Lawsuit in Ohio Seeks to Brandish Sweepstakes Operator as “Illegal Gambling”

A lawsuit filed by plaintiff Brenda Krivatch has alleged that a popular sweepstakes casino operator. Stake.us, is operating as an “illegal gambling” platform. 

Krivatch has filed her lawsuit on behalf of Ohio residents and argues that residents have paid money to the website and subsequently lost.  

Private Complaints Target Sweepstakes on Top of Regulatory Pushback

The complaint specifically argues that the company had used the phrasing “legal sweepstakes” in its communications, misleading, Krivatch’s lawsuit alleges, Ohioans into believing that the website was legal in the state. 

Technically, sweepstakes casinos are legal in most of the United States, with a marked shift in attitude starting in 2025, when numerous states sought to prohibit the operations of these sites, even though sweepstakes are established in a clear legal precedent. 

This is not surprising, as the sector has come under assault all over the country. In Louisiana, lawmakers are even planning to equate sweepstakes operations with racketeering. 

Krivatch insists that Stake.us offers players the option ot redeem winnings into the so-called Stake Cash, which can then be exchanged for cryptocurrency. It is this availability that Krivatch alleges makes the platform akin to licensed online casinos.

The lawsuit is based on previous legal actions in the state, wich involved the so-called sweepstakes cafés that were popular in the 2010s, and which were ultimately found to not be legal in the state. 

Krivatch is not solely targeting Stake.us, as she has pushed forward with other litigation against Social Gaming LLC, the operator behind Fortune Coins, another sweepstakes social casino, which the plaintiff similarly maintains is breaching established state rules. 

Stake.us is one of the most prominent social sweepstakes casino in the United States. 

The company has firmly denied allegations against it, pointing out that it has been operating based on established precedent regarding sweepstakes as a legitimate activity that has come under attack only recently. 

States Go All-Out on Sweepstakes Casinos 

Tribal operators and commercial companies have been pushing against the sector, seeing it as a threat to their operations, with multiple states taking up arms. Complaints have been filed all across the United States, including in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, Virginia and elsewhere.

Notably, Montana, New York and California have moved forward to outright ban the activity, prompting rebuke from the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA), a trade group looking out for the sector’s best interests.

Ongoing legal action continues in places such as Maryland where lawmakers are trying to also shutter sweepstakes casinos.