A number of anti-sweeps trade organizations and regulated gaming advocates agree on the need for safeguards like minimum age requirements and Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols, but is it time to step back and look at the age requirements across legal forms of gambling?
In many U.S. states, while casino gambling is reserved for 21-plus, you are welcome to buy lottery tickets, play daily fantasy sports, or bet on horses at in-person horse tracks as long as you’re at least 18 years old. There are also a number of exceptions to the 21-and-up regulation for in-person casinos. Racinos in New York and tribal casinos in several states allow 18-year-olds to gamble.
With the proliferation of online casino sites, and advertising that accompanies many of them, a growing number of gaming industry stakeholders, legislators, and state attorneys general have expressed concerns about potential risks associated with gambling advertising that intentionally or unintentionally targets younger populations.
One of the major stones thrown at sweepstakes gaming operators is the widespread 18-plus age requirement, which a number of major sweeps casinos are raising to 21 — including market leader VGW.
But is minimum age (18 vs. 21) an issue just for sites offering internet casino games?
Or should we also be questioning the 18-plus or 19-plus gambling age requirement in place for other regulated gambling forms in the U.S.?
Who decides the minimum gambling age?
In the U.S., most local gambling laws and regulations are determined by the individual states. But Native American tribes that operate gaming establishments can set their own minimum age requirements, so long as they comply with state alcohol laws.
In California, for example, tribal casinos and bingo halls are 21-plus if the establishment has a liquor license and thus serves alcohol. If no alcohol is served, they can allow 18 and up.
Most states have minimum age requirements for at least some forms of gambling included in their state laws. In the case of newer forms like sports betting and online casinos (and online poker), generally the state regulatory board sets the minimum age for participation in its regulations.
Sweepstakes operators like VGW raising minimum age to 21
Sweepstakes casino operator VGW recently raised the minimum age for participation on their sites from 18 to 21. The changes are emerging in the midst of increasing regulatory scrutiny of the sweeps gaming sector, including criticisms that the operators are lacking in consumer protections, like those in place to protect minors.
Many of the sites also serve customers across dozens of states, where minimum gambling age requirements for in-person casino gambling can vary. Shifting participation requirements to the highest common denominator could certainly help support the legitimacy of sweepstakes gaming sites from a responsible gaming perspective.
When asked what prompted the change, a VGW spokesperson told Sweepsy it was part of their “commitment to best-in-class responsible social gameplay.”
“Our goal is to exceed industry standards and we offer our players a variety of readily available tools to aid in regulating their play, such as purchase limits, and options to permanently close their account, take a break or set account self-exclusion,” the VGW spokesperson said.
As leading social and sweepstakes gaming operators look to raise the required age for customers from 18 to 21, it begs the question: Is it time for the regulated gaming market to instate a uniform gambling age of 21 across all legal gambling verticals?
Efforts to raise gambling age ongoing
A number of key regulated and responsible gaming advocates appear to be in unison that gambling should be prohibited for those under the age of 21. The research appears to support this policy too. But still, a number of efforts and calls for raising the minimum gambling age to 21 have failed to gain the needed approvals to become law.
One such effort came in September 2024 from David Rebuck, the recently retired director of New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. Rebuck proposed establishing a uniform gambling age across all legal forms of gambling in the state as part of broader efforts to protect young adults from potential gambling-related harms.
In January 2025, New Hampshire’s House Ways and Means Committee considered House Bill 83, which proposed raising the legal sports betting age from 18 to 21. While the committee failed to advance the bill (by a vote of 11-7), the effort further illustrates that a number of legislators see a need and benefit to increasing minimum gambling ages, particularly in situations where certain forms of gambling have minimum age requirements below 21.
Sen. Joseph Addabbo, a champion for responsible gaming expansion in New York, has filed several editions of a bill to establish a uniform minimum gambling age that would raise the required age on sectors like horse betting and VLTs to 21. He told Sweepsy that one motivating force behind this push is the need for consistency, which currently does not exist in New York, where Class III full casinos are 21-plus but racinos, lottery, and other gambling verticals require a minimum age of 18. This includes racinos like Resorts World in his jurisdiction, which has a number of high schools in the vicinity.
“We should be consistent,” Addabbo said.
One counterargument that comes up in response to attempts to instate a uniform gambling age of 21 is that you can join the military, vote, and participate in other adult-category activities at 18, so why not gamble?
As Addabbo put it to Sweepsy: “There’s a difference in maturity for gambling between 18 and 21, especially with anything gaming-related. We need to protect minors, who are more susceptible to gambling addiction.”
Within the justification as laid out in the text of Senate Bill S2610, which Addabbo sponsors, is the following:
“…The organization Youth Gambling International found that young adults from 18 to 21 are three times more likely to have problems associated with gambling.”
A swath of other research studies suggest similar findings of higher susceptibility to gambling addiction among younger (under-21) populations.
Justifications for raising uniform minimum age requirements to 21
The majority of efforts to raise the gambling age or to establish a uniform minimum age for all types of gambling derive from motivations to enhance responsible gaming safeguards and protect younger individuals from gambling-related risks or harm.
