Two prominent law firms filed a new class-action lawsuit in New Jersey earlier this month, claiming VGW Holdings’ websites used deceptive business practices to circumvent state gambling laws.
On September 6, 2026, Davis & Norris LLP and Brown, LLC filed suit against VGW’s high-traffic websites: Chumba Casino and LuckyLand Slots. The suit claims those sites lured customers in by pretending to be social casinos, though their sites actually represented something more akin to gambling.
The firms filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, which handled the consequential King v. VGW, LTD lawsuit. The firms filed suit on behalf of a representative New Jersey resident whose name is still not publicly known.
The judge has not been assigned, though Judge Elizabeth A. Pascal of the same district court presided over King v. VGW.
The filing alleges that Chumba Casino’s and LuckyLand Slots’s sale of Gold Coins is a pretextual facade to lure customers to the site. The free-to-play websites use a second currency system, Sweeps Coins, to act as a gambling engine.
The plaintiff hopes to void VGW’s terms of service and mandatory arbitration clauses, allowing the suit to proceed in district court. Most sweepstakes casino sites have terms signed at registration that require binding arbitration outside the court system.
These arbitration hearings favor repeat defendants because the parties choose the arbitrator. Arbitrators who consistently side with a corporation tend to be chosen again. Thus, having a judge revoke the arbitration clauses is often a key step in class-action lawsuits.
The lawsuit seeks treble (triple) damages under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. This is the maximum amount that can be awarded in such cases.
Davis & Norris LLP and Brown, LLC are asking for a declaratory judgment, in which the presiding judge would clarify the legal rights, duties, or status of the parties involved.
Such a judgment would not award damages or order enforcement of any sort, but would set the stage for a court trial instead of arbitration.
The King v. VGW, LTD, filed on August 29, 2025, is still active and ongoing. Although the issue remains unresolved, the case served as a blueprint for the current lawsuit against the online sweepstakes casino industry’s largest operator.
It was filed only two weeks after New Jersey passed a ban on sweepstakes casinos. The New Jersey General Assembly passed Assembly Bill 5447 on June 30, 2025, with a 69-10 vote.
That same day, the Senate passed it 34–5. When Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law on August 15, 2026, it took effect immediately.
Such lawsuits are one of the key reasons that sites like LuckyLand Slots shut down for good on September 14, 2026. The older website couldn’t adapt to the evolving regulatory environment as quickly as competitors.
Also, its terms of use were outdated, making it particularly vulnerable to lawsuits and state legal actions. For that reason, VGW Holdings launched LuckyLand Casino in 2025 and began migrating customers from LuckyLand Slots to the newer site with a sweepstakes app better suited to the new regulatory environment.
The same year, VGW Holdings launched Just Slots, a social casino that could operate in all 50 U.S. states.
