- On-line sweepstakes casinos are unlawful in Louisiana
- A state lawmaker desires to extend the penalties for violating Louisiana’s gaming legislation
Prefiled laws in Louisiana seeks to strengthen penalties for working an unregulated, unlicensed on-line sweepstakes on line casino inside the Bayou State.
The statues of Antoine Fat Domino, Al Jumbo Hirt, and Pete Fountain at New Orleans Musical Legends Park on Bourbon Avenue. Louisiana laws seeks to strengthen the penalties towards unlawful playing companies, together with on-line sweepstakes casinos. (Picture: Shutterstock)
Unfazed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s (R) veto of laws handed by the State Legislature that sought to ban dual-currency on-line sweepstakes platforms that successfully permit shoppers to gamble, state Rep. Bryan Fontenot (R-Thibodaux) prefiled Home Invoice 53. The Louisiana State Legislature doesn’t convene till March 9 for its 2026 session.
HB53 provides sure playing crimes as predicate offenses for racketeering. Racketeering exercise, if Fontenot’s invoice turns into legislation, would increase to incorporate playing, playing by laptop, playing on cockfights, playing by digital sweepstakes, illegal wagering, and bribery of sports activities members.
“‘Racketeering exercise’ means committing, making an attempt to commit, conspiring to commit, or soliciting, coercing, or intimidating one other individual to commit any crime that’s punishable beneath the next provisions of Title 14 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, the Uniform 12 Managed Harmful Substances Legislation, or the Louisiana Securities Legislation,” the statute reads.
Landry Sweepstakes Veto
Landry vetoed Senate Invoice 181 final June on the idea that on-line sweepstakes casinos and dual-currency platforms are already barred beneath state legislation.
The Louisiana Gaming Management Board is already taking lively steps to fight unlawful playing in Louisiana, particularly towards unlawful offshore wagering and unlawful on-line sweepstakes corporations working in Louisiana. The Board’s agency stance towards such operations is geared toward defending Louisiana residents from unregulated playing actions that violate state legal guidelines,” Landry defined in his veto to state lawmakers.
“The Board and its regulatory companions will take additional motion as deemed essential to implement state gaming legal guidelines, shield patrons and bettors, and preserve the integrity of Louisiana’s gaming business,” the governor continued. “This invoice is an answer in quest of an issue that’s already being solved by our present system, and a number of the language on this invoice is overly broad and may very well be interpreted in an hostile method, which can hurt or impede our present enforcement actions taken towards these dangerous actors.”
The LGCB has issued cease-and-desist orders to numerous on-line sweepstakes casinos which have supplied entry to shoppers in Louisiana. Most main platforms have obliged, with Stake, Chumba, and MyPrize not accessible in Louisiana.
Harsher Penalties
Fontenot’s invoice may deter on-line sweepstakes on line casino startups and different unsavory playing and sports activities betting conspirators from appearing in Louisiana. By grading a web-based sweepstakes on line casino platform as a racketeering exercise, offenders can be subjected to extreme penalties.
Louisiana legislation permits for an individual convicted of racketeering to be punished with a effective of “not multiple million {dollars}, or imprisoned at exhausting labor for no more than 50 years, or each.”
The eligibility for parole is eliminated when the racketeering violation exceeds $10,000.
