Washington never passed a sweepstakes-specific ban and never needed one: RCW 9.46.240 already makes transmitting gambling information online a Class C felony, and Washington cases have already produced a $415 million social-casino settlement and a $24.9 million jury verdict against operators.
Washington doesn't need a new law to make sweepstakes casinos unwelcome. RCW 9.46.240, on the books long before this industry existed, makes transmitting gambling information online a Class C felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The Washington State Gambling Commission has stated publicly that sweepstakes casinos don't qualify as lawful promotions under state law - meaning the state's own regulator has already rejected the "free entry" argument this entire industry is built on.
Virtually every operator we track has responded accordingly. We list zero recommended brands for Washington on this page, and we're not going to soften that with a caveat.
What does Washington law say about sweepstakes casinos?
RCW 9.46.240 predates the sweepstakes-casino model by years and was written broadly enough to capture it anyway: transmitting or receiving gambling information over the internet is a Class C felony in Washington, full stop. Separately, the Washington State Gambling Commission has taken the position that sweepstakes-style dual-currency platforms don't meet the legal definition of a lawful sweepstakes or promotion under state law - directly undercutting the prize-chance-consideration argument that keeps the model legal elsewhere. Our guide to where sweepstakes casinos are legal explains that argument and why it survives in most other states. Between the existing felony statute and the regulator's stated position, Washington doesn't need a dedicated sweepstakes-casino ban to functionally have one.
What was the $415 million Big Fish Casino settlement?
Washington-based Big Fish Casino, a social-casino app, settled a class action for $415 million after courts found its virtual chips constituted a "thing of value" under Washington's gambling definition - even though the chips had no direct cash-redemption path. That case predates the current sweepstakes-casino wave, but it's exactly the precedent operators point to when deciding whether Washington is worth the legal exposure. A settlement of that size, in this state specifically, is a big part of why the industry's answer has been to leave rather than fight.
Can I still claim from the High 5 Casino Washington settlement?
Yes, and unlike Big Fish it has not closed. Larsen v. PTT, LLC (W.D. Wash., No. 3:18-cv-05275-TMC) was brought against PTT, LLC, doing business as High 5 Games, and High 5 Entertainment, LLC - the corporate family behind High 5 Casino, a brand we review and one that excludes Washington from Sweeps Coins play today.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| June 2025 | Jury awards the Washington class $24,928,712.17 |
| August 14, 2026 | Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright preliminarily approves a settlement - $12,000,000 floor, $30,000,000 ceiling |
| November 13, 2026 | Deadline to file a claim, object, or exclude yourself |
| December 14, 2026 | Final approval hearing |
Read the class definition before assuming it covers you. It reaches people in Washington who played or bought virtual coins on the High 5 Casino or High 5 Vegas applications after April 9, 2014 and before October 1, 2022 - the older social-casino products on Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google, not the current sweepstakes site, and not anyone who started playing after that window. Our report on the High 5 settlement claim deadline sets out the fund, the payment schedule and how to file.
The statute underneath that judgment is the part worth carrying away from this page. It rests on RCW 4.24.070, Washington's recovery-of-money-lost-at-gambling provision, which lets a losing player sue to get their money back, together with the Consumer Protection Act at RCW 19.86.090. That private right of action is why Washington keeps producing nine-figure and eight-figure recoveries against this model without the legislature ever passing a sweepstakes-specific ban, and it is the second reason, alongside the felony statute above, that operators here leave rather than argue.
Do any sweepstakes casinos still accept Washington players?
None, by design. Every one of the 33 brands in our database excludes Washington from Sweeps Coins play - the 30 we rank, plus Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots and Global Poker, which we review but do not rank. Twenty-three of those 33 publish an itemized excluded-states list of their own, and Washington appears on every one of the twenty-three, among them Crown Coins Casino, WOW Vegas, McLuck, Zula Casino, Sportzino, RealPrize and Pulsz Casino. We aren't aware of a credible, currently operating brand that actively markets to Washington residents, and we wouldn't recommend one if we found it. This page carries no offers or sign-up links for that reason.
That level of self-exclusion is close to unique. Only two other states sit on every single brand's exclusion list - Idaho and Michigan - and neither of those has a sweepstakes-specific ban statute either. For contrast, Pennsylvania is named by three of the 33 and Utah by one. When an industry this fragmented reaches that kind of consensus on one state, we treat it as a stronger signal than any single regulator's public statement. The full brand-by-state availability matrix shows where each of those brands does accept players.