Time will tell how the 2027 legislative session plays out — which states will consider bills banning sweepstakes casinos, which will pass and fail, if any of the remaining major markets (such as Florida and Texas) go offline, and if any Attorney General’s offices will get involved.
However, we already know one state that will almost certainly consider a bill addressing the sweeps casino market.
Virginia.
That’s because, even though all three 2026 bills in Virginia that would have outlawed Sweeps Coin gameplay at sweepstakes casinos did not pass, one was extended to the 2027 session instead of failing outright. And this bill, in fact, was amended in a favorable way for the sweeps industry.
The evolution of Senate Bill 579 in Virginia
Virginia Senate Bill 118 and House Bill 161 would have both banned Sweeps Coin gameplay at sweeps casinos and legalized real-money online casinos. Even though both those bills progressed through both chambers of the legislature, they ultimately failed to pass out of a conference committee and stalled out for a failure in March.
The third bill — Senate Bill 579 — was filed after the other bills, and it was written differently.
It had nothing to do with real-money iGaming (the aspect that likely ultimately doomed SB118 and HB161).
Instead, its original version only banned dual-currency gaming at sweeps casinos. But that’s not the version that was allowed to continue into 2027.
After getting introduced on Jan. 14, it was amended by the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice in February, and that was the version that was extended to 2027. While the original version outgight banned dual-currency sweeps casinos, the amended version ordered a study to be conducted on the sweepstakes casino industry in Virginia.
Specifically, the bill says:
The Virginia Lottery Board shall convene a work group of relevant stakeholders, including representatives from the online sweepstakes and social games industry, to study the legal, economic, technological, and public policy implications of interactive online sweepstakes games and to report its findings and any recommendations resulting from such study. In conducting such study, the work group shall (i) review the ways in which sweepstakes have been used as a marketing and promotional tool for online and retail businesses, including online social games and licensed casino operators; (ii) determine and identify any differences between online sweepstakes games and real-money gambling or internet gaming; (iii) develop a definition for “online sweepstakes games”; and (iv) conduct any other relevant research as necessary.
This amendment, in and of itself, is a win for the sweeps industry.
If this bill actually passes in 2027 and the study is conducted, it would be a significant win for the industry, as no state has yet elected to perform such a study. An amendment to a bill banning sweepstakes casinos in Tennessee would have ordered such a study, but the amendment didn’t pass. (The sweeps ban, meanwhile, did and became active in May.)
Like we said, before the amendment, SB579 just banned dual-currency gaming at sweeps casinos.
Specifically, it added “operating, conducting, or promoting of any online sweepstakes game” and “supporting or assisting in the operating, conducting, or promoting of any online sweepstakes game” to the category of illegal gambling.
And it defined an online sweepstakes game as “any game, contest, or promotion in which a prize is awarded based on chance that (i) is available on the internet and accessible on a mobile phone, computer, or similar device; (ii) utilizes a dual currency system of payment allowing the player to exchange the currency for any prize, award, cash, or cash equivalent; and (iii) simulates casino-style gaming, including slot machines, video poker, table games, lottery games, and sports betting.”
What being continued to next session means
So, what exactly happened with SB579?
On Feb. 11, the Courts of Justice Committee considered the bill and voted 14-1 to continue it to the next legislative session.
So, rather than advancing SB579 for further consideration or defeating it, the committee effectively postponed action until a future session.
SB579 is best described as carried over or continued, rather than failed. The bill didn’t pass in 2026, but it also was not rejected outright by the committee. Its future status will depend on whether lawmakers take it up again in the next legislative session.
Bills carried over to Virginia’s next legislative session remain alive, but only a minority ultimately become law. While it is fairly common for lawmakers to reconsider continued bills, fewer bills make significant progress, pass both chambers, and ultimately reach the governor’s desk.
There is no simple official percentage for how often carried-over bills succeed, as outcomes vary by legislation and committee. Some bills are continued to allow additional time for negotiations, research, or revisions.
In the case of SB 579, the committee’s 14-1 vote indicates strong support for keeping the bill under consideration.
Virginia’s impact on the sweeps casino market
By population Virginia is the 12th-largest state in the United States.
And, more important in this situation, it has the seventh-largest population among states where Sweeps Coin gameplay at sweeps casinos is not actively banned or where there isn’t a significant presence of cease-and-desist letters.
Therefore, Virginia is a major piece of the total addressable market for sweepstakes casinos, and would be a major loss if Sweeps Coins went offline there. By the same token, it would be a major win if Virginia decided to regulate sweeps casinos in any form or fashion.
Either way, Virginia is a state to watch in the 2027 legislative session.
