Sweepstakes casinos in Delaware

PRIMARY-SOURCE NOTE

Delaware moved against a sweepstakes operator with an order, not a new statute

What the law does

The authority our record cites for Delaware is the Criminal Code's gambling part, Title 11, sections 1401 to 1432¹. Section 1401 makes it advancing gambling in the second degree to sell anything by which a person promises that a number, ticket or certificate will, on a contingency in the nature of a lottery, entitle the holder to money or property¹. Section 1405 reaches anyone who knowingly manufactures, sells or possesses a slot machine or other gambling device, which section 1432 defines as equipment used or usable in the playing phases of a gambling activity¹. Each is a class A misdemeanor¹. Section 1408 says sections 1401 to 1405 do not apply to a plan that promotes merchandise or services unless it requires paying money or something of actual pecuniary value for the chance to win, or a purchase¹. Section 1413 exempts equipment used in a lottery under State control, including a video lottery agent's operations under Title 29, Chapter 48¹.

What has happened since

The Division of Gaming Enforcement issued a cease-and-desist order to VGW Luckyland, Inc. with the support of the Delaware State Lottery, and residents lost access to its platforms on April 2, 2025². The release announcing it was posted on April 7, 2025, five days later, and says officials concluded that VGW "misrepresented its services as a promotional sweepstakes" while players could buy coins for casino-style games with possible cash winnings². It rests the action on the Delaware Constitution, the Penal Code and the Gaming Competitiveness Act of 2012 as a group and names no code section². Our event history for Delaware holds that order and nothing after it. The release describes the target as a subsidiary of the Australian-based VGW Holdings Ltd.², and our record holds no exit date for any operator in Delaware, so it cannot tie a brand's departure to the order.

What is still open

Which provision did the order apply? Our file holds the State's release and not the order itself, so the record cannot say². How does the merchandising exemption treat a site that sells coin packages but also gives entries away? Section 1408 turns on whether the chance to win must be paid for, and our event history holds no Delaware court reading of that phrase¹. What does the record show for promoters? Our record marks affiliate liability for Delaware, yet the Code's section on spreading gambling information, section 1411, is written around private wires and call services, and no tracked event shows it used against a website¹.

Enforcement search

Our event history for Delaware holds one enforcement action: the Division of Gaming Enforcement's cease-and-desist order to VGW Luckyland, Inc., effective April 2, 2025. It holds no order against any other operator and no court ruling.

Question still open

Whether the paid-chance condition in Delaware's merchandising exemption reaches a coin-package site that also gives entries away has no Delaware court reading in our record, and the VGW Luckyland order is on file only through the State's release.

Sources for this note

1. Delaware Code Title 11, Chapter 5, Subchapter VII, Part D: offenses involving gambling (Delaware Code Online) accessed Sep 28, 2026
2. Delaware shuts down illegal online slots, Division of Gaming Enforcement release, April 7, 2025 (news.delaware.gov) accessed Sep 28, 2026

Sources rechecked 2026-09-28. Next scheduled review 2026-12-28.