All eyes and ears in the sweepstakes gaming industry will be trained on Louisiana this Wednesday, as Senate Bill 181 — arguably the most potent of the last remaining sweeps ban bills this legislative session — receives its first hearing in the House.
SB181, which already passed the Senate by a 39-0 vote in late April, will be heard by the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee at 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
Introduced a little over a month ago, Sen. Adam Bass’ SB181 has moved quickly through the Louisiana Legislature.
The legislative session ends on June 12 in Louisiana, so SB181 has three weeks to pass through the House committee stage and pass a full House vote. If that happens, Louisiana would become the second state this year to pass a bill banning online sweepstakes casinos. The other state, Montana, saw both its chambers pass its bill in early May, and it’s a Gov. Greg Gianforte signature away from becoming law.
Like New York, Louisiana targets the ‘dual-currency’ model
SB181 directly targets sweeps casinos and adds them to the umbrella of illegal online gambling.
Specifically, it says any type of online or mobile game “that utilizes a dual-currency system of payment allowing the player to exchange the currency for any prize or award or cash or cash equivalents, or any chance to win any prize or award or cash or cash equivalents, and simulates any form of gambling shall constitute illegal gambling by computer and shall not be considered a legal sweepstakes.”
The bill provides examples of such illegal dual-currency gambling, including “casino-style” gaming, sports betting, or lottery games. This is the same type of “dual-currency” language in the amendment added to one of two sweeps ban bills in New York on its third Senate reading in early May.
Sweeps casinos fall under this “dual-currency” definition thanks to its two forms of digital currency, most often called Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins. Gold Coins, or GC, are purely for in-game use and have no redeemable real-world value. Sweeps Coins, or SC, however, can be redeemed for cash.
The Marriott Bonvoy argument
Players at sweeps casinos never have to pay money to play, and the Social and Promotional Games Association asserts the majority of their member operators’ customers are free-to-play, claiming their free GC via daily login bonuses and never even fussing with SC.
In fact, when SB181 was first making its rounds, the SPGA released a statement saying it worried the language of the Louisiana bill would endanger other regulated businesses that use similar kinds of sweepstakes promotions.
“For decades, companies — from fast-food chains to app developers — have utilized sweepstakes as legal promotional tools,” an SPGA spokesperson said. “SB181’s failure to distinguish between these lawful activities and gambling not only threatens these businesses but also undermines established legal frameworks that support innovation and economic growth.
“Even more troubling, SB181’s overly broad definitions could unintentionally criminalize loyalty and rewards programs run by some of the most respected brands in the country. Programs like Marriott Bonvoy, United MileagePlus, Delta SkyMiles, and Hilton Honors often offer sweepstakes-style promotions and prize drawings as part of their customer engagement.”
During SB181’s Senate committee hearing, Bass, the bill’s sponsor, refuted this claim.
“I want to say, regardless of what you’ve heard, this bill does not affect legitimate promotions, such as McDonald’s Monopoly, Starbucks or Marriott rewards,” Bass told lawmakers. “This bill narrowly defines sweepstakes casinos. We know the gaming control board and attorney general have no interest in going after Starbucks or Marriott or McDonald’s and are solely focused on putting an end to sweepstakes casinos in this state.”
Louisiana … the most likely remaining option?
Louisiana may be the last best chance for those hoping to see sweeps ban bills passed.
For the 2025 legislative session, 11 states introduced bills targeting sweepstakes casinos. Bills in four of those states — Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Maryland — did not pass. An Illinois bill appears to be stuck in committee. We already mentioned the Montana bill that awaits a governor’s signature.
Then there are active bills in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, and Louisiana.
The Connecticut bill still needs to pass in the Senate, advance through a House committee, and then pass a full House floor vote by its June 4 end of session. That feels like too much in too little time. Plus, there’s also a lottery courier ban in the Connecticut bill, and more components means more opposition and roadblocks to passage.
In New Jersey, Assembly Bill 5447 passed through its first committee a couple of weeks ago but hasn’t moved since. New Jersey’s legislative session doesn’t end until the end of the year, though, so there’s still a whole bunch of time.
New York, meanwhile, has companion bills in the Senate and Assembly. Both were making good progress before coming to a recent halt. Since the calendar flipped from April to May, nothing has happened with either bill, and the end of session is coming June 12. It’s likely that nothing will happen with anything gambling-related in New York until the downstate casino license bid process is complete, and that’s a long way from its conclusion.
Then there’s the Nevada bill, which would strengthen enforcements against sweepstakes casinos in the state. However, it, too, hasn’t seen any activity since April, and Nevada’s session ends June 2.
