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Florida’s Attorney General Demands Payment Processors Stop Servicing Unlicensed Gambling Websites

Legal Writer

Publish Date: Jun 16, 2026

Fact checked by: Matt Moreno

Key Points

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the transmission of cease-and-desist demands to multiple payment processors.
The letters call facilitation of payments for online gambling websites violations of Florida law.
Letter explicitly mentions offshore sports betting websites but previous activity could expand cessation demand to sweepstakes casinos.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is continuing a crackdown on unlicensed gambling by demanding that payment processors stop working with unlicensed online gambling providers. Uthmeier says that he has sent letters to that effect to multiple processors, including American Express, Mastercard, and Visa.

Uthmeier’s cessation order mentions several offshore gambling websites by name but does not limit the alleged offending payments to those sites. He has probed the operations of sweepstakes casinos in the past, making them a potential target for his escalated actions.

tallahassee florida usa capitol building

Uthmeier announces attempt to curtail unlicensed online gambling in Florida

Uthmeier shared the letter his office sent to Visa, which wastes no time in getting to the point. The letter opens by claiming that "Visa profits from facilitating payments for online gambling businesses that unlawfully offer games to consumers in Florida.”

The letter continues to explain that Florida law prohibits online gambling with the sole exception of online sports wagering via the Hard Rock Bet app and website. Seminole Gaming operates Hard Rock Bet in Florida in accordance with a gaming compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The demand points out that facilitating payments for other online gaming providers could represent a violation of Florida gambling and racketeering statutes. Convictions along those lines would enable Florida authorities to seize assets and company officers could face incarceration.

Finally, the letter orders Visa to “cease facilitating, processing, or otherwise enabling transactions associated with illegal online gambling” and states that Visa must “explain in writing by June 24, 2026, the corrective measures Visa has undertaken to end these illegal transactions.”

In terms of the sources of the offending transactions, the correspondence calls out several “illegal online gambling enterprises” by name.

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BetOnline
BetUS
Bovada
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XBet

None of these websites operate on a dual-currency, sweepstakes-based model. However, Uthmeier has demonstrated that he is aware that the model exists online.

Uthmeier inquired into sweepstakes casinos

In January, Uthmeier shared with Jesse Schekner of Florida Politics that he sent subpoenas to multiple sweepstakes casino operators. Schekner reported that Uthmeier planned “to meet with leaders from those companies and others early in the year to exchange information, allow the companies to present their cases and inform them of the strict guidelines by which they must abide to continue doing business in the state.”

Since then, Uthmeier has taken no action against sweepstakes casino websites or their partners. The legality of sweepstakes casinos in Florida remains uncertain, though.

During the 2026 legislative session, Florida Senator Jonathan Martin filed SB 1580, which would have explicitly banned online casino-style games operating on a dual-currency model in the state. The bill never came up for a vote in the full Senate, but Martin could refile the legislation in 2027.

Should that bill or another one like it become law in Florida, the period of non-action against sweepstakes casinos would end. Uthmeier has taken an active role in the enforcement of Florida’s gambling laws, even to the point of pursuing payment processors. Sweepstakes casinos could become part of that enforcement at any time.

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