![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/uthmeier.jpg\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. – Florida\u2019s top prosecutor is cracking down on several popular online casinos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attorney General James Uthmeier says the casinos are operating illegally and violate the state\u2019s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.<\/p>\n
Florida targets online casinos <\/p>\n
What we know:<\/p>\n
Uthmeier filed the lawsuits<\/a> in Hillsborough County<\/a> against the operators of several major online “sweepstakes” casinos. The targeted sites include Stake, Chumba Casino, LuckyLand, and Global Poker.<\/p>\n The state claims these platforms use a sneaky system to disguise real-money gambling. According to the lawsuit, players buy packages of “Gold Coins” that come with redeemable “Sweepstakes Coins” that can be wagered on virtual slots, blackjack, and poker.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The winnings can then be cashed out for cryptocurrency, gift cards, or cold hard cash.<\/p>\n Uthmeier says the companies are preying on vulnerable Floridians, including minors and seniors, while dodging state licensing and consumer protections.<\/p>\n Protecting vulnerable state residents <\/p>\n Why you should care:<\/p>\n Florida law limits gambling and to licensed facilities only. Uthmeier said the operators are dodging consumer protections while preying on vulnerable Floridians, including minors and seniors.<\/p>\n “If it looks like a casino, takes real money like a casino, and pays out like a casino… it is a casino \u2014 and it is illegal under Florida law,” Uthmeier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Court seeks consumer refunds <\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n The Attorney General is asking a judge to permanently ban these sites from operating in Florida and force them to refund the money consumers have lost.<\/p>\n The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the Florida Attorney General\u2019s office and includes details from a copy of the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Florida<\/a>Gambling<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article TAMPA, Fla. – Florida\u2019s top prosecutor is cracking down on several popular online casinos.\u00a0 Attorney General James…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[47,14590,115,202,204,203,199,201,200,628],"class_list":["post-375933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-fl","tag-gambling","tag-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}