“Beware the Ides of March” was a warning to Julius Caesar. “Beware the day after the Ides of March” is a warning to Massachusetts fans of Caesar’s slots, because that’s when state lawmakers in the Joint Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee must decide whether to move along a bill that would ban sweepstakes casinos, or stall it out.
Lawmakers have extended the reporting deadline for Massachusetts House Bill 4431 — which would ban sweepstakes casinos while legalizing real-money online casinos — to March 16, 2026, two months after the state legislature resumes action on Jan. 7, 2026.
Massachusetts’ 2026 legislative session ends on July 31.
Slow going in the House
Representative David Muradian introduced HB4431 in August 2025. After 2½ months of inactivity, the Joint Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee finally held a hearing on the bill. The hearing focused on consumer protections, revenue, and responsible gaming concerns related to the legalization of real-money iGaming in Massachusetts, the bill’s primary focus.
Any discussion of “illegal online platforms” or “unregulated markets” seemed directed at offshore betting sites, like Bovada and BetUs.
Sean Ostrow, the managing director of the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance, spoke during the lone testimony in defense of sweeps casinos.
Ostrow testified about the benefits of a regulated sweeps market, with a purpose-built digital sales tax of 6.25% of revenue, which the SGLA estimates would generate $25.6 million in annual revenue for Massachusetts ($30 million of annual revenue, when adding in registration fees).
Ostrow estimated that 300,000-400,000 Massachusetts adults are currently playing games at sweepstakes casinos or social plus platforms.
Rep. Carole A. Fiola, who chairs the committee, made it clear that this was the first of many talks about the bill.
So, what Is HB4431?
If passed, HB4431 would establish a regulated iGaming market, one managed by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The state’s three existing retail casinos — Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield, and Plainridge Park — would be the only operators eligible for these new licenses, per This Week in Worcester. Each of them could launch up to three online brands under the new framework.
The bill would also ban sweepstakes casinos, making it unlawful to “operate, conduct, or promote online sweepstakes games in the commonwealth.” This definition applies to dual-currency systems and simulated casino-style or sports wagering products. Offenders would face jail time, license forfeiture, and penalties ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 per infraction.
It’s a sweeping measure (no pun intended) that many advocates see as too broad a stroke.
“Lawmakers moving to ban sweepstakes while introducing iGaming demonstrate a poor understanding of the sweepstakes model and undue deference to iGaming lobbyists,” the Social and Promotional Games Association, which has since merged with the SGLA, said in a statement to Sweepsy at the time. “Instead of a blanket ban, Massachusetts could embrace oversight and regulation, securing millions in potential tax revenues, instead of deciding for its residents what games they can — and can’t — play on their mobile phones.”
iGaming’s enemy is sweeps casino’s friend?
Massachusetts Treasurer Debora Goldberg is not a fan of HB4431. Goldberg, who chairs the state Lottery Commission, thinks that legalizing iGaming would “overwhelm” the state’s Lottery marketing efforts.
“I don’t want to tell you what iLotteries did during Covid — Michigan, New Hampshire — while we had nobody being able to leave their house. And can you imagine the amount that we would have generated then?” Goldberg said at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event in December, per WWLP.
She warned that the $1 billion the Lottery generates for local aid would be at risk and urged lawmakers to allow the agency to sell its products online.
“So, I would not like to see iGaming come,” she said.
States banning sweeps
At the start of December, Maine introduced its own bill banning online sweeps casinos. And New York Governor signed Senate Bill 5935, immediately outlawing sweepstakes casinos, joining Montana, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California as states that legally banned sweepstakes casinos in 2025.
Around the same time, Indiana saw the introduction of House Bill 1052, which defines and establishes civil and criminal penalties for conducting a “sweepstakes game.” HB1052 calls for a possible $100,000 fine for games that “utilize a dual-currency system.”
Florida also pre-filed its own ban (House Bill 591) for the 2026 session.
Meanwhile, Tennessee has been cracking down on sweepstakes casinos, issuing cease-and-desist orders to nearly 40 operators, attempting to drive these platforms out of the state.
