Phased Shutdown
Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW), one of the leading social gameplay and sweepstakes operators, has announced that it will be exiting the Canadian market. As such, its two leading brands, Chumba Casino and Global Poker, will no longer be available to Canadian customers.
Chumba Casino and Global Poker players were recently informed of the decision to close operations via email. The operator has confirmed that players will have until October 23rd, which is when the sites will go offline.
As social casinos, Chumba and Global Poker use a dual-currency system. Sweeps Coins are provided to the players free of charge, while Gold Coins have a more premium value, with players able to top up their account if they wish.
Players will no longer be able to purchase Gold Coins on the site as of August 28th. Further to this, they will have less than a month to spend any active Gold Coins they already own, with them becoming inactive on September 23rd.
Focus on America
The operator has confirmed that the decision to leave the market is to focus on the American market. The company has highlighted that the Canadian market is relatively small in comparison to its American counterpart and that resources are better spent there.
The announcement comes during a turbulent time for sweepstakes operators in the US. Regulatory pressure has ramped up in recent months. New Jersey recently signed a bill that bans sweepstakes operators from operating there, while Nevada, Connecticut, and Montana have also enacted similar laws.
Louisiana has also sent out a huge number of cease-and-desist letters to unregulated operators in the state, many of whom were operating sweepstakes sites. The US market continues to be a minefield of different regulations, and while GVW has not implied this has impacted their decision, the situation is difficult to ignore.
