Sweepstakes casino banned states

How the counts are made

No official body keeps a national list, so the grouping below comes from industry trackers, a law-firm review dated July 27, 2026 and a tracker update dated October 26, 2026. These are secondary sources. The authority in each state is the statute, the regulator's order or the attorney general's release, and where we could read one at the source, the entry says so. We read three at the legislature: New York's S 5935A, Louisiana's HB 883 page and Maine's LD 2007 page. The legislative sites in Oklahoma and California tell automated clients not to read them, Tennessee's did not answer our client, and Michigan's gaming regulator and the Nevada legislature returned blocks to our client. Entries for those states carry the tracker's figure and are marked as reported.

Trackers also disagree on totals. An earlier count was nine statutory bans, four existing-law states and ten restricted states. The 10, 4 and 12 used here are the latest figures in the sources we read.

The state table

The table lists the 14 states with a ban or block and the 12 with action but no statewide ban, with the law or action for each. The sections below add dates and context.

Sweepstakes casino banned states by statute

Ten states have passed a statute aimed at these games. Dates are the date the law took effect unless stated.

• New Jersey: A 5447, in force August 15, 2025.
• Connecticut: SB 1235, Public Act 25-112, in force October 1, 2025.
• Montana: SB 555, which carries a felony penalty, in force October 1, 2025.
• New York: S 5935A, signed December 5, 2025 as Chapter 605 and effective on signing. We read it at the State Senate: fines of $10,000 to $100,000 per violation, enforced by the State Gaming Commission, State Police or the attorney general, and aimed at operators, promoters, payment processors, platform providers and media affiliates.
• California: AB 831, signed October 11, 2025, in force January 1, 2026, reported to reach vendors and partners.
• Indiana: HB 1052, with civil penalties of up to $100,000 enforced by the Gaming Commission, in force July 1, 2026, as trackers report.
• Maine: LD 2007, "An Act Regarding the Prohibition of Online Sweepstakes Games," signed April 6, 2026 as Public Law chapter 645, which we read at the legislature. Trackers report fines of $10,000 to $100,000; they differ on the effective date, giving July 29 in one report and mid-July in others.
• Tennessee: SB 2136 and HB 1885, signed May 22, 2026, which let the attorney general seek penalties under the consumer protection act, as reported.
• Louisiana: HB 883, Act 182, signed May 15, 2026 and effective August 1, 2026, per the Legislature's page, with companion HB 53, Act 48. Trackers report fines to $100,000, prison terms of up to five years, and reach over operators, suppliers, promoters and media affiliates.
• Oklahoma: SB 1589, passed over a veto, reported as a felony statute that names promoters and media affiliates, in force November 1, 2026.

Four states blocked by existing law or enforcement

These states had no sweepstakes-specific statute in the sources we read, but trackers report the games are closed under other law or by enforcement.

• Idaho: the state constitution, Article III, section 20, as trackers cite it.
• Washington: RCW 9.46.240, as trackers cite it.
• Nevada: SB 256, effective October 1, 2025, which sets disgorgement and penalties for unlicensed operators. It is not specific to sweepstakes.
• Michigan: cease and desist letters from the Gaming Control Board since 2024, reported as 45 letters to offshore operators in April 2026 and 33 more on October 8, 2026, not all aimed at sweepstakes. The Board's own site did not answer our client, so these counts are trade press.

Twelve contested states

Here a regulator or attorney general has acted, and no statewide ban is in force. Each entry is as industry trackers report, except New Mexico, which we read at the regulator's own site.

• Alabama: litigation.
• Arizona: Department of Gaming cease and desist letters.
• Delaware: a Division of Gaming Enforcement cease and desist letter on April 7, 2025.
• Florida: the attorney general sued two operating-company groups on August 19, 2026 and wrote in September 2026 to five technology platforms about sweepstakes advertising shown to Florida residents.
• Illinois: attorney general letters to 65 operators in February and March 2026.
• Iowa: SF 2289 gives the racing and gaming commission cease and desist power from July 1, 2026.
• Kentucky: an attorney general lawsuit filed on June 17, 2026, and class actions reported by trackers.
• Maryland: a Baltimore city suit against six operators on March 4, 2026, stayed on May 20; state bills did not pass.
• New Mexico: a notice on the Gaming Control Board's home page, read on November 11, 2026, states that online real money gambling, sweepstakes casinos included, is illegal. It is a regulator notice, not a statute.
• Pennsylvania: Gaming Control Board orders, and HB 2801, introduced September 24, 2026 and pending.
• Utah: the state constitution, as trackers cite it.
• West Virginia: one tracker shows attorney general subpoenas and another shows no action.

Pending bills

Four proposals are pending or stalled. D.C. B26-0656 would legalize online gambling in the District and ban the sweepstakes model. New Jersey S1500 describes a licensing approach. Minnesota SF 4474 passed the Senate and stalled. Massachusetts HB 4431 would study the question. None is law as of the sources we read.

Mississippi belongs in none of the groups above. The only measure on record there is Senate Bill 2104, which passed the Senate on February 4, 2026 and died in the House Gaming Committee on March 3, 2026, according to the Legislature's history record. No ban and no regulator or attorney general action is cited for the state.

Operator exclusion lists compared with the law

Operators keep their own lists of closed states, and those lists differ from the statutes and from each other. We read two on November 11, 2026.

One brand's sweepstakes rules exclude 22 states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia. Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia have no statutory ban in the trackers' groups. The rules add that new Oklahoma registrations closed on October 15, 2026 and that the platform was no longer offered there from October 29, 2026.

A second operator's location notice, which our client was shown, separates states where the service is not available (Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Montana, Nevada and Washington) from states where only the free-to-play coin works and sweepstakes play is off (California, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and West Virginia). That notice does not list Oklahoma, which trackers report is in force from November 1, 2026, and it lists Mississippi and West Virginia, where no statute is in force.

An operator's list is a business decision. It can run ahead of a law, lag behind it, or cover a state with no law. How the coins and redemption work is covered in how sweepstakes casinos work.

Frequently asked questions

Does a state with no ban allow these games?

The map shows what the sources record, which is statutes, orders, suits and letters. A state absent from every group has no entry in our sources, and the absence is not a statement about how its law applies.

Do the ban dates change?

They can. Trackers revise counts when a bill is signed or an effective date arrives, and the dates on this site are the ones the sources gave as of November 11, 2026.

Which law applies to the businesses around the operators?

New York, Louisiana and Oklahoma name promoters and media affiliates in their statutes as read or reported, and New York also names payment processors. The general legal picture is in the legal explainer.