Two of the remaining bills that would ban sweepstakes casinos in the 2026 legislative session recently took significant steps toward passing.
In Minnesota, Senate File 4474 passed the Senate on April 30 and was assigned to its first House committee, the Public Safety, Finance, and Policy Committee, on May 5.
In Louisiana, House Bill 883 cleared the Legislative Bureau in the Senate on May 4, advancing to its third and final reading, which is the final step before the full chamber votes on the bill.
A late start and rapid pace in Minnesota
SF4474 has already gone through quite a journey to even get to this point.
Introduced in March 2026 by Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, it would ban dual-currency sweepstakes casinos in Minnesota. The bill also includes broad language targeting vendors connected to the industry, including payment processors, gaming suppliers, geolocation providers, and affiliates.
The bill was filed late in the session, so it had to move quickly through the Senate. In late March, SF4474 cleared the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee after testimony from supporters and opponents. Backers of the bill, including representatives from Minnesota’s tribal gaming industry, argued that sweeps casinos function as unregulated gambling platforms operating outside state law.
Sweepstakes industry representatives pushed back during hearings, warning that the bill’s wording could unintentionally affect legal promotional sweepstakes and rewards systems used by mainstream companies. During committee discussions, Sen. Rasmusson said lawmakers had consulted with companies including McDonald’s and members of the video game industry, and that those groups were not concerned because the bill was specifically aimed at casino-style sweeps products.
The bill continued advancing in April, unanimously passing both the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee and the State and Local Government Committee. At one point, there were questions about whether SF4474 would miss a legislative deadline and stall for the session. However, lawmakers waived the committee deadline, allowing the measure to remain active and continue moving through the process.
That brings us to where we are today. SF4474 has cleared the Senate. Now, it must clear the committee stage and a full vote in the House by the time Minnesota’s 2026 legislative session ends, May 18. That’s a tight turnaround, but it’s not impossible, especially if the powers at be in the legislature deem it an important bill.
The vital importance of HB883
Louisiana’s HB883, meanwhile, is not just critical in its own right. If it passes, sweepstakes casinos would undoubtedly become a racketeering crime thanks to a different bill already passing last week.
Let us explain.
House Bill 53 is the bill that passed last week. It and HB883 work hand in hand. We view HB883 as the key piece that determines how powerful HB53 could ultimately become in Louisiana.
On its own, HB53 is already an aggressive enforcement bill. It pulls certain gambling-related offenses into Louisiana’s racketeering laws, meaning violations could potentially be treated more like organized criminal activity than ordinary gambling offenses. Specifically, the bill targets conduct categorized as “gambling by computer.”
But here’s the important part: Before HB883, Louisiana law did not explicitly say that dual-currency sweepstakes casinos qualified as illegal “gambling by computer.” Gov. Jeff Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill, and regulators had argued that they already were illegal under existing law, and the state had already sent cease-and-desist letters to dozens of operators in 2025.
Still, that position relied on interpretation rather than direct statutory language.
That’s where HB883 comes in.
HB883 directly rewrites Louisiana law to say that online games using a “dual-currency system” that simulates gambling qualify as “gambling by computer.” In practical terms, the bill is aimed squarely at the standard sweepstakes casino model that uses Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins.
And because HB53 specifically elevates “gambling by computer” offenses into the state’s racketeering framework, HB883 effectively supplies the legal foundation that could make sweepstakes casinos racketeering offenders.
Without HB883, enforcement under HB53 could depend on courts agreeing with Louisiana regulators’ interpretation that sweepstakes casinos already violate existing gambling law. If HB883 becomes law, though, that debate disappears because dual-currency sweepstakes gaming would be explicitly defined in statute as illegal gambling by computer.
Other sweeps bills still active …
There are two other currently active bills addressing the sweeps industry.
Washington, DC Council Bill 26-0656 would both legalize real-money online casinos and ban sweepstakes casinos. It had its first public hearing on Monday, featuring supporting testimony from the likes of DraftKings and BetMGM and opposing testimony from the likes of responsible gambling advocates and the National Association Against iGaming.
In New York, meanwhile, even though sweepstakes casinos are already banned, House Bill 10092 formally bans any type of advertising from gambling and gaming products (including sweeps casinos and social casinos) targeted toward minors on social media platforms and other similar sites and apps.
