Update: Florida HB189 advances, redefining internet gambling to include “other thing of value,” a change that could threaten online sweepstakes casinos. Most recent article here.
It’s looking like Jan. 14 may be a busy day for both sides of the debate over the future of online sweepstakes gaming.
That’s because, in addition to Maine’s sweeps casino ban bill getting its first hearing that day, a Florida bill that may target sweepstakes casinos — House Bill 189 — has also been scheduled for a hearing on Jan. 14, at 10:30 a.m. local time, with the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
HB189 received its first reading on Jan. 13, the first day of Florida’s 2026 legislative session.
HB189 was actually filed back in October, during the Florida Legislature’s interim committee weeks in the fall. It received unanimous approval from the House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee in November before getting referred to the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, where it now awaits its Wednesday hearing.
Florida is one of six states to file a sweeps ban bill for the 2026 legislative session, alongside Indiana, Maine, Virginia, Maryland, and Mississippi. During a hearing for Indiana’s bill, the chairman of the state’s gaming board said he expects even more states to file bills, as well, highlighting Illinois and Arkansas as other potential battlegrounds.
HB189 changes Florida’s definition of ‘internet gambling’
While HB189 is not the exact same as House Bill 591, another Florida bill — filed in December — that would seemingly outlaw dual-currency sweeps casinos, it includes the same sweeps-targeting language as HB591.
Specifically, HB189 changes the definition of “internet gambling” to mean:
“To play or engage in any game in which money or other thing of value is awarded based on chance, regardless of any application of skill, that is available on the Internet and accessible on a mobile device, computer terminal, or other similar access device and simulates casino-style gaming, including, but not limited to, slot machines, video poker, and table games.”
HB189 is an expansive bill — it stretches 99 pages — that overhauls multiple areas of the state’s gambling framework. Interestingly, the term “sweepstakes” is entirely absent from the language. There are no references to “sweeps” at all.
However, the addition of “or other thing of value” and “simulates casino-style gaming” does seem to target sweepstakes casinos. Sweeps Coins, while they don’t carry any real-world value, can be redeemed for cash, which has led lawmakers in other states such as California and New York to deem Sweeps Coin gaming is in effect comparable to gambling. And “casino-style gaming” covers the type of games sweeps casinos offer in their library, where, for example, they’re not direct online slot games but, rather, slot-style games.
While HB189 is slated for its first hearing on Wednesday, HB591 does not yet have a hearing scheduled. It currently sits with the House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee — which already greenlit HB189 back in November.
We’ll see how much committee members get into the nuances of gaming in Wednesday’s hearing. Because the hearing is with the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, deliberation may focus primarily on the new crimes and penalties that would be set if the bill become law.
Florida AG taking a look at sweeps casinos, as well
Florida is currently addressing sweepstakes casinos from both legislative and legal angles.
Jason Uthmeier, Florida’s Attorney General, told Florida Politics earlier this month that he had issued subpoenas to several “sweepstakes-style gaming apps.”
However, he also told the publication he wants to meet with sweeps casino operators in early 2026 in order to “exchange information, allow the companies to present their cases and inform them of the strict guidelines by which they must abide to continue doing business in the state.”
No word yet on if any such meetings have taken place. But, if HB189 does indeed outlaw sweeps gaming as the language suggests it may, it will be interesting to see if or how those conversations between sweeps operators and Uthmeier work in concert with any deliberation by lawmakers over HB189.
Assessing Florida’s value to sweeps operators
Florida is one of the most important remaining markets with Sweeps Coin gameplay available in the United States for sweepstakes casinos.
Of the 10 most-populated states in the country, four are effectively off-limits for Sweeps Coin gameplay:
- California (#1) outlawed Sweeps Coin gameplay when Assembly Bill 831 went into effect on Jan. 1.
- New York (#4) also outlawed Sweeps Coin gameplay when Gov. Kathy Hochul signed her state’s sweeps ban bill into effect in late 2025.
- Pennsylvania (#5) is a real-money iGaming state, and many sweeps operators choose not to offer their Sweeps Coin platforms in such states.
- Michigan (#10), led by the iron fist of the Michigan Gaming Control Board, is a firmly anti-sweeps state with a litany of cease-and-desist orders already sent out — and the MGCB willing and eager to send more if needed.
Florida is the third-most populated state behind California and Texas. There has been no action taken against sweeps casinos yet in Texas.
Looking at the other states in the top 10:
- Illinois (#6) — the Illinois Gaming Board told Sweepsy this in early January: “The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) works to maintain the integrity and safety of Illinois gambling. Unlicensed sweepstakes operators and other forms of illegal gambling are not welcome in Illinois. The IGB will continue to evaluate all available regulatory and law enforcement tools to respond to illegal gambling and protect Illinois patrons.”
- Ohio (#7) — there is a bill currently active that would both legalize real-money iGaming and ban sweeps casinos, but its momentum has ground to a halt due to resistance to online gambling expansion in the state.
- Georgia (#8) — nothing on the sweeps gaming front as of yet.
- North Carolina (#9) — same as Georgia.
All of the next five most-populated states (New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, and Tennessee) have targeted sweeps gaming in some way, whether sweeps gameplay is illegal (New Jersey and Washington), operators have been targeted by cease-and-desists (Arizona and Tennessee), or there is currently a sweeps ban bill on the table (Virginia).
