Four State Bills to Ban Sweepstakes Casinos Advance as One Stalls
Four states, including Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Minnesota, have advanced bills to ban sweepstakes casinos, while the bill in Maryland has stalled.
Louisiana
HB 883, which bans dual-currency sweepstakes casinos, passed in the Louisiana House and advances to the state Senate. This issue has been ongoing in the state: last year, Louisiana passed a bill banning sweepstakes casinos, but Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed it.
A separate bill, HB 53 — targeting illegal gambling operations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) — passed the House in late March and is now under review by the Louisiana Legislative Bureau.
Tennessee
In Tennessee, HB 1885, which would make online sweepstakes games that use dual currencies illegal, passed the committee stage and will be voted on in the House. While the bill is favored by many state lawmakers, time is running out, as final voting must be held in both state chambers by April 24.
Minnesota
Minnesota also has a bill, SF 4474, that bans dual-currency sweepstakes casinos. The bill has already passed through three Senate committees and is poised for a vote in the Senate. However, with all of the procedural issues to get it to a vote, the movement to do so has been very slow-going.
Minnesota recently advanced another bill that would ban prediction market platforms from operating in the state. In that meeting, the issue of legalizing sports gambling was informally addressed.
Oklahoma
In Oklahoma, SB 1589 would amend the gambling statute in the state, where sweepstakes casinos using dual currencies would fall under the official language of illegal online casino gambling. It was slow going for a while after the bill passed in the state Senate, but it has picked up steam, as it advanced in a committee last week.
No-go in Maryland
While four states advanced bills to ban sweepstakes casinos, that was not the case in Maryland. The state legislative session ended on April 13, and HB 295 and HB 1226 stalled. The session was just like last year's, when a bill to ban sweepstakes casinos passed the Senate but stalled in the House.
Over the last two years, interest in the issue has been evident, but across state chambers, reaching an agreement has been a tall task.
Outright bans over regulation
All four recent bills that have advanced deal with the ban on sweepstakes casinos rather than regulating them. Since sweepstakes casinos operate under the sweepstakes model, they do not need a license from a state government-run gaming agency.
The issue for the sweepstakes casino industry is obviously a big one, as the industry's market may decline amid interest in the bans. That market is a big one, as only eight states have legal online casino gambling.
Lawmakers who support the ban argue that sweepstakes casinos should be considered online casino gambling. The crux of their argument is that, while they are free to play, users can win money by redeeming Sweeps Coins.
