STATE TRACKER · SD

Sweepstakes casinos in South Dakota

Current status

No tracked explicit prohibition

We have found no state law that explicitly prohibits sweepstakes casinos here. That is an absence of a tracked prohibition, not an affirmative authorization.

Last review: June 11, 2026
Authority: S.D. Codified Laws ch. 22-25A

There is no tracked prohibition here to act on. An operator's own terms still decide whether it will register you, and some exclude states that have taken no action at all, so read the terms we link on each review page. See the operators we track

Sweeps Coins (SC) redemption: No tracked prohibition
Gold Coin (GC) free play: Yes
Minimum age: 18+
Age floor source: SDCL 26-1-1 (Age of minority)

PRIMARY-SOURCE NOTE

South Dakota's internet gambling law counts each unlawful online bet as its own violation

What the law does

Chapter 22-25A creates two felonies¹. Section 22-25A-7 bars a person engaged in a gambling business from using the internet or an interactive computer service to bet or wager, and section 22-25A-8 bars anyone from setting up a location or site inside South Dakota from which a gambling business is run online¹. Under section 22-25A-2, a gambling business includes any business that involves placing, receiving or making bets, or offering to do so¹. Section 22-25A-9 treats every individual bet offered in breach of either prohibition as a separate violation, and section 22-25A-10 sets a Class 6 felony for a first offense and a Class 5 felony for any later one¹. The South Dakota Lottery, the Commission on Gaming and their licensees, when doing what those licenses authorize, are outside the chapter under section 22-25A-15¹. Section 22-25-1 separately makes wagering anything valuable with cards, dice or other devices a Class 2 misdemeanor, apart from licensed gaming in Deadwood².

What has happened since

Each section of chapter 22-25A lists SL 2000, ch 106 as its only source, and none shows a later amendment in the text we read on September 28, 2026¹. The general gambling section was amended more recently, and its source note ends with SL 2021, ch 189². Our event history for South Dakota holds no tracked legal event. It lists no bill, no court ruling, and no use of section 22-25A-12, which lets the attorney general tell a gambling business that its web site is illegal in the state¹. No operator exit is on file either. On the operator side, none of the operators we track is recorded as excluding South Dakota players, and no operator family is recorded as excluding the state as a whole.

What is still open

The first open question is whether an operator that sells Gold Coin packages with Sweeps Coins attached is receiving bets in the sense of section 22-25A-2 when a free entry route also exists¹. The chapter defines the business by the bets it takes or the gambling establishment it runs, and does not mention promotions or free entry. The second is reach. Section 22-25A-8 speaks only to a site set up inside South Dakota, which leaves open whether a site run from another state falls under section 22-25A-7 through the rule in section 22-25A-9 that a violation counts when it starts or ends in the state¹. Section 22-25A-11 gives prosecution to the attorney general and county state's attorneys, and neither office appears in our record with a sweepstakes matter¹.

Enforcement search: Our event history for South Dakota holds no tracked legal event of any kind, so it shows no notice from the attorney general under section 22-25A-12 and no prosecution under section 22-25A-11 of a sweepstakes site¹.
Question still open: Whether selling Gold Coin packages that carry Sweeps Coins makes an operator a business that receives bets under section 22-25A-2, and whether a site run from outside the state is reached through the origin or destination rule in section 22-25A-9¹.

Sources for this note

South Dakota Codified Laws chapter 22-25A, Internet Gambling (South Dakota Legislative Research Council) accessed Sep 28, 2026
South Dakota Codified Laws section 22-25-1, gambling defined (South Dakota Legislative Research Council) accessed Sep 28, 2026

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

What the law says

Violating SDCL 22-25A-7 (internet betting by a gambling business) or 22-25A-8 (establishing an internet gambling site in-state) is a Class 6 felony for a first offense and Class 5 felony thereafter, with each individual bet or wager a separate violation (§§ 22-25A-9, -10). Generic gambling and keeping a gambling establishment is a Class 2 misdemeanor (§ 22-25-1).

Operators and South Dakota

121 of the 121 operators we track are recorded as accepting South Dakota players, and 13 of those are rated trusted.

No operator we track is recorded as excluding South Dakota players.

Highest Trust Scores among the operators recorded as accepting South Dakota:

See the full list on the leaderboard filtered to South Dakota →

How this classification was reached

Show the record, the citation and the method

What the South Dakota classification rests on

Source date: Not recorded
Last human review: June 11, 2026
Effective date: Not recorded
Basis of classification: statutory

How to read these rows

Where the operator counts come from

Of the 121 acceptance records, 38 cite the operator's own terms or rules, 10 come from a backfill of the operator's terms, 1 comes from the operator's site configuration, 13 are inferred because the terms do not list South Dakota, 56 come from our bulk backfill without a terms citation and 3 reflect site availability with no observed Sweeps Coins program.

Citation as stored

S.D. Codified Laws ch. 22-25A (internet gambling: §§ 22-25A-1, -7, -8, -9, -10) and § 22-25-1 (gambling defined).

Primary sources on file

SDLRC - Codified Law 22-25A: internet gambling chapter (SL 2000, ch 106) South Dakota Legislature / Legislative Research Council (sdlegislature.gov) · accessed Jun 10, 2026

Method

Methodology · Corrections · Changelog · How to read a state page

South Dakota questions

Are sweepstakes casinos legal in South Dakota?

We have found no state law that explicitly prohibits sweepstakes casinos here. That is an absence of a tracked prohibition, not an affirmative authorization. Authority: S.D. Codified Laws ch. 22-25A.

Does South Dakota's internet gambling chapter reach company officers, or only the company?

Section 22-25A-5 defines a person to include a director, executive or officer of a corporation, partnership or joint venture, and both prohibitions in sections 22-25A-7 and 22-25A-8 are written about a person. Our event history for South Dakota holds no case in which either prohibition was applied to a sweepstakes site or to anyone who runs one.

Which operators accept South Dakota players?

121 of the 121 operators we track are recorded as accepting South Dakota players, and 13 of those are rated trusted. No operator we track is recorded as excluding South Dakota players. The leaderboard filtered to South Dakota lists every one. Leaderboard filtered to South Dakota →

This page is information, not legal advice. Laws and thresholds change quickly, so confirm with the operator and your state attorney general before depositing, or consult a lawyer. Last verified June 11, 2026. Send a correction.