Fans of Slingo may have noticed the game has gradually been dropping out of libraries at sweepstakes casinos. In fact, there isn’t one sweeps or social platform that offers Slingo games anymore!
As the name implies, Slingo is a combination of slots and bingo, where players look to mark off numbers on a grid as they appear on reels at the bottom of the screen. First developed in the US in 1994 as a paper-and-pen game, it soon spread to various digital formats, including online casinos.
In 2015, London-based gaming company Gaming Realms bought the brand, but it recently made the decision to withdraw Slingo permanently from the sweepstakes format. Slingo is still going strong in UK casinos and at US real money casinos, but for now, sweepstakes players are out of luck.
Many Big Sweeps Casinos Lose Out
Previously, Slingo was available at Mega Bonanza, McLuck, Hello Millions, PlayFame, Fortune Coins, High 5, and Chumba. Players could play for GC or SC on popular titles such as Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania Slingo and Deal or No Deal Slingo, attempting to score lines and land a full house.
Gaming Realms hasn’t given concrete reason for pulling out of the US sweepstakes market, leaving disappointed fans to speculate as to why. The main theory relates to regulatory pressures on the sweepstakes market as a whole in the US.
Theories Surrounding Gaming Realms’ Sweepstakes Pullout
Lawmakers from multiple US states are currently debating the sweepstakes vertical, with anti-sweepstakes proposals making their way through state legislatures in Montana, Louisiana, and New York, among others. However, it’s worth noting that no such bills have passed into law yet, and two have officially failed in Arkansas and Maryland.
We’re also seeing multiple private lawsuits being brought against sweepstakes operators, such as the one naming Stake.us in California, and a RICO case involving Apple and Google. Yes, while most cases have targeted only the sweeps casino in question, others have a broader scope, bringing claims against collaborating companies such as payment providers or those that facilitate app downloads. It’s not too much of a leap to expect that one day, software providers like Gaming Realms could potentially also be named in similar suits.
In this instance, perhaps Gaming Realms decided to remove any risk by withdrawing from the sweepstakes market completely — they wouldn’t be the only provider who chooses to offer its games exclusively at real money US casinos. As we often see with sweepstakes casinos withdrawing from certain states, some companies are simply more risk-averse than others.
And, of course, there could have been other reasons that factored into Gaming Realms’ decision too. While Slingo was loved by a portion of sweepstakes players, it never rivaled pure slots in the popularity charts, so maybe Gaming Realms’ sweeps partnerships were no longer worthwhile financially. Or maybe it’s simply choosing to reposition and refocus the brand in different markets.
We’ll perhaps never know the real reason behind the decision, and there may come a time when it returns to sweepstakes platforms, but, unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to Slingo for now.
Originally published: April 24th 2025
Author: Joseph Allen
Updated:
