Maryland Lawmakers Refile Bills to Sweep Away Sweepstakes Casinos
Posted on: January 13, 2026, 02:47h.
Last updated on: January 13, 2026, 02:55h.
- Legislation in Maryland would prohibit online sweepstakes casinos
- Online gambling is illegal in Maryland, but some unregulated sweepstakes continue to operate
Maryland lawmakers convene on Wednesday for their 2026 legislative session that runs through April 13. Two bills seeking to ban controversial online sweepstakes casinos in the Old Line State have already been introduced.
House Bill 295 and Senate Bill 112 are cross-filed statutes with identical texts. The bills would prohibit all interactive online gaming from illegal markets.
HB295/SB112 would explicitly ban sweepstakes casinos that use dual or multiple currency systems of payment that allow players to “exchange the currency for any prize or award or cash or cash equivalent.”
The bills come at the request of Gov. Wes Moore (D), who heeded calls from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission for the legislature to outlaw sweepstakes casinos. The state gaming regulator says that while many prominent sweepstakes casinos, including Chumba, Stake, and Modo, have adhered to cease and desist orders, many others have not. With sweepstakes casinos continually popping up, the state lottery and gaming governor says a law banning the businesses is needed.
Dual-Currency Casinos
Sweepstakes casinos, represented by the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance, claim they operate free-to-play social gaming websites and apps. Players are afforded free “gold” coins, credits that can’t be redeemed for money.
The social gaming aspects of sweepstakes casinos indeed allow players to play continuously without making a financial deposit. However, the offering of a second digital currency, often called sweeps coins, allows players to play for real money. To entice players to toggle from social to real money play, the sweepstakes websites often give a couple of sweeps coins to the player’s account.
Further sweeps coins must be purchased, with each sweeps coin matching dollar for dollar. Sweepstakes casinos claim sweeps coins cannot be cashed out in the traditional gambling sense, but only “redeemed” for cash prizes. The detail allows the platforms to claim that they’re running sweepstakes promotions not unlike how CVS ran a flu shot promotion earlier this year that gave customers a chance to win various prizes.
State attorneys general, lawmakers, and gaming regulators have overwhelmingly disagreed with the sweepstakes casino industry’s claims that they aren’t violating online gambling rules. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission is one such agency.
“These offerings contain the elements of gaming: consideration, chance, and prize. In other words, it is gaming,” Michael Eaton, managing director of gaming at the state agency, wrote to Chumba in November 2025.
“Under Maryland law, gaming is illegal unless it is expressly authorized. The gaming that is being offered through your site is not legally authorized in Maryland,” Eaton advised.
Proposed Penalties
The Maryland bills to ban sweepstakes casinos propose codifying harsh penalties for violators.
A person found guilty of violating Maryland’s sweepstakes and/or illegal online gambling ban would be subject to a misdemeanor and an imprisonment term of up to three years. The guilty person could also face fines ranging from $10K to $100K per incident.
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