Social online poker site ClubWPT Gold triumphantly announced its return to New York a little over a month after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill prohibiting sweepstakes casino into law.
The sites exited the state in December like many other social casino sites, but announced on social media this week that it was returning to the Empire State:
Currently, the site’s terms and conditions state the the only states where the site is not offered are Connecticut, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey and Washington. Three of these states passed new legislation banning sweepstakes gaming last year.
That list does not include New York, nor does it include California or Nevada, two other states with new laws on the book limiting the scope of social sweepstakes games on the site.
Can hand analysis avert the dual-currency ban?
In September the site announced that, rather than offer Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, users would be purchasing opportunities to have hands they played on the site analyzed. Each hand analyzed costs $.50 and comes with a complimentary $1 in Chips to use for tournaments and cash game play.
Most of the states with sweepstakes casino bans utilize language referring to a dual-currency system. Rather than offering the purchase of a currency, ClubWPT Gold is offering a service that comes with chips, which some could argue is a different framework than the Gold Coin/Sweeps Coin model.
California ClubWPT Gold players limited on play
The site has also changed the parameters for what California players on the site are allowed to play and which events will allow the site’s Chips to be redeemed for cash.
According to ClubWPT Gold, California players can only play in tournaments and cash games and earn Chips that can be redeemed for nine days each month. These “California Days” are not a set period of time for the entire group of players in the state. Rather, it varies person by person. For example, if someone does not play a tournament or ring game until the 12th of the month, that is the start of the nine-day window they can earn redeemable chips for that period.
Players can play beyond the nine days and accumulate chips that can be used for play on the site, including during future “California Days” periods, but those chips will not be available to cash out.
California’s AB831 went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year, which is also when the new California program for the site debuted.
Nothing in the language of AB831 changed existing sweepstakes laws regarding length of play, but longstanding sweepstakes law in the state stipulates a clear start and end date of when promotions offered by companies will run, which could explain the new rules, which eliminate the notion of a perpetual sweepstakes promotion running in the state.
