Online Sweepstakes Casino Ban Passes Mississippi Senate

Posted on: February 13, 2025, 03:25h. 

Last updated on: February 13, 2025, 03:37h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • The Mississippi Senate has passed legislation to ban online sweepstakes websites
  • Critics say online sweeps are nothing more than cleverly designed illegal gambling platforms
  • The sweeps industry says they run free-to-play games

On Tuesday, the Mississippi Senate made history by becoming the first state legislative chamber to pass a bill to ban controversial “sweeps” platforms that critics say are engaged in illegal online casino gambling.

sweepstakes casino Mississippi gambling
“Enter to win” is a common phrase associated with sweepstakes. However, the Mississippi Senate says when money is involved, such opportunities constitute illegal gambling. (Image: Shutterstock)

Sweepstakes casinos, along with offshore gaming websites, have become the ire of the highly regulated, legal gaming industry. Like offshore casino platforms, sweeps sites are not regulated for fair play, provide few to no consumer safeguards, and are not taxed.

The Mississippi Senate is no longer playing around when it comes to sweeps. A nearly unanimous upper chamber in Jackson passed Senate Bill 2510 by a 44-1 vote, with six abstained. The lone dissenter was Mississippi Sen. Sollie Norwood (D-Jackson), a proponent of casino gaming who believes it would be in the state’s better interest to authorize, regulate, and tax such online gaming platforms.

SB 2501, if passed by the Mississippi House of Representatives and signed by Gov. Tate Reeves (R), would punish those found guilty of running an unauthorized gambling platform with a possible fine of up to $100K and a prison sentence of 10 years. The charges for operating an illegal gambling website would be elevated from currently a misdemeanor to a felony.

Sen. Joey Fillingane (R-Columbia), the bill’s author, said it’s important to rid the internet in Mississippi of unlicensed gambling websites.

Many Mississippians have no idea when they’re on their device that they’re even breaking the law because it looks completely legitimate,” Fillingane said.

Online slot machines and table games are legal in only seven states — Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. 

Sweeping Change

Sweepstakes casinos bill themselves as social gaming sites, or free to play. That’s initially true, as new accounts are provided with a complimentary allowance of gaming tokens to play internet slot games and interactive table games like blackjack.

Players cannot win actual money with the initial gaming tokens. However, after exhausting those free credits, customers can purchase a secondary digital currency, commonly called “sweeps coins,” that can be gambled and later converted to cash via withdrawal.

Numerous reports, including an expose on the sweeps industry in December from The Washington Post, have highlighted the financial harm consumers have endured by being lured into playing on popular sites such as Chumba, High 5, and Stake.

Mississippi lawmakers aren’t alone in mulling legislation to outlaw sweeps. Bills have been filed in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Additionally, state attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, and Washington have said sweeps are illegal gambling enterprises. 

Earlier this week, a federal jury ordered High 5 to pay $25 million in damages to players who lost money on the site.

Sweeps Stake Defense

Sweepstakes casino operators defend their operations on allegations that their “freemium” model distinguishes their operations from traditional gambling in that players are not technically wagering real money.

Instead, they claim, sweeps coins are only an entry into a sweepstakes game not unlike McDonald’s famous Monopoly contest and other companies that run promotional sweepstakes. For a company to do so, they must offer gameplays free of purchase.

The Social & Promotional Games Association told Casino.org that the sweeps trade group “is deeply disappointed” by the Mississippi Senate’s actions.

SB 2510 … unjustly targets sweepstakes and conflates a safe and legal form of entertainment with illegal operations. Social sweepstakes are free-to-play games that never require a purchase for a player to win a game,” the SPGA statement read.

“They’re part of a long-established industry of social casino games enjoyed by tens of millions of adults across America,” the release continued. “We doubt voters in Mississippi appreciate their elected officials dictating what games adults can and can’t play on their phones. It’s a waste of time and a transparent and misguided attempt to pay out protectionist favors for the casino industry. Voters deserve better.”