Louisiana House Bill 53, which would likely add sweepstakes gaming to the category of racketeering crimes in the state, passed the Senate Committee on Judiciary C on April 14. That sets it up for an imminent full Senate vote.
Rep. Bryan Fontenot pre-filed the bill in January. Previously, the bill passed through the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice via a 12-0 vote and then via an 87-11 vote in the full House.
“House Bill 53 seeks to achieve to make some changes to the RICO statute (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations),” Rep. Fontenot said. “It adds in the predatory crimes for gambling, gambling in public, gambling by computer, waging in cockfighting, electronic sweepstakes, and others that involve illegal gambling.”
Rep. Fontenot said “the bill opens the door for the Attorney General to have greater prosecutorial authority for greater offenses and asset forfeiture when those crimes are committed and monies are derived illegally.”
‘This bill was suggested by our gaming division’
Larry Frieman, Louisiana Chief Deputy Attorney General, spoke in favor of the bill.
“This bill was suggested by our gaming division,” Freeman said. “And as you know, our office oversees enforcement and prosecutions of gaming issues around the state. Just to give you a little bit of reason why we brought this bill. Just recently, there was an illegal gambling operation operating in one of our prisons to a tune of about $2 million thing per year.”
Freeman said had this bill been enforced and had this been part of the law, these gaming operators could have been prosecuted under the RICO statute, “which has that enhanced penalty.”
“We see the reason for it, and that’s why we’re here today — to try to move this bill forward and put this as part of the RICO statute,” Freeman added.
Fontenot’s bill defines racketeering activity as “committing, attempting to commit, conspiring to commit, or soliciting, coercing or intimidating another person to commit any crime that is punishable under the following provisions of Title 14 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, or the Louisiana Securities Law.”
Louisiana law imposes severe penalties for racketeering activity, with violators subject to fines of up to $1 million and prison sentences up to 50 years. Any person who violates the law is also subject to up to 50 years of hard labor.
The state’s law also calls for a mandatory five-year prison sentence without the possibility of parole and a suspended sentence or probation if the racketeering activity exceeds $10,000.
HB53 running nearly in parallel with another sweeps bill
HB53 marks a new benchmark for enforcement. It goes beyond typical prohibitions — which themselves carry more weight than cease-and-desist actions — by significantly escalating the legal stakes.
By folding sweeps casinos into Louisiana’s racketeering framework, authorities will be able to pursue these cases as coordinated criminal operations. State leaders, including Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, have already signaled that Sweeps Coin models constitute illegal online gambling under their reading of current law. If that view holds, sweepstakes casinos could fall squarely within the “gambling by computer” provision of HB53.
Meanwhile, House Bill 883 would take things a step further by explicitly banning dual-currency sweepstakes gaming in the state and formally defining it as illegal online gambling.
Both bills have advanced rapidly since the legislative session opened on March 9. With the session running through June 1 and a May 29 crossover deadline, both bills still have lots of time.
