Sweepstakes casinos weren’t on any ballot Nov. 3, but some of the officials who police them were. Voters in 30 states chose attorneys general, and at least 11 states will have a new one when terms begin in January.
That matters because AGs have become a major source of enforcement pressure alongside legislatures. Kentucky, Florida and Arkansas have sued VGW, New York secured an $8 million settlement from the operator, and Tennessee, Illinois and Minnesota have issued cease-and-desist orders.
The AGs who have taken the most direct action largely won re-election. Florida’s James Uthmeier, appointed in 2025, won a full term while suing VGW and Stake and pressing major tech platforms to stop running sweeps ads. Arkansas’s Tim Griffin and New York’s Letitia James also return.
Illinois’ Kwame Raoul, whose office sent cease-and-desist letters to more than 60 operators in February, won a third term. Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, who ordered 14 casinos to stop by Dec. 1, 2025, was also re-elected. That continuity suggests pressure in those states is unlikely to ease.
Turnover is concentrated among some of the most active officials. Alabama’s Steve Marshall, Ohio’s Dave Yost, Nevada’s Aaron Ford and Michigan’s Dana Nessel are all departing. Nessel pushed Golden Hearts Games out of Michigan in 2023, one of the earliest AG actions against a sweeps operator.
South Carolina’s Alan Wilson, a longtime opponent of online gambling, is now governor-elect. Texas’s Ken Paxton leaves without the sweeps crackdown some expected, having also stayed out of the multistate effort against Kalshi.
Alabama’s Katherine Robertson looks like the clearest continuation. She spent nearly eight years as Marshall’s chief counsel, has called for felony penalties for illegal gambling and has said online gambling is not legal in Alabama. She hasn’t named sweeps casinos specifically.
Nevada’s Nicole Cannizzaro has made no public sweeps comments, but she voted for a 2025 law that raised fines on unlicensed operators and let courts order them to give up profits. Nevada treats sweeps casinos as unlicensed operators.
Oklahoma’s Jon Echols, who has no gambling statements on record, took office just after the state’s sweeps ban took effect Nov. 1.
Texas’s Nathan Johnson, the first Democrat elected AG there since 1994, sponsored a 2025 amendment to legalize sports betting and resort casinos. That could cut either way. A state moving toward licensed gambling may treat sweeps operators as unlicensed competitors, though Johnson hasn’t taken a position on sweeps.
In Arizona, Kris Mayes won a second term. An aide described VGW as on the office’s radar but said its overseas headquarters creates jurisdiction and resource hurdles. Mayes has been far more aggressive on prediction markets, filing criminal charges against Kalshi.
Several incoming AGs, including those in Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio and South Carolina, have no sweeps record. Some ran on consumer protection, which is the legal route Arkansas and Florida used against VGW.
Based on these records, the near-term change looks less like a reversal than a handoff. Enforcement should continue where the same AGs remain, new bans will get early tests, and states with unknown successors are the real uncertainty. How willing new AGs are to prioritize sweeps over other consumer cases will shape 2027.
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