Florida: Attorney General Demands Google, Meta and TikTok Stop Sweepstakes Casino Ads

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has asked five major tech companies to confirm in writing by October 23, 2026, what steps they have taken to prevent the sweepstakes casinos he named from being advertised to Florida residents.

The letters went to Google, Meta, Reddit, Snap and TikTok. Uthmeier made them public in a post on X on September 25, 2026, saying the sweepstakes casinos being advertised operate illegally in Florida and that promoting them is a crime as well.

• Companies: Google, Meta, Reddit, Snap and TikTok
• Sites named: Stake, plus VGW’s Chumba Casino, LuckyLand and Global Poker
• Deadline: October 23, 2026, for written confirmation of the steps each company has taken
• What it is: a demand from the attorney general over Florida sweepstakes casino ads, not a court order or a new law

A blunt letter to Google

The letter to Google, which Uthmeier posted with his announcement, gets straight to the point:

It has come to my attention that your company may be advertising illegal “sweepstakes” casinos on its social media platforms to residents of Florida. Promoting illegal gambling is a crime under Florida law.

From there, it argues that the named sites have no authorization to run online casinos in Florida and that advertising them is “similarly unlawful under Florida law.” It ends by asking Google to confirm “in writing by October 23, 2026, the steps Google has taken” to make sure it is not promoting the sites to people in the state.

From the casinos to the platforms

The letters follow August lawsuits against sweepstakes casino operators and payment processors. On August 19, 2026, Uthmeier’s office filed two suits in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, one against the operators behind Stake and one against VGW. The suits also name payment processors that, according to the state, enable the platforms.

In those cases, the state is asking for permanent injunctions that would bar the defendants from operating or soliciting in Florida, along with recovery of money lost by Florida consumers, restitution and civil penalties. The new letters widen the net. As Uthmeier puts it in the letter to Google, his office will “pursue both those who operate and those who facilitate these criminal operations.”

In a separate Florida gambling prosecution, prosecutors brought charges over an alleged illegal game room in Lady Lake.

“If it looks like a casino”

The sweepstakes sites present themselves as free, safe and legal “social” entertainment, according to the attorney general’s office. The state’s complaints tell a different story.

As the state describes it, players buy packages of “Gold Coins” that come bundled with a second currency, “Stake Cash” or “Sweeps Coins.” That second currency, it alleges, works as redeemable wagering credit that can be cashed out for cryptocurrency, gift cards or cash after minimal play-through requirements. According to the attorney general’s announcement, the complaints also describe casino games across the platforms, including slots, blackjack, roulette and poker.

Uthmeier has also accused the operators of dodging Florida’s licensing, taxation and consumer-protection requirements. In states that do license online casino games, the rules look different. In Pennsylvania, for example, a state gaming board oversees online casino games and can bar players from them through its exclusion lists.

Uthmeier summed up his case when he filed the lawsuits in August: “If it looks like a casino, takes real money like a casino, and pays out like a casino, it is a casino—and it is illegal under Florida law.”

Featured image: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in his official portrait. Photo: Office of the Attorney General of Florida / Wikimedia Commons, public domain