During the Indian Gaming Association (IGA) conference in San Diego, figures such as Conference Chairman Victor Rocha and Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation Chief Intergovernmental Affairs Officer Dan Little spoke on how California “shut the door” on sweepstakes casino operations.
Light & Wonder Global Head of Government Affairs Howard Glaser believes the fight against sweepstakes operators changed once Rocha became involved, who found himself “surrounded by vampires” at the G2E conference in 2024.
“It was like that scene in Blade where the guy is dancing and having a good time, only to find out he’s surrounded by vampires at the party,” Rocha said.
Little recounted how regulators realized “they had to do something” about sweepstake operations in 2025, and began working with organizations such as the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) to form coalitions against the offering.
Legislation was then filed “without opposition,” eventually leading to sweepstakes casinos being outlawed in California by October 2025.
Rocha said sweepstakes operators, or the “stupid people and gambling association,” were “caught off guard” by the efforts from Tribes, and “couldn’t keep up” with how quickly regulating bodies went on the offensive.
Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation VP Associate General Counsel for Gaming Michael Hoenig said the motivation in California was to clarify that sweepstakes operators are illegal, and to make the capability of providing social gaming platforms illegal as well.
“It wasn’t anything new, we just needed to clarify it in California. It’s recognized that this is a problem, but that we also need to clarify state legislations given the gray area sweepstakes operators exist in,” Hoenig said.
Glaser added that the concern surrounding sweepstakes has been replaced by threats formed around prediction markets, and believes the battle served as a “good warmup” to the ongoing and future legal fights with event contract trading.
The Light & Wonder executive said Tribes “can’t be lulled into a false sense of security” just because sweepstakes operators failed to provide an equal fight against California regulation or file for legalization in state courts.
Hoenig added: “Not only are prediction markets telling states they are not going to leave, but if states even think about filing regulatory action against them, operators take them to court first.
“They’ve been very aggressive. And this is going to be a long, long fight with prediction market litigation.”
During a panel held at the IGA Tradeshow & Convention on March 31, Tribal regulators addressed the impact of illegal markets and the efforts made by prediction market operators to evade federal regulation
