Bill To Ban Sweeps Casinos Dies In Mississippi, Along With Online Sports Betting Hopes

A Mississippi Senate bill that would have both banned online sweepstakes casinos and legalized mobile sports wagering died in committee Monday night.

The lines of demarcation regarding passing SB 2510 were clearly drawn in the statehouse. An earlier version of the bill solely devoted to banning online sweepstakes casinos passed unanimously in the Senate, but Rep. Casey Eure amended it to include sports betting language as part of a procedural maneuver last month. Senate Gaming Committee Chair David Blount, though, remained steadfast in opposition after saying he would only approve an expansion of sports betting — which is legal as a retail activity in the state — if the request came from the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

The Senate declined an opportunity for concurrence on the bill Thursday, and a six-person bi-cameral conference committee that included both Eure and Blount failed to reach a compromise.

It is the second consecutive legislative session Mississippi lawmakers considered and ultimately rejected mobile betting. Sportsbooks tethered to brick-and-mortar casinos in the Magnolia State have gotten off to a slow start in 2025: Revenue from the first two months of the year is down 28.9% compared to 2024 at $6.4 million, and handle is 3.9% lower at $73.1 million.

Operators, though, likely gained ground in March as Ole Miss and Mississippi State participated in the NCAA Tournament. Both the Ole Miss men’s and women’s basketball teams reached the regional semifinals, with the men’s team doing so for the first time since 2001. Mississippi State’s women’s team reached the second round while the men’s squad was eliminated in the round of 64.

But considering Mississippi’s ban on online sweeps casinos is off the table — for now — it seems a good time to check around the nation where other states stand on similar measures:

New York

The Empire State is currently on a fairly smooth path to ban online sweeps. State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, New York’s point legislator on practically all things gaming, was able to get SB 5935 passed through the upper chamber’s Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee last month and it awaits a third reading in the Senate.

Its companion bill in the State Assembly, AB 6745 sponsored by Racing and Wagering Chair and Assemblymember Carrie Woerner, could potentially be discussed in committee as early as Wednesday when the Assembly has a standing meeting.

Maryland

The Old Line State is a step ahead of New York with the Senate having advanced a measure to ban sweeps, while the House has yet to take a vote on the matter. Senate Bill 860 advanced unanimously through the upper chamber and was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, where a cross-filed bill (HB 1140) is also up for discussion.

Since legalizing online casino gaming is likely not happening this session after Gov. Wes Moore announced the framework for a budget last month, it would seem logical delegates in the House will revisit sweeps. The Ways and Means Committee did not take up a vote on HB 1140 last month as opponents of the bill, which included sweepstakes casino operator VGW and a representative of the Social and Promotional Games and Association (SPGA), argued it was too broad in nature.

Connecticut

Connecticut also appears close to enacting a ban on online sweeps. SB 1235 is currently awaiting review from the Legislative Commissioners’ Office, which provides non-partison legal counsel to lawmakers.

SB 1235 passed by a unanimous 22-0 vote last week despite limited oral testimony at February’s General Law Committee hearing. In the committee’s “Joint Favorable Report” submitted, Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli offered support for the bill, specifically the clause for sweeps that “provide that certain persons conducting sweepstakes or promotional drawings shall not allow or facilitate participation in certain real or simulated online casino gaming or sports wagering.”

Florida

State lawmakers in the Senate took their first steps toward legalizing an online sweepstakes casino ban last Friday when the Regulated Industries Committee passed SB 1404 by a unanimous 8-0 vote. The bill filed by Sen. Corey Simon bans “internet gambling” and “internet sports betting” outside what is currently offered by the Seminole Tribe, which is effectively banning sweeps.

The companion bill in the lower chamber, HB 953 filed by Rep. Webster Barnaby, has two sub-committees to go through, the first being Industries & Professional Activities. It must also go through the Criminal Justice Subcommittee.

Neither bill impacts the Seminole Tribe’s compact with the state signed in 2021 that allows Hard Rock to currently offer mobile sports betting and full casino gaming. It is believed that passage of these bills would give Hard Rock the ability to expand into online casino gaming in Florida.

New Jersey

This is perhaps the state with the most drama involving a potential sweeps ban, as Clinton Calabrese’s A 5447 and John Burzichelli’s Senate counterpart S 4282 are awaiting committee hearings in the New Jersey legislature.

Calabrese originally submitted a bill in January proposing to regulate sweepstakes as a gaming vertical alongside iCasino and sports betting. The about-face to ban sweepstakes drew a rebuke from the SPGA, which labeled his bill “shortsighted legislation” and “a reckless attempt to ban sweepstakes in New Jersey.”

Illinois

There has yet to be any movement in either chamber of the General Assembly, with the House’s Gaming Committee having an informational hearing on potentially legalizing iGaming last month.

Relevant to the online sweeps discussion in the lower chamber is Rep. Bob Rita’s bill HB 2879, which looks to amend Criminal Code of 2012 with a more far-reaching definition of “gambling device.” That bill was re-referred to the Rules Committee on March 21 after Rita filed an amendment.

Rita’s bill was referenced by Illinois Gaming Board Director of Policy Joe Miller during the iGaming informational hearing in which he said legalizing internet casino gaming without HB 2879 “will not eliminate deceptive and fraudulent sweepstakes operators from the Illinois gambling landscape.”

What looks to be a companion bill to Rita’s, SB 1705 filed by Sen. Bill Cunningham, was discussed during an informational hearing last Tuesday in the Senate’s Gaming, Wagering, and Racing Committee. Miller offered support of Cunningham’s bill as part of a broader picture in which lawmakers and the IGB are looking to make retail video gaming machines illegal.