Sweepstakes casinos in Louisiana

PRIMARY-SOURCE NOTE

Louisiana's gambling by computer crime now names dual-currency sweepstakes outright

What the law does

Louisiana's gambling by computer offense, R.S. 14:90.3, now describes the sweepstakes model in its own words: a game or promotion reachable online or on a phone that uses a dual-currency system, lets the player exchange that currency for a prize, cash or a chance at one, and simulates any form of gambling is gambling by computer¹. A player located in the state who commits the offense faces a fine of up to five hundred dollars, up to six months, or both¹. Whoever conducts it as a business faces up to one hundred thousand dollars, up to five years with or without hard labor, or both¹. Subsection F reaches platform providers, geolocation providers, gaming content suppliers, promoters, endorsers and media affiliates who knowingly support it, and doubles their fine when a person under twenty-one is involved¹. Each wager and each promotion counts as its own violation¹.

What has happened since

Those words arrived through HB 883, which the Governor signed as Act 182 on May 15, 2026, with an effective date of August 1, 2026³. Our event history for Louisiana now records that act. It opens with "LGCB cease-and-desist letters to 42 sweepstakes recipients" on June 17, 2025 and the attorney general opinion of July 2, 2025, then records the racketeering bill: signed May 11, 2026, in effect August 1, 2026⁵. That bill, HB 53, became Act 48 and lists gambling by computer and gambling by electronic sweepstakes device among the crimes that count as racketeering activity under R.S. 15:1352(A)⁴. The compiled text of R.S. 15:1352 we read on September 28, 2026 still ends that list before those entries⁶. We record 116 tracked operators as not accepting Louisiana players, and we hold no exit record for the state.

What is still open

Act 182 also created R.S. 27:19.1, under which the attorney general or the Gaming Control Board chairman may send a cease and desist notice giving the recipient no more than ten days to stop, and the attorney general must publish a list naming every recipient². A merchant payment processor or platform provider is deemed to know that every person and web address on that list is engaged in gambling by computer¹. Our record holds no notice under the new section and no dated action after August 1, 2026. Is the list live, and who is on it? Our 2025 entries cannot say: both link to the text of R.S. 14:90.7, not to the letters or the opinion, so the operators the letters named are not on our record⁷.

Enforcement search

The events we track for Louisiana are the Gaming Control Board letters, the attorney general opinion, the racketeering bill's signing and start date, and the rewritten gambling by computer law's signing and start date. None is a prosecution, a court order or a cease and desist notice on the attorney general's new public list.

Question still open

Whether the attorney general has started the public list of cease and desist notices the rewritten law requires, and which operators the Gaming Control Board letters named, is not shown by any document on our record.

Sources for this note

1. La. R.S. 14:90.3, Gambling by computer, as amended (Louisiana State Legislature) accessed Sep 28, 2026
2. Act 182 of the 2026 Regular Session (HB 883), enrolled text (Louisiana State Legislature) accessed Sep 28, 2026
3. HB 883 (2026 Regular Session) bill history (Louisiana State Legislature) accessed Sep 28, 2026
4. Act 48 of the 2026 Regular Session (HB 53), enrolled text (Louisiana State Legislature) accessed Sep 28, 2026
5. HB 53 (2026 Regular Session) bill history (Louisiana State Legislature) accessed Sep 28, 2026
6. La. R.S. 15:1352, racketeering definitions, compiled text (Louisiana State Legislature) accessed Sep 28, 2026
7. La. R.S. 14:90.7, Gambling by electronic sweepstakes device (Louisiana State Legislature) accessed Sep 28, 2026

Sources rechecked 2026-10-19. Next scheduled review 2026-12-28.