ClubWPT Gold has stopped sweepstakes poker play in Nevada, cutting off player access from Sept. 28 after first suspending purchases in the state. Nevada customers could no longer enter cash games or tournaments from midnight that day, while the company said it hoped product changes would eventually permit a return.
In its message to customers, ClubWPT Gold said the pause came “in response to shifts in the regulatory environment.” PokerNews, which first reported the notice, said the company immediately disabled purchases for Nevada players and told them that its withdrawal might not be permanent. Thousands of the site’s players live in Nevada.
The move reduced ClubWPT Gold’s footprint from 42 states to 41. The wind-down applied to players located in Nevada, while customers in other eligible jurisdictions were unaffected.
ClubWPT Gold uses a sweepstakes structure under which customers buy a hand-analysis product and receive chips, rather than making a conventional online-poker deposit. Those chips can be used in tournaments and ring games, with winnings convertible to dollars at cash-out. The platform has promoted prize-pool guarantees as the largest in the United States.
Poker.pro reported that Nevada enacted SB 256 in 2025, expanding its unlicensed-gambling statutes to cover dual-currency platforms without explicitly naming the model. ClubWPT Gold had operated through its Hand Analysis structure and maintained that the reworked product lay outside the law, but Nevada regulators disagreed, the report said. The company did not identify a particular rule or enforcement action as the trigger for its shutdown.
The Nevada action comes amid a wider regulatory challenge to sweepstakes gaming. Regulators have increasingly questioned whether dual-currency systems resemble conventional gambling products, and the 2026 legislative wave affecting sweepstakes gaming had reached 11 states. That scrutiny has extended beyond casino-style products to poker-focused platforms.
Nevada permits regulated online poker, but WSOP Online is the state’s only licensed real-money operator. It participates in the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement with New Jersey and Delaware, and there is no equivalent sweepstakes-poker service in Nevada following ClubWPT Gold’s withdrawal.
The platform’s online exit does not directly affect the live WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December, although Nevada players can no longer use ClubWPT Gold online to qualify for it. They can instead enter via a direct buy-in or a live satellite. Nevada customers had until Oct. 2 to submit redemption requests for remaining balances, after which their accounts are to be restricted.
