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VGW Shareholders Approve Chumba Sale & MyPrize Gets $250M Valuation

It's another week of big news in the social and sweepstakes casino industry, as VGW shareholders approve sale to the company's founder and newer sweeps casino MyPrize gets an amazing valuation in their latest funding round.

Steve Lapinski
Steve Lapinski

Last updated: 2025-08-06

Chad Nagel

7 minutes read

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VGW's shareholders have approved the sale of all shares to the company's founder, Laurence Escalante.

This Week's Sweeps Casino News

The news coming out of the sweepstakes and social casino industry this week is huge. Despite the actions of state attorneys general, state legislatures, and regulatory bodies, it is clear that sweepstakes gaming is here to stay.

This week we see a strong move from Chumba Casino's founder, scooping up all the outstanding shares of the company in a bold play, plus relatively new social casino MyPrize gets an amazing valuation, which surely would have never happened if investors didn't see a bright future for social casino gaming in the United States.

Let's get to those details on these two big stories...

VGW Shareholders Approve Company Sale to Founder

VGW Group's founder, Laurence Escalante, still owned 70% of the sweepstakes casino giant before this latest development, but now he is going to hold the entirety of it.

VGW is the owner of Chumba Casino, Luckyland Slots, and Global Poker, three of the leading brands in the social casino and poker industry.

Other VGW shareholders owned the remaining 30% of the company, however 85% of that group voted to approve the sale of their shares to Escalante during shareholder meetings.

Originally, Escalante's company, Ocean BidCo, had offered $2.26-$2.58 per share, but a committee of the VGW board rejected his proposal. Escalante later offered $632 million for the remaining 30% belonging to other shareholds, valuing the company at $3.32 per share. An independent expert deemed the offer "fair and reasonable."

There are still additional steps before the deal is finalized. The Federal Court of Australia must also approve the transaction.

Escalante is Australia's 35th richest person, with a fortune valued right around $3 billion.

Social Casino MyPrize Gets Impressive $250 Million Valuation

At the end of July 2025, MyPrize, a newer social casino just launched during the summer of 2024, announced that they had successfully closed another funding round, bringing in $21 million and valuing the company at an incredible $250 million.

This brings the total raised since the company's founding to $38 million.

MyPrize was founded by Zach Bruch in 2023 and it officially launched its social casino just last year, making this latest funding accomplishment even more impressive.

According to the company, MyPrize is on pace to pass $100 million of annual revenue during their first year in business and achieve profitability.

According to Bruch, "The growth we are seeing at MyPrize proves that social gaming has fully arrived to the US market."

MyPrize distinguishes itself through their livestreams of creator content and sweepstakes casino games that include proprietary AI player engagement tech.

According to sources, this new round of funding for MyPrize will be used for expansion, including onboarding of creators and celebrities, enhancing their user experience and expanding the site's AI capabilities.

Also, in case you missed it, last week we reported that MyPrize is one of many social casinos that left the New Jersey market at the end of July.

Steve Lapinski
Steve LapinskiCasino Editor

Steve Lapinski specializes in just about everything related to slot machines and casino games, both online and in land-based casinos in the USA. With over 25 years experience in the online gaming industry and nearly 40 years as a recreational gambler, the breadth of his knowledge on these topics is matched by few. Steve is passionate about casinos, and he takes great pride in sharing his knowledge of the subject with his readers.

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