After being away for less than five weeks, ClubWPT Gold announced this week that its services have resumed in New York State. This comes despite the introduction of Senate Bill S5935A in early December, which was brought to Governor Kathy Hochul on December 1 and signed into law just four days later.
Senate Bill S5935A “prohibits certain persons from operating, conducting, or promoting
certain online sweepstakes games or supporting the operation, conduct,
or promotion of such games.”
No clarification on changes
ClubWPT Gold is back in New York after seemingly making no changes to the way it operates in the state. This is unlike ClubWPT Gold’s actions in the State of California, where they limited players to playing for redeemable Chips for just nine days per calendar month.
Instead, the only news we have is an announcement delivered by ClubWPT Gold ambassador Nikki Limo on social media.
Using Chips as a legal loophole
Though New York State found a way to close the dual-currency model, ClubWPT Gold has been able to award users “Chips”, which can be used in real-money poker games, with the purchase of a hand analysis credits package. Previously, players were awarded “Sweeps Coins” (SC) with the purchase of a “Gold Coin” package. Chips, like Sweeps Coins, are redeemable for US dollars at a 1:1 ratio.
After announcing their return to California, which also banned dual-currency systems, ClubWPT Gold are now marketing themselves as an educational platform and consider Chips as a way for players to test the knowledge they’ve gained from using their hand analysis credits.
An excerpt from their statement announcing their return to California read: “ClubWPT Gold is a poker education and training platform committed to operating in compliance with the laws of every jurisdiction in which it is available.”
It’s unclear whether or not ClubWPT Gold will follow the same model in New York.
Time will tell
It’s unclear whether or not ClubWPT Gold’s return to New York officially violates Senate Bill S5935A. If they are found to be breaking the law, Senate Bill S5935A clearly states that companies and individuals who support or promote the operation could face fines up to $100,000.
The entire sweepstakes casino market, including poker sites, has been in shambles over the last month. The two states combine for roughly 35% of the $4,000,000,000 sweepstakes market, which would leave a major hole in their economy.
Online poker players in New York are already severely limited to what sites they can play on. In addition to ClubWPT Gold, players can legally use crypto-based websites like ACR Poker and CoinPoker. Major sweepstakes poker site Global Poker left the state in 2025 ahead of the ban.
WPT brand in hot water
The past couple of weeks have been extremely tumultuous for the World Poker Tour series of brands. Just this week, WPT Global controversially signed Ren Lin as an ambassador, a player who admittedly provided another poker player with real-time assistance just a few months ago. This sparked widespread outrage throughout the poker landscape, with The Chip Race duo Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin terminating their contracts with WPT Global less than 24 hours later.
ClubWPT Gold’s social media team has caused additional backlash in the poker community, using a series of inappropriate photos in an attempt to promote their products, as seen below.
Many poker players have accused ClubWPT Gold of cyber-bullying Canadian poker pro Vanessa Kade, using AI to depict her when retweeting a post about Barbie releasing an autistic doll. Kade also believes this was a bullying attempt, voicing her opinion on Twitter/X, and strongly believes that the WPT brand will be on the receiving end of several lawsuits in the near-future.
ClubWPT Gold has also used AI to depict the all-time leader in WSOP Circuit rings (21), Maurice Hawkins, in a bikini. Hawkins has threatened to sue the brand.
References
ClubWPT Gold – https://clubwptgold.com/
New York State Senate – https://www.nysenate.gov/
