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Gaming lawyer warns bill could criminalize ordinary online promotions
Summary
A gaming-law attorney told the committee that the online-sweepstakes draft is overbroad and risks catching legitimate free-entry contests and promotional giveaways in a felony definition, urging narrower targeting of offshore, real-money operators.
Bill Gantz, co-leader of the gaming practice at Duane Morris, told the Select Committee on Gaming that draft 27LSO0098, as written, risks criminalizing a wide range of free-to-enter online promotions and gamified sweepstakes because of broad definitions of "online casino or sweepstakes game" and "representative of value." He urged the committee to narrow the draft to focus on real-money operators and offshore platforms that accept payment for play.
Gantz described examples of ordinary marketing and promotional mechanics that could be swept in by the draft's language — second-chance promotions, free-entry brackets, and free-play gamified discounts — and said making those activities felony offenses would expose businesses to civil class actions and other legal risk. He recommended industry and regulator engagement to craft a narrower definition that targets operators intended to be criminalized while preserving lawful promotional activity.
