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As lawmakers in state capitols across the U.S. turn their attention to passing those final few bills before they adjourn for the year, a series of measures to prohibit online sweepstakes games or legalize online gambling have fallen by the wayside.
Over the last week, bills to prohibit sweepstakes have come up short in Arkansas, Maryland and Mississippi. Meanwhile, iGaming bills introduced in states from Virginia to Indiana and Maryland have garnered little legislative support.
In Arkansas, a bill to both legalize iGaming while strengthening illegal gambling rules and prohibiting sweepstakes operations has been withdrawn from consideration less than a month after Republican Representative Matt Duffield introduced the measure.
The House Judiciary Committee had House Bill 1861 on the agenda for its meeting on Monday (April 7), but in advance of the session Duffield pulled his bill. Instead, his proposal was recommended for an interim study by the Judiciary Committee before the 2026 session.
Duffield’s proposal would have allowed the state’s three casinos to offer iGaming sites. Additionally, the bill would have clarified the state’s position on sweepstakes casinos, only allowing operators licensed by the Arkansas Racing Commission to offer dual-currency online gaming.
Duffield also proposed making the operation of an illegal online casino or sports betting a felony. His measure also included an “emergency clause” determining that “unlicensed, unregulated, and untaxed” casino-style games and sports wagering were an ever-growing threat to Arkansas residents, making the bill effective upon the governor’s signature.
The bill faced long odds of being passed by lawmakers due to opposition from Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin, both Republicans.
Lawmakers in more than half a dozen states introduced bills this year intended to prohibit sweepstakes games in response to pushback from licensed online and land-based operators that find themselves in competition with the simulated casino games or sports betting.
In Mississippi and Maryland, bills cleared the first chamber of the state legislature, but eventually stalled due to more pressing issues or amendments that lawmakers could not support.
“These bills shared the same fatal flaw: no facts and no foundation,” the Social and Promotional Games Association (SPGA), which represents sweepstakes companies, said in a statement. “Legislators are consistently rejecting efforts to criminalize safe, digital entertainment enjoyed by millions of adults across the U.S.”
Mississippi Senate Bill 2510 actually had broad support and passed both chambers of the Mississippi legislature this session, but it died in a conference committee last week after Republican Representative Casey Eure added language to authorize online sports betting to the bill.
Similarly, Senate Bill 860 in Maryland was unanimously approved in the Senate but never received a vote in the House Ways and Means Committee before the legislature adjourned on Monday.
The bill would have defined an “online sweepstakes game” using set criteria, describing it as a game that is available on the internet using a dual-currency system of payment that allows a player to exchange the currency for a prize, including cash or a chance to win a prize.
The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA) has already cracked down on sweepstakes websites based on existing laws, sending Chumba Casino operator VGW Holdings a cease-and-desist letter last month.
The agency has identified a number of other sweepstakes operators considered to be offering illegal gambling, including High 5 Casino and Stake.us.
“We’ll continue to monitor illegal gaming in Maryland as we evaluate our next steps,” MLGCA spokesman Seth Elkin told Vixio GamblingCompliance in an email. “Part of our effort will be to continue providing clear messaging to the public that the only legal online gaming options in Maryland are sports wagering and fantasy competitions.”
Meanwhile, New York Senate Bill 5935 still waits for a final vote on the Senate floor in Albany. As approved in committee, the bill would empower the state gaming commission to investigate and issue cease-and-desist letters to ensure these websites comply with gaming laws.
In Connecticut, Senate Bill 1235 includes a single line to specify that a sweepstakes cannot “allow or facilitate participation in any real or simulated online casino gaming or sports wagering unless such person is licensed” under state gambling law.
As of Tuesday (April 8), SB 1235 had received a favorable report from the Legislative Commissioner’s Office and was waiting for a vote by the full Senate.
It is a similar story in Florida, where Senate Bill 1404 to define illegal internet gaming was unanimously approved by the Regulated Industries Committee but waits for a vote on the Senate floor.
Online Gaming’s Legalization Tussle
Most analysts and industry experts have advised that there was little chance of any state legislature legalizing iGaming in 2025, with that prediction on track as a handful of online bills have died or been pulled from consideration this year.
In March, Republican Senator Tim Lang pulled Senate Bill 60 to legalize iGaming in New Hampshire during a Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing, tabling the measure even though the committee recommended passage. Lang did not offer a reason for his decision.
Virginia lawmakers briefly considered a bill to legalize and regulate iGaming, but Senate Bill 827, authored by Senator Mamie Locke, a Democrat, was unanimously “passed by” in the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology, allowing the issue to resurface during the 2026 session.
In neighboring Maryland, Senate Bill 340, filed by Democratic Senator Ron Watson, was discussed in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, while House Bill 17, authored by Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary, a Democrat who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, also received a public hearing.
Neither bill received a vote in committee before “crossover day” on March 17, the date by which the House and Senate send over the bills they want to try and pass this session.
Online gaming bills have also died in Indiana and Wyoming, while measures to legalize iGaming remain pending but seem unlikely to advance in Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts and New York. LD 1164, which would have legalized iGaming in Maine, was tabled by the Joint Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on Monday.
