk, particularly in states like Alabama and Maryland the place playing regulation remains to be evolving. For gamers, this implies elevated entry to sweepstakes gaming but in addition continued uncertainty about its future stability.
