A bill that would ban Sweeps Coin gameplay at sweepstakes casinos in Mississippi was unanimously approved in the state Senate on Thursday, and it now moves onto the House.
Senate Bill 2104 has progressed quickly since its introduction on Jan. 9.
The Mississippi Senate voted 52-0 to approve SB2104 on Thursday. It now awaits its committee assignment in the House. It also becomes the second bill thus far in the 2026 legislative cycle to pass out of its originating chamber, joining House Bill 1052 in Indiana.
SB2104 was amended in committee first
Last week, SB2104 passed through the Senate Judiciary, Division B Committee with critical amendments that likely helped set it up for Thursday’s resounding approval.
One key change is that section 2 now contains a new subsection intended to shield companies like internet providers, cable operators, streaming platforms, and similar service entities from being punished simply because their hardware (a modem, a router, a smart TV, etc.) could be used by someone else for online sweepstakes gaming.
Then, later in the bill, an entirely new statutory section digs deeper into legal protections and constructs a broad “safe harbor” for companies whose services might be incidentally involved when a user accesses an illegal sweeps casino — which, under the revised definitions created by SB2104, would make the device itself an illegal gambling device.
Again, internet service providers, cable operators, and even app stores are insulated from liability when their involvement is limited to things like:
- Transmitting or hosting content created by someone else.
- Displaying betting-related information only as a side feature.
- Listing certain apps or platforms inside an app store.
However, the safe harbor protections evaporate if the entity:
- Accepts wagers itself.
- Promotes a platform it knows is illegal.
- Receives any portion of revenue generated by that platform.
The language is not ambiguous
In terms of how SB2104 specifically targets sweepstakes casinos, the bill’s language classifies any device that someone plays a sweeps casino game on as an illegal gambling device:
Any online, interactive, or computerized version of any game as defined in Section 75-76-5(k) or any other game of chance or digital simulation thereof, including, but not limited to, online race books, online sports pools, and online sweepstakes casino-style games, is hereby declared to be a gambling device, and the offering for play or operating an online or interactive platform that offers for play such games within the State of Mississippi shall be deemed unlawful under the provisions of this section.
Later in SB2104, a statute specifically says:
“[O]nline sweepstakes casinos” are illegal gambling activities under state law.
Will 2025 failure be avoided in 2026?
A Mississippi sweeps casino ban has made it this far before.
Last year, the Mississippi Senate passed a bill — Senate Bill 2150 — that would have done the same as SB2104. However, the House decided to add an amendment to SB2150 legalizing sports betting, and that addition created a gridlock that eventually doomed the bill to failure.
(We’ll see if the House tries something again this time around … )
Since then, however, Mississippi established itself as at least a sweeps-unfriendly market. The Mississippi Gaming Commission sent a cease-and-desist order to Chumba Casino in June. After that, a decent chunk of sweeps operators either shut down Sweeps Coin gameplay in the state or pulled out entirely.
Indiana and Mississippi ahead of the pack so far
In Indiana on Monday, HB1052 passed 87–11 with two members not voting, in the House — becoming, at the time, the first and only anti-sweeps legislation to pass a chamber so far in 2026. The bill now moves to the Senate, where it currently sits with the Senate Public Policy Committee and will have a hearing on Feb. 11.
Like SB2104 in Mississippi, HB1052 received an amendment during its committee process. Originally, it levied criminal penalties against sweepstakes casinos and targeted only “dual-currency” gaming ecosystems. The amendment, though, downgraded the offenses from criminal offenses to civil ones, and lawmakers also changed the language to cover both “dual-currency” and “multi-currency” setups.
There were also two attempts to amend the bill to regulate sweeps casinos, not ban them. Rep. Steve Bartels introduced an amendment during committee deliberation — with one fellow committee member supporting the amendment and saying he was “100% against” an outright ban of sweeps casinos — but it didn’t pass.
Then, on the House floor, the same amendment was proposed … but it failed on a 54-34 vote.
