Hoping to reboot the image of an industry under pressure from lawmakers, former customers, and Google, the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA) announced on Friday that the trade group will rebrand sweepstakes casino as “Social Plus.”

The goal, SGLA Managing Director Sean Ostrow told Casino Reports, is recapture the narrative from “some opposition forces” that “lean very heavily into the term sweepstakes casino, which is maybe the most uncharitable way to describe what our member companies do.” The point is also to emphasize, he said, that sweepstakes casino is “social at its core.”

“Internally and externally, we had just described it as online social games with sweepstakes promotions,” Ostrow said. “That’s kind of a lot to say when you’re talking to somebody, when you’re testifying on a bill, et cetera, so we’re trying to distill that down into something that captures the essence of what it is.

“You have social games where people buy coins and play games with no opportunity for a prize. The main difference between those social games and Social Plus is that you can actually win a prize. So, it’s primarily that distinction.”

Ostrow: SGLA emphasizing responsibility

Ostrow said the name is also intended the emphasize what the SGLA believes are the socially responsible practices of members “in the self-regulation vein.”

“I think there is some validity to the fact that there are some operators out there that are not doing the right things,” Ostrow said. “They’re not protecting consumers. It’s a popular model that has been created by our member companies. But there are, just like in any industry, copycats and emulators and bad actors that capitalize on the popularity and aren’t doing all the things that they should be doing.

“You need to keep minors off the site, have strong consumer protections to protect financial transactions, consumer data. The [American Gaming Association] has been very vocal about their opposition, but it really is trying to lump the entire industry in with the bad practices of a few bad actors.”

Google talks ongoing

Ostrow said that the SGLA is currently involved in discussions with Google to mitigate a change to its advertising policy that is potentially damaging to the Social Plus industry.

A Google Gambling and Games policy update posted on Oct. 28 re-classified sweepstakes casinos as “outside the scope of the social casino games policy and ineligible for certification.” The change effectively banned sweepstakes casinos from having advertisements certified for display on the platform. Google now requires sweepstakes advertisers to apply for certification as online gambling content, per its policy of “games that fall under the banner of real-world rewards are subject to the specific restrictions and allowances of the online gambling policy.”

Google allows companies to seek certification advertisements for bingo, lottery, online casinos, slots, sports betting, and “online gambling games played with virtual currencies or items that have real-world value,” such as sweepstakes casino.

“We’re working with them to make sure that they acknowledge that SGLA operators do all these important things to keep consumers safe, and that we think their rules should reflect that,” Ostrow said. “We’re continuing to work with them.”

Lawsuits, litigation, trouble

Opposition forces have made for a raft of negative publicity for the sweepstakes gaming industry recently.

A New Mexico gambler and a counterpart in Missouri gambler filed class-action suits againt Stake.com owner Sweepstakes Limited and brand influencers Drake and Adin Ross, claiming predatory practices. A national class-action suit alleges that SGLA member VGW — which operates Chumba Casino, among other platforms — is running an illegal gambling operation.

In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law banning sweepstakes casinos in California.