The Social and Promotional Games Association (SPGA), an industry body promoting a responsible sweepstakes sector and championing the rights of the sweepstakes industry, has issued another response to New York’s Senate Bill 5935. The organization insisted that the recent amendment to the measure wouldn’t solve the existing problems and is merely a “political patch.”
The Bill Seeks to Snuff Out Sweepstakes
SB 5935, which was sponsored by Senator Joseph Addabbo, a prominent promoter of regulated gambling, seeks to outlaw grey-area operators, such as social casinos. Sweepstakes have become a hot topic in US gaming due to the intense regulatory pushback against these products.
For reference, sweepstakes platforms leverage a dual-currency system that allows players to play with virtual tokens instead of money. Since there are ways to earn these tokens without making payments, proponents of sweepstakes argue that such products do not constitute gambling.
However, since sweepstakes players can still choose to spend money to play games of chance, many regulators have slammed the vertical as illegal gambling, prompting multi-state pushback. A few jurisdictions have already introduced measures against sweepstakes while others are currently considering similar bills.
SB 5935 Seeks to Quiet Critics, SPGA Says
In New York, SB 5935 seeks to put an end to sweepstakes in a move that was previously critiqued by the SPGA. The organization insisted that the bill was designed in a way that could hurt smaller businesses because of a lack of clarity. Opponents of the measure argued that the bill could criminalize promotional sweepstakes and marketing tools that some small businesses and major non-gaming brands use.
Because of that, a later amendment clarified that the New York State Gaming Commission will be responsible for determining what constitutes a dual-currency system and which products are illegal.
In response to the amendment, the SPGA said that this shows that lawmakers are aware that “this anti-business bill needlessly threatens New York’s economy.” However, a SPGA spokesperson added that the amendment doesn’t technically fix the issue and is instead merely a “political patch meant to quiet critics.”
The SPGA clarified that the amendment doesn’t solve the lack of clarity and only punts the problem to the Gaming Commission. The organization further argued that the amendment could have adverse effects and make the measure even more ambiguous.
Lawmakers wouldn’t be amending the bill if it didn’t need amending. New York legislators are publicly admitting the bill was flawed, and other states like Louisiana should take note before making the same mistake.
SPGA statement
The association concluded that this is a bad amendment to an already bad legislation. It added that lawmakers have turned what was a mess into a catastrophe.
SPGA Promotes Regulation
In the meantime, social casino operators continue to promote the idea of regulating sweepstakes instead of banning them altogether.
The SPGA reiterated its commitment to collaborating with any lawmaker who might be interested in doing so and giving the vertical a chance. However, most states so far have remained reluctant to negotiate with the sweepstakes sector, with New Jersey standing as the only outlier where legislation proposed regulating such products.