Celebs in Hot Water Over Sweepstakes Gaming Collaborations

It’s hard to ignore the recent rise in celebrities promoting online games. 

If you’ve spent even a second scrolling social media over the past month, you’ll probably seen Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Hart, Lebron James, Sofia Vergara and a whole squad of other celebs promoting Royal Kingdom — which has got a lot of people wondering how a mobile game can afford such a crazy marketing budget. 

Even former billionaire Kylie Jenner, who has 393 million followers on Instagram, has gotten involved. She recently decided to promote the Travel Town game app on her feed, so there’s no telling how much she got paid for this. Kylie certainly doesn’t need the money , that’s for sure — so it must have been a lot. 

What’s interesting about this recent trend, though, is that there are two types of games you can promote: regular games or gambling-based games.

Of course, most celebs stick with regular games to keep their image squeaky clean, but some are willing to cross over into the casino world for bigger paychecks, which is exactly what the likes of Drake, Ryan Seacrest, Paris Hilton and other huge names have decided to do. But unsurprisingly, this has landed them in hot water. 

Ryan Seacrest SUED for Promoting Chumba Casino 

We all know (and love) Ryan Seacrest. But unfortunately for the American Idol host, he’s just been on the receiving end of a lawsuit following a promotional campaign with Chumba Casino, one of the biggest sweepstakes casinos in the entire US. Seacrest’s smiling face has featured in tons of ads for Chumba Casino, leading to California resident Aubrey Carillo filing a lawsuit against him. 

The reason? Carillo claims that she’s lost significant money playing inside Chumba Casino and developed a gambling habit in the process. She blames Seacrest and his celebrity influence for this, saying she otherwise wouldn’t have been using the casino site if it wasn’t for him. Interesting, indeed. 

For now, the lawsuit is still ongoing and VGW (the company behind Chumba Casino) claim that Carillo’s case is baseless and that they’ll fight against it. Whether or not Chumba Casino and Seacrest come out on top remains to be seen — but based on the fact that Chumba is a fully legal casino site, Carillo will more than likely lose her lawsuit. 

Fashion Icon Paris Hilton Also In Sweepstakes Trouble

It’s not Ryan Seacrest who finds himself in sweepstakes casino-related trouble, as Paris Hilton has also been added to the list. 

The fashion icon is currently the face of WOW Vegas — another one of the big US sweepstakes casinos — and is featured front-and-centre of the website. After initially teaming up with WOW Vegas a few years ago, Hilton has just put pen-to-paper on a new 2-year deal with the casino, meaning she’ll be with them until at least 2027. However, the partnership hasn’t been without its problems. 

Just last year, WOW Vegas was named in a federal RICO lawsuit following claims that it’s an illegal gambling site pretending to be just a social casino. Although the lawsuit was eventually dismissed, it wasn’t good for either party’s brand image, and signifies that similar lawsuits are likely to be coming in the future. 

While all this has been going on, WOW Vegas has also continued to be hit by criticism online. Countless users across AskGamblers and Reddit have been complaining about challenges in withdrawing winnings and delayed responses from customer support, leading to some even labelling WOW Vegas a “scam”.

Although this isn’t true, WOW Vegas is definitely treading water here. Paris Hilton clearly doesn’t have a problem with it, though, hence why she’s just signed a new mega-deal with them (and with a networth of $300 million, who could blame her). 

Rapper Drake Has $100 Million-a-Year Deal with Stake — But is Yet to Face Controversy

The iconic rapper Aubrey “Drake” Graham is arguably the biggest name currently attached to a sweepstakes casino: Stake. 

Back in 2022, Drake reportedly signed a $100 million-a-year deal with Stake. That’s huge money by any stretch of the imagination, and having Drake’s name attached to them has ultimately helped Stake become one of the most recognized brands in the gambling industry. In fact, it’s even reached a point where Drake appears to be promoting Stake more than his actual music, signifying he’s not longer just a music artist: he’s sort of become a gambling influencer, too. 

What’s interesting about Drake is that his partnership with Stake runs deep. They don’t simply use his face for advertising boards. The rapper himself now regularly streams himself playing casino games on the site, which has helped Stake surpass a million worldwide users.

They used to say there was nothing bigger than a Drake co-sign in the music — and you can probably apply that to the gambling world now, too. 

Unlike Ryan Seacrest, Drake has successfully managed to dodge any potential lawsuits while working with Stake.

However, you can’t help but feel it’s only a matter of time before Drake lands himself in hot water, especially now that Stake has one of the biggest casino sites on the planet. 

More States Looking to Ban Sweepstakes Casinos Following Controversy 

Most sweepstakes casinos are booming with players. The likes of Stake, WOW Vegas, and Chumba Casino all have over 1 million players each. New customers keep coming in, too, largely because many of these casinos offer attractive bonuses.

However, none of this has gone unnoticed by state lawmakers. Some states — including California and Florida — are currently pushing to ban sweepstakes casinos altogether. The argument is that despite the “free-to-play” veneer, sweepstakes casinos still give players the option to buy virtual coins using real money, technically making them gambling sites. 

So far, only Louisiana and Montana have been successful at their attempts to ban sweeps casinos. It looks like more states are set to follow them, though, hence why there’s no telling how many states could potentially end up banning them over the next few years. If the trend continues, then it will ultimately leave a huge question mark hanging over their celebrity partnerships. 

Will the likes of Drake and Paris Hilton ditch sweeps casinos if they keep getting banned? Or will Chumba Casino, WOW Vegas, and others double down by signing even more celebrities to partner with them? It’s impossible to say for now, but it could get very messy along the way. 

Are Sweepstakes Casinos Genuinely Legal? 

At a federal level, yes — sweepstakes casinos are legal. 

For a long time, they were actually legal in 48 out of 50 states, but that number is slowly starting to decrease now that individual states are exercising their rights to ban them. It doesn’t change the fact that these casinos are still legal in the majority of states, although whether that remains the case a year from now is the big question. 

The reason why there’s so much confusion surrounding sweepstakes casinos — and why the likes of Ryan Seacrest have been hit by lawsuits — is because these casinos operate in a legal “grey area”. 

They’re just like traditional gambling sites but without real money, which is why players love them. However, where sweepstakes casinos land themselves in trouble is by allowing players to purchase on-site virtual coins using real money, creating a strange blurring of the lines between gaming and gambling. 

When Ryan Seacrest first teamed up with Chumba Casino, he was probably under the impression that everything was above board and compliant with gambling regulations. However, it seems like this isn’t the case with some sites, which is why Seacrest might eventually decide to abandon his partnership with Chumba Casino entirely if the lawsuit goes badly for him. 

Conclusion

Celebrities usually go where the money is. It’s part of being a celebrity, after all. But what’s going on at the moment is that some of these celebrities, including Ryan Seacrest, might have underestimated the legal problems that come with sweepstakes casinos. 

We’ve already seen High 5 casino — another big-name site — payout $25 million in damages to players following a lawsuit it was recently hit with. There’s every chance in the world that something similar could happen with Chumba Casino and Ryan Seacrest, too — leading to a major shakeup in the world of celebrity and gaming partnerships.