Louisiana Rep Wants Racketeering Charges for Sweeps Casinos

A new Louisiana bill to ban sweepstakes casinos is on the table, and it aims to push racketeering charges on operators that could put them in prison for 50 years and levy $1 million fines.

It’s one of the harshest proposals we’ve seen so far, and House Bill 53 will be up for discussion when the state house reconvenes in March.

Louisiana came close to banning sweeps casinos in 2025, but State Governor Jeff Landry vetoed the proposals at the last minute. He said existing laws could deal with sweepstakes casinos and proceeded to issue a series of cease-and-desist letters to operators.

“The Louisiana Gaming Control Board is already taking active steps to combat illegal gambling in Louisiana, especially against illegal offshore wagering and illegal online sweepstakes companies operating in Louisiana,” he said. “The Board’s firm stance against such operations is aimed at protecting Louisiana residents from unregulated gambling activities that violate state laws.

Leading operators withdrew from the Bayou State with Chumba, MyPrize and Stake.us among the high-profile operators to restrict access. Not all of them have taken the hint, though, and a number of sweeps casinos continue to operate in the state.

Sweeps Casinos Set for Hard Time

Now, State Representative Bryan Fontenot wants to go much further and has prefiled a bill that carries draconian penalties. If the bill passes, sweeps casino operators will essentially be treated as organised crime bosses and the 50-year sentence comes with hard labor attached.

This could be political grandstanding, based on the events of 2025, and it’s unlikely to pass in its purest form. But it’s clear to see that Louisiana is determined to join California, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Montana, Idaho and Washington to ban sweeps casinos completely.

Other states took Landry’s approach and have used existing laws to crack down on sweeps casinos. Tennessee, Arizona, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi and Pennsylvania have all issued cease-and-desist letters or taken action against operators. Florida has also taken the first steps to ban them with a series of subpoenas. The number of states banning sweepstakes casinos in some form or another continues to grow, and there will be a number of bills waiting for the state representatives when they reconvene for this year’s sessions. One thing the LA bill (and most state enforcement so far) does not directly address: the unregulated host-network model behind apps like Fire Kirin XYZ, which uses sweepstakes-style language but runs through independent operators with no central licensee for the regulator to subpoena.