VGW is a popular sweepstakes operator, running platforms such as Chumba Casino, Global Poker, and LuckyLand Slots. However, the company has decided to shut down LuckyLand Slots. It will be a phased shutdown, starting on August 3rd and ending on September 14th, allowing users some time to redeem their rewards. The goal for VGW here is to focus on its other brands.
VGW has started informing players of the shutdown.
On August 3rd, there will no longer be any Gold Coin purchases at LuckyLand Slots, but players can still use any Gold Coins and Sweep Coins that remain in their accounts. Gameplay will be shut down on August 24th, but players will still have a couple of weeks to redeem Sweeps Coins, up until September 14th. Any existing coins must be redeemed, as players can’t transfer them to another VGW platform.
The goal with this drawn-out process is to give players enough players to collect rewards on their coins. In this sense, VGW is putting its players first. A phased shutdown is a common approach for sweepstakes casinos that are shutting down. We saw this in Indiana and Maine earlier this year.
VGW shut down LuckyLand Slots to focus on its other brands. Back in December, the company opened LuckyLand Casino.
In this case, they can carry on the LuckyLand brand, but having a separate slots platform was redundant, especially since sweepstakes casinos primarily focus on slots anyway. In other words, there was no point in having separate platforms for “LuckyLand Casino” and “LuckyLand Slots.”
On top of that, VGW just launched a new platform, known as Monopoly Match. There are also plans to launch a new sweepstakes casino later this year, called United Slots.
In short, VGW consolidated the LuckyLand brand to its LuckyLand Casino platform, while searching for ways to innovate in a challenging market that has faced legal pressures nationwide.
With sweepstakes casinos facing state bans and lawsuits across the country, they have been forced to innovate to remain operational in the U.S. market.
We saw this with Crown Coins launching a trading cards platform, allowing users to purchase and sell sports and Pokémon cards with a similar Sweeps Coins format. VGW is doing something similar with Monopoly Match. It gives users a chance to play games with an established brand like Monopoly. VGW gets revenue from this from in-app purchases.
To this end, VGW is looking to engage with new users, perhaps even bringing them to their sweepstakes platforms. Their shutdown of LuckyLand Slots reflects their intentions to expand their portfolio.
Expect to see more sweepstakes casinos try to adapt the approaches of both Crown Coins and VGW. They need to find different ways to engage their audiences amid legal pressures throughout the United States. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds over the next year or so. Expect to see more operators lean into skill-based games.