As Rebuck stated in an essay back in September:
“Revising the age of majority sends a powerful message that all gambling is an adult privilege. For some youth, gambling results in at-risk behavior with damaging lifelong consequences. Minors 18 to 20 years old will undeniably benefit from the extra time to fully understand and prepare for any form of legal gambling engagement in the future.”
Former National Council on Problem Gambling Executive Director Keith Whyte, Founder and President of Safer Gambling Strategies LLC, agrees. Whyte told Sweepsy he believes the minimum age for all forms of gambling should be 21.
“There is lots of research that delaying age of onset reduces risk of addiction, improves decision making, and doesn’t lead to significant revenue loss as most teenagers do not have significant amounts of money to spend gambling” Whyte said.
“My guess is that any reduction on state gambling tax revenue from raising the age and thus reducing revenue and tax revenue (likely by a relatively small amount), those reductions to state gambling tax revenue are likely offset by savings in gambling-addiction related social costs since 18-24-year-olds have the highest rates of gambling problems. And state governments are the payers of last resort criminal justice and healthcare costs, including those driven by gambling addiction.”
Why now?
It’s not surprising we are seeing these efforts now, especially considering the rise in online gambling options (and advertising) of both the regulated and unregulated variety.
In an age where forms of online gambling are becoming more accessible, there are increasing concerns about problem gambling rates in younger populations, especially as younger demographics (digital natives) represent a disproportionate percentage of online gaming participants. Coupled with what feels like a continued blitz of advertising for sports betting, online casinos, and even social sweepstakes betting sites via television, social media, and Google Ads, the number of concerned individuals is also on the rise.
Addabbo emphasized that the minimum gambling age is increasingly important now due to the accessibility issue and will continue to be increasingly important as states continue to expand legal gaming.
“It’s so easy these days with the mobile device, whether it be a phone, a laptop, a desktop — you have to be concerned about minors, using their parent’s email or the parent’s account,” Addabbo said. “So again, it’s a question of awareness and a question of, let’s avoid any kind of pitfalls that we can possibly do legislatively to protect a minor.”
Added Whyte: “A uniform gambling age of 21 would also have important public health benefits. It would explicitly group gambling with alcohol and tobacco which will help everyone – consumers and operators – understand these are adult activities/products. The consistency of messaging and regulation would reduce confusion about age limits and improve compliance.”
Asked about whether the Social & Promotional Games Association (SPGA) trade group would consider updating their Code of Conduct to increase age restrictions from 18-plus, an SPGA spokesperson told Sweepsy:
“The SPGA leaves age-gating policies to each individual operator. Notably, a wide range of real-money games in the U.S. are available to players 18 and older, including horse racing, lotteries, fantasy sports, real-money skill games, and, in some jurisdictions, live casino experiences.”
According to Whyte, the 18-plus age requirements found in some gaming verticals like sweepstakes casinos accentuate a need for a uniform minimum age of 21 across the industry.
“This is where sweepstakes and other sectors like social casino and even lottery are now being swept up in the national limelight,” Whyte told Sweepsy. “There are no good reasons to keep the age at 18 except inertia. For most sectors the 18-20-year-old cohort likely generates little revenue for operators. The tiny share of state tax revenue lost may well be offset by lower gambling addiction-related criminal justice and healthcare costs in those same states. And consistency in addiction policy makes it easier for all stakeholders.”
So what’s the hold-up?
With so much support and little apparent downside, one might wonder why the topic hasn’t gained more legislative traction across states to date, though that could certainly change at any time. Regarding support for Senate Bill S2610, Addabbo said:
“Those who are anti-gaming should love this bill because it protects minors. I really have not heard any opposition other than the fact that they question the theory behind it. As I mentioned, 18-year-olds could do some other things, but they can’t gamble. That’s right, because there’s a basic issue with mental health and other issues associated with gaming addiction that should not involve minors. So I really haven’t heard any opposition, so that’s hopeful for the bill, but then again, it’s a relevancy issue, you know? We’ll see.”
Whyte believes the minimum gambling age question will continue to get more traction as the need for gaming safeguards continues to gain more national attention.
“I actually think consistent minimum age is an important policy issue and one I think will become much more visible in the next few years,” Whyte said. “Because the widespread legalization of sports betting, and the massive national advertising, has helped turn gambling, and now gambling addiction, from something seen as a state level or sector-specific issue to a national issue. And people are now seeing all this gambling and asking some basic questions such as why the minimum age differs across states and even intrastate between sectors.”
Addabbo is hopeful that his proposed minimum gambling age bill passes out of committee during their meeting later this month, especially with March being Problem Gambling Awareness Month. Even if Addabbo’s proposed 21-plus gambling age bill doesn’t pass this year, he said the efforts won’t be for naught.
“For me, it’s about raising awareness,” Addabbo said. “The bill might not advance much; it may or it may not, but the important thing is we’ve helped raise people’s awareness that there is an issue out there and we need to address it.”