In the weeks since the Louisiana state legislature passed one of the most punitive sweepstakes casino laws in the nation, almost all of the dual-currency online gambling sites have left the state. Lone Star Casino, CrownCoins, and McLuck are a few of the dozens of sweepstakes casinos that no longer accept play from Louisiana.
On May 11, Gov. Jeff Landry signed House Bill 53 into law. Four days later, he signed a companion bill (House Bill 883) into law. The two statutes added operating a sweepstakes casino in Louisiana to the list of RICO acts. Once the laws take effect on August 1, still-active operators could be convicted of racketeering.
House Bill 883 imposes a fine of up to $40,000 and a prison term of up to 5 years for each wager accepted. HB53, the new law that includes the racketeering charge, imposes a $1,000,000 fine and up to 50 years of hard labor for a conviction.
Liability in such cases does not rest solely with the operators. Instead, payment processors, software providers, advertising partners, and affiliates also could face the same charges.
Three state agencies will combine to enforce the new law. The office of State Attorney General Liz Murrill will work with the Louisiana Gaming Control Board and the State Police Gaming Division to prosecute anyone charged with the crime.
The legislation revised Section 14.90.3 of the Criminal Code to redefine the term “gambling by computer.”
The broad new definition states that gambling by computer is “the intentional conducting, or directly assisting in the conducting as a business of any game, contest, lottery, or contrivance whereby a person risks the loss of anything of value in order to realize a profit.”
This leaves no room for interpretation or argument. Within days of Governor Landry’s actions, companies began pulling out of the Pelican State.
Most sweepstakes sites have pulled out of states that passed bans through 2025 and 2026, including Michigan, New York, Nevada, and Montana. Years ago, Washington state and Idaho outlawed such gaming.
Some operators, such as CardCrush, have moved to a single-currency system to remain active. In states like New York, that method has worked so far, though it is uncertain whether eliminating the multi-currency system is a long-term solution.
If other US states follow Louisiana’s game plan, that option will not be available. Instead, most states have pursued lawsuits or cease-and-desist orders rather than legislation. Unless the legislature leans heavily towards one party, passing new laws is not easy.
In that way, Louisiana is an outlier. Fifteen US states have statutes that allow forced labor, while nine other states have strictly forbidden hard labor as a punishment. The remaining twenty-six states have no laws on the books regarding state-sanctioned prison labor programs.
Even in Louisiana, the term “hard labor” means that an individual serves their time in the Louisiana Department of Corrections rather than in a parish jail. White-collar criminals are sentenced to low-security facilities and classified as non-violent criminals, so their labor tends to include clerical work, landscaping, maintenance tasks, or practicing trade skills.
That said, no prominent sweepstakes casino operators or payment processors plan to test whether Louisiana officials are serious about their hard-labor sentences. Any that have not already left the market are likely to do so in the coming weeks, as CrownCoins and McLuck did.
