Mississippi Senate unanimously passes sweepstakes gaming ban
The Mississippi Senate has again advanced a piece of legislation to ban online sweepstakes gaming.
After passing a similar measure last year, senators voted unanimously in favor of approving a proposed ban on sweepstakes games in 2026. Members voted 52-0 to advance Senate Bill 2104, sending the piece of legislation to the House for further consideration.
Sens. Joey Fillingane and David Blount introduced SB 2104 last month, marking their second attempt to force through a ban on sweepstakes games in the state. If approved by the House and signed by Gov. Tate Reeves, a sweepstakes ban would go into effect on July 1.
The framework of SB 2104
Previous legislative attempts to ban sweepstakes gaming by Blount and Fillingane did not include an explicit definition of the vertical, but the 2026 version does.
SB 2104 proposes amending Mississippi law to include “internet sweepstakes casinos” and “online sweepstakes casino-style games” in the definition of illegal gambling devices in the state.
The measure bans not only the offering of online sweepstakes games and casinos, but also their promotion. Blount and Fillingane’s measure proposes an online sweepstakes gaming ban and prohibits gambling devices that are “offered or made available to a person to play or participate in a simulated gambling program in return for direct or indirect consideration, including consideration associated with a product, service or activity…”
The measure also considers online sports pools and online race books to be unlawful gambling devices.
SB 2104 also includes penalties for operating and promoting online sweepstakes casinos and games, with fines of up to $100,000. As the piece of legislation would consider running online sweeps as a felony, penalties could also include a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Mississippi senators reignite effort to ban sweeps
Last year, Fillingane and Blount’s similar Senate Bill 2510 was drafted with support from the land-based casinos and the Mississippi Gaming Commission, which previously sent cease-and-desist letters to unlicensed casinos and sweepstakes operators accepting customers in the state.
SB 2510 swept through the Senate but it was overhauled in the House when an amendment added the legalization of online sports wagering in Mississippi, a major change that led to its failure in conference in the Senate. The online sports wagering language proposed allowing retail casinos in the state to offer up to two skins to online sportsbooks, with sports wagering revenue taxed at a 12% rate.
SB 2510 failed to progress in 2025, but Blount and Fillingane are making another attempt to make Mississippi the latest state to impose a ban on online sweepstakes games and casinos.
Since 2025, six state governors have signed a ban on sweepstakes gaming in some capacity. Most recently, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ratified a bill in December. This year, states including Florida, Maine, Indiana, Tennessee and Virginia have active bills in play that would ban or otherwise limit sweeps. Just days before Mississippi’s Senate approved SB 2104, Indiana’s House became the first full legislative chamber to green-light a sweeps ban in 2026.
Meanwhile, over in Mississippi’s House, the chamber approved a bill to legalize online sports betting for the third year in a row. The sweeps ban bill and the sports betting bill will now swap chambers and hope for better fates than last year.
https://sbcamericas.com/2026/02/06/mississippi-senate-passes-sweeps-ban/