Golden Hearts Casino Shut Down by Michigan Authorities

The name of Dana Nessel, the Michigan Attorney General, recently came up in the sweepstakes gaming scene.

The Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division at the State Attorney General, in collaboration with the Michigan Gaming Control Board, ceased Golden Hearts Games operations by issuing an Assurance of Discontinuance to the sweepstakes casino.

As of September 1, Michigan users can no longer create new accounts or access their existing ones.

Golden Hearts Games Shut Down in Michigan

The Investigation

The friction between Golden Hearts Casino and the local law in Michigan began in 2021. The Michigan Gaming Control Board began investigating Golden Hearts Games’s operations and concluded that they fall under the category of an illegal gaming site, as it does not hold a license to offer such services in Michigan.

In 2022, the Department of Attorney General sent a cease-and-decease letter to the social casino, but Golden Hearts ignored it and continued accepting Michigan players.

Thus, resorting to a more serious measure, Nessel’s office sent a notice to Golden Hearts Games that it intended to file an action under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.

Facing a legal threat, the social casino decided to step back and sign the Assurance of Discontinuance on September 1, 2023.

What is Golden Hearts Games?

Combining charitable activities and online sweepstakes gaming is what makes Golden Hearts one of a kind. When creating your account at the social casino, you select one of the many available charity organizations to which you wish to donate.

When you donate, you receive free Golden Hearts Coins, with which you can play casino-style games like slots, table games, and others. If you win with them, you can redeem them for real money through a bank transfer, PayPal, gift cards, and others.

Is Golden Hearts Casino Legal?

Social casinos, such as Golden Hearts Casino, are generally legal nationwide, with a few exceptions. Players cannot deposit and gamble directly with their money in them, as in real casinos. Thus, they are not considered gambling and most of them are legal everywhere in the States.

This is what by far Golden Hearts Games stated in their Terms and Conditions, but we can now see that they have added an additional sentence in their “Eligibility” section:

“Residents of Michigan or individuals physically located in the state of Michigan are prohibited from creating an account and playing on Golden Hearts Games.”

So, generally, Golden Hearts is legal as most sweepstakes casinos, but we see that, following the fate of Fliff in California, their acceptance varies from state to state.

We also highly advise you to avoid circumventing the restrictions for using Golden Hearts Games in Michigan through VPN or other misleading services, as you would not be able to verify your account.

This means that apart from illegally playing on the site, you would also not be able to redeem any form of prizes from it.

If you reside in Michigan, you can check some of the other sweepstakes casinos we have listed here on Mr. Sweepstakes, as most of them are legal to play from the state.