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Louisiana is moving forward with a legislative plan to shut down sweepstakes casinos by tying them directly to racketeering crimes.
Six months after the state’s gaming regulator and Attorney General acted to block these operations without passing a formal ban, Rep. Bryan Fontenot filed House Bill 53 on January 30.
The measure is written in simple terms but carries a wide impact, aiming to add gambling offenses to the list of crimes that can be prosecuted as racketeering. The bill defines racketeering activity as:
“Committing, attempting to commit, conspiring to commit, or soliciting, coercing, or intimidating another person to commit any crime that is punishable under the following provisions of Title 14 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, or the Louisiana Securities Law.”
Among the offenses that would now fall under racketeering are “gambling by electronic sweepstake device,” “Unlawful wager; prohibited player, “gambling,” “gambling in public, “bribery of sports participants,” “gambling by computer,” “gambling in public,” and “gambling.”
Potential 50 year prison sentence/$1 million fine for violators
Louisiana’s racketeering statute carries some of the toughest penalties in state law. Anyone found guilty of violating R.S. 15:1353 can face a fine of up to one million dollars, a prison term of as long as fifty years at hard labor, or both.
The law becomes even stricter when violations involve racketeering activity worth more than ten thousand dollars. In those cases, offenders must serve at least five years of their sentence without the possibility of probation, parole, or suspension.
House Bill 53 has already been referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice, where lawmakers will review its language. Rep. Bryan Fontenot, who filed the bill, has not positioned himself as an opponent of gambling overall
He even sponsored HB540 last April, a measure that increased the number of video poker machines allowed at truck stop casinos from 50 to 60. “We’ve worked with the video poker industry to limit some gaming as well,” he said at the time, according to WBRZ.
That legislation also restricted off-track betting and video poker sites from operating within 1,000 feet of schools and churches, and it underwent several revisions before being signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry.
Louisiana continues to fight off sweepstakes operators
Louisiana still does not have a formal ban on sweepstakes casinos written into law. Lawmakers tried to pass Senate Bill 181 during the 2025 session, but Governor Jeff Landry rejected it, saying the measure was unnecessary.
In his view, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board was “already taking active steps to combat illegal gambling” and did not need new legislation to do so.
Shortly after the veto, the Gaming Control Board joined forces with the Attorney General’s office to send out 42 cease‑and‑desist letters. These notices targeted operators the state considered illegal, including several sweepstakes platforms.
At the time, Christopher B. Hebert, Chairman of the LGCB, made the state’s position clear:
“Louisiana will not tolerate illegal operators who put our citizens at risk and undermine the fairness and integrity of our gaming industry. We will continue to use every enforcement tool available to protect the public and uphold the law.”
The state’s definition of online gambling is broad, covering any business activity where a person risks losing something of value for profit through the internet, computer systems, or servers. That definition has given regulators the power to act even without a direct legislative ban.
HB53 follows the same path of broadening gambling and will be debated when the Louisiana legislative session opens on March 9.
Source: Sweepsy
