00:00Another sweepstakes operator pulling out of a market happens to be New York this time.
00:05Unpredictable is the word to use that I would use, Sam, this year.
00:08Some markets getting more of the sweepstakes, some pulling out of the different sweepstakes.
00:12Hard to keep up, honestly.
00:14It's just basically every state is the wild, wild west.
00:17They just choose to do whatever they want to do.
00:20Yeah, if you play sweepstakes in New York, you have until August 1st to pull out your cash or your winnings.
00:26VGW, which is one of the largest sweepstakes operators in the country, it runs companies like Chumba Casino, Lucky Land Slots, and Global Poker.
00:36They're leaving New York before New York actually even passed a bill to make them leave.
00:40There's mounting pressure in Albany right now.
00:42They're considering a bill which would ban these kind of games.
00:46These, of course, are games that look like sports betting or look like casinos, but they don't want to operate under that banner.
00:53They use a legal loophole to kind of get through that.
00:56And the fact that New York is even considering a bill and making the largest operator leave already, I think, really speaks miles to just the mounting pressure they're facing and kind of where it's headed overall.
01:08You know, these are companies that have launched in states like California, Texas, without sports betting options.
01:13Now they're already leaving a state like New York without them actually, you know, physically passing the bill.
01:19And I think they'll have a ripple effect across the country.
01:21You know, as a New Yorker, we like to think that we set trends.
01:24But when you look at New York and what they've done with sports betting, you know, they've raised taxes, they've cracked down on Pick'em Fantasy Sports, and other states have adopted it.
01:32So I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing these companies exit other states as they consider similar bills.
