Legislation has been introduced in Mississippi taking aim at the legality of sweepstake casinos across the country.
Brought in by Senator Joey Fillingane, Senate Bill 2510 looks to outlaw online, interactive, or computerised online sweepstakes casinos.
The bill maps out that those in violation would be sanctioned with either imprisonment or a payment penalty. It also seeks to punish those who not only operate, but also promote a sweepstake casino.
Furthermore, the plans are looking to change the Mississippi Code of 1972.
The battle from Mississippi regulators to clean up the gambling sector has been longstanding, having previously detailed major hurdles when it comes to issuing cease and desist letters to illicit actors.
During a previous panel at the National Council of Legislators from Gaming (NCLGS) Winter Meeting, Mississippi Gaming Commission (MGC) Executive Director Jay McDaniel emphasised that there have been real obstacles to tackling the black market’s existence in the state.
He revealed that there has been no response from Bovada, MyBookie, BetUs, BetWhale and BetOnline, all of which received communication from the state.
“I believe the reason is, they are the leader in our market,” he explained. “In Louisiana, they’re competing with a legal gaming market. And so I really think it’s a blatant, ‘we are making so much money in Mississippi, we’re not leaving.’”
“We were trying to do this easy. We can do it hard,” he added.
McDaniel also specifically utilised his stage at the event to highlight the threat of sweepstakes and underline his belief that they are in violation of state laws.
“Chris [Hebert] and I’ve been talking about sweepstakes, and there’s just a lot there to get your hands around. You don’t want to start attacking it until you have a plan. But it is something we are working on, because I do believe it violates our laws. But I’ve been busy working on offshore sportsbooks.”
If the bill being put forward in Mississippi is to progress one of the key challenges will be around the full definition of what a sweepstake casino is.
A bill in New Jersey is seeking to bring sweepstakes under the same framework as casinos. This would also see them forced to apply for a license in order to operate in the state.
The New Jersey also took steps to define what a sweepstake is; stating it is “any platform available via an Internet website or mobile application that (1) provides participants with an opportunity to play authorised gambling games or provides an experience equivalent to, or with similar statistical odds of winning as an authorized gambling game, except that the game does not require any initial monetary investment on behalf of the participants to play and instead is played primarily with free currency; and (2) awards to participants at random, as a bundle with the purchase of free currency, or upon the completion of certain specified tasks, currency or promotional gaming credits which can be wagered on games and are redeemable for cash, prizes, or other things of value. An online sweepstakes casino may additionally offer tokens, coins, chips, credits, or other forms of currency for purchase or exchange that are directly redeemable for cash, prizes, or other things of value.”
iGaming Expert Insight: The battle lines are being drawn in the early stages of 2025, it appears that this legal tussle between lawmakers and sweepstakes is one that we could see across a myriad of states. Many eyes will be fixated upon New Jersey and Mississippi though, as two states that have led the legislative charge against the vertical.
