WINK Investigates Reporter Ryan Kruger
•8/19/2026
FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — Florida's top law enforcement official is taking aim at what he calls illegal online gambling operations.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed lawsuits this week against two online social casino companies, VGW and Stake.
Uthmeier accuses the companies of using a dual-currency model intentionally designed to disguise real-money gambling.
According to the lawsuits, players purchase packages of coins that function as redeemable credits that can be cashed out for cryptocurrency, gift cards or cash.
The platforms offer traditional casino games like slots, blackjack and poker.
"These websites do not follow the safeguards or provide consumer protections that are required of licensed casinos under Florida law," Uthmeier said. "We're seeking to recover every dollar consumers have lost under Florida's gambling recovery laws. And we will hold them accountable under our consumer protection laws for their deceptive claims."
Slot machine gambling is only legal at casinos operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida and at eight licensed locations in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
“You can lose a lot of money on these sites very quickly. And because you’re using virtual coins, you don’t have the same feeling and the same understanding that you’re losing real money,” said Robert Jarvis, a Law Professor at Nova Southeastern University and an expert on Florida Gaming Laws.
Jarvis told WINK Investigates that many of these sites prey on vulnerable populations, especially seniors.
"A lot of (seniors) have a lot of empty time they're looking to fill. That's why we have a lot of problems with a lot of seniors losing money to these kinds of websites," Jarvis said.
The lawsuits come as Florida's Gaming Control Commission cracked down on several arcades in Southwest Florida this week.
WINK cameras captured several slot machines being loaded onto trucks outside of the Majestic Lounge and Winners in Collier County on Tuesday.
In Cape Coral, the police department and gaming agents seized more than $950,000 worth of money from Uptown Bingo on Santa Barbara Blvd. after authorities say the location offered illegal slot machines disguised as legal gambling.
WINK Investigates reached out to both VGW and Stake to learn more about their business operations, and neither responded.
