Best Louisiana sweepstakes casinos in 2025

No official sweepstakes statute in Louisiana, yet “regulated” since 2025

In Louisiana, there’s no specific sweepstakes law on the books. The Louisiana Revised Statutes don’t have their own category for online sweepstakes casinos, they don’t license them, and they don’t give them a legal path to operate. Essentially, sweep sites are not even mentioned.

Since there wasn’t a specific law on the books and local authorities were getting fed up with them, the Attorney General (Liz Murrill) decided to consolidate the state’s existing gambling laws in 2025.

To do so, she relied on the (existing) general gambling provisions in Title 14:90 and Title 27. Under La. According to R.S. 14:90, gambling is when chance, consideration, and a prize all come together in a game. The Attorney General then decided that the model aligns with the gambling definition exactly, as she sees the dual currency setup generates those three elements.

So, from that point onwards, the sweepstakes model was treated as if it was regular gambling. And, with this decision, the Gaming Control Board and State Police had the green light to push these platforms out of the state.

Why the model fits the gambling definition

Inside Title 14 and Title 27, the state focuses on how a game works rather than what a company calls it. If you buy something of value, if you play a chance based game and if you can turn the result into money, Louisiana law sees you inside a gambling activity.

In the sweepstakes format, you buy a gold coin package, you use a separate coin inside sweepstakes slot games, and you redeem that coin for cash. The Attorney General pointed directly to those mechanics in 2025 and tied each one to the gambling elements in the statute. As soon as all three appear, the activity becomes gambling by computer under Louisiana law.

Why licensing rules shut out every sweeps site

According to Title 27, only operators with a Louisiana gaming license can offer gambling services to players within the state. Since not a single online sweepstakes casino holds a Louisiana gaming license, every platform that serves a Louisiana user becomes an unlicensed gambling operator.

Following the Attorney General’s legal opinion, the Gaming Control Board started sending out enforcement letters. Relying on Title 27 authority, those letters aim to stop unlicensed gaming, meaning the state can order operators, payment processors, and affiliates to cut off Louisiana users.

Why the pressure lands on you, though not being the actual target

From an enforcement standpoint, the state targets businesses, and businesses only. Letters are sent to operators, affiliates, and companies that support the platform. Nevertheless, you are affected by the fallout. Once a site receives a cease-and-desist notice, Louisiana-based accounts may be locked instantly.

This leaves your balance vulnerable because unlicensed operators owe you no legal protections. A Louisiana regulator cannot force a payout, review a dispute, or verify game integrity because the operator is not licensed to do business in the state.

Consequences of playing at Louisiana sweepstakes sites

As far as Louisiana’s legal framework is concerned, the rules in La. R.S. 14:90 and the gaming provisions in Title 27 zero in on the people who run or support an unlicensed gambling operation. Targets are operators, promoters, and the companies that provide the machinery behind these games. That also means, that you as a casual player, are not the person the law has its sights on.

As we mentioned earlier, there are still consequences for you, even if they’re not legal. If the Gaming Control Board or the State Police send an order to stop to operator X, your sweepstake casino account will be disconnected. That also means your balance is exposed, because the state can’t force an unlicensed company to process a payout or settle a dispute.

The main issue with this unlicensed space is that there’s no protection at all. If a site freezes your withdrawal, rejects your documents, or wipes your balance, Louisiana regulators won’t be able to help you out. The operator shouldn’t be serving Louisiana users, which means you don’t have any rights under the state’s gaming system and no agency to turn to when something goes wrong.

Why your winnings are still taxable

Federal tax rules treat income very straightforwardly, even if its source is hidden in a gray corner of the Internet. Under Internal Revenue Code Section 61, the IRS counts nearly anything you receive in cash or that behaves like cash as taxable income. As for La. R.S. 47:293, Louisiana imposes its own income tax on your federal adjusted gross income. Therefore, the state uses the number you report to the IRS as a starting point.

In many situations, when you redeem sweep credits for money while you are physically inside Louisiana, the payout moves straight into both your federal return and your Louisiana return.

Inside the tax system, the only thing that matters is that you received something with real value. It does not pause to consider whether the platform should be active in your state. For a lot of players, this feels a bit upside down, because the tax rules keep going even when the gaming rules have already shut the door on the site.

You can see how that makes the practical issue easier to understand. There’s nothing Louisiana can do if a sweepstakes operator slows down a payout or refuses to send tax forms. The state has already called the business an illegal gambling operator, and unlicensed companies don’t have the same protections as regulated gaming. Usually, you end up doing the reporting on your own, which is usually the moment you realize how little support there is once a platform falls outside Louisiana’s legal system.

Where social casinos fit

According to Title 14 and Title 27, a game is considered gambling only if there is a prize of monetary value. A pure U.S. social casino falls outside that definition because nothing won can be redeemed for anything of value.

However, once a platform adds a prize or a cash equivalent, the Attorney General’s interpretation considers that activity to be gambling. At that point, the game is considered gambling, even if the site claims that you never purchased the credits that triggered the payout in the first place.

Why the environment stays risky for you

Across Louisiana, the momentum of enforcement remains focused on sweepstakes casinos. With each passing day, operators are restricting access for Louisiana users, and accounts can be lost without warning.

Your funds sit unprotected inside an unlicensed system, outside every safeguard that Louisiana applies to licensed gaming. From the state’s perspective, these platforms are unlicensed gambling businesses that must be shut down. This leaves you with no support structure if anything goes wrong.

Within Louisiana, one can see how the state’s stance on sweepstakes casinos has evolved based on the information provided above. In 2025, the Attorney General’s opinion framed the dual-currency structure as gambling under La. R.S. 14:90, to the licensing rules in Title 27 (Wallach, 2025), the state began treating the model as an unlicensed gaming activity.

Following this interpretation, the Gaming Control Board began issuing cease-and-desist letters to operators and payment processors (Louisiana Gaming Control Board, 2025). Soon after, access for Louisiana users began to disappear.

Legislatively speaking, however, you may be caught off guard by the current situation. After reviewing the Attorney General’s 2025 opinion and observing the increased enforcement, one would expect lawmakers to push even harder.

Instead, however, you saw something different happen. Louisiana elected Jeff Landry as governor, placing him in charge of deciding the fate of a proposal you haven’t seen yet: Senate Bill 181. The bill attempted to prohibit the same dual-currency structure that was tied to La. R.S. 14:90, which you saw earlier in this guide. Essentially, it tries to turn the Attorney General’s interpretation into a direct statutory prohibition.

And here is where the unexpected turn appears. After the bill reached his desk, Governor Landry vetoed it. According to his explanation, the Gaming Control Board already had enough authority under existing law to go after online sweepstakes casinos, so he saw no reason to build a new statute on top of a framework that was already working in practice (Gatto, 2025).

In many ways, the veto didn’t weaken the state’s position at all. It simply showed that Louisiana plans to keep relying on the statutes already in motion rather than creating a new category that operators could test or stretch later on.

For you and your fellow players, this keeps things fairly clear across both offices. Louisiana currently treats any platform offering redeemable prizes or a two-currency model as gambling. Since no sweepstakes operator holds a Title 27 license, expect more platforms to limit or block access from Louisiana when enforcement comes calling.

So as you look ahead, you may want to assume that Louisiana will keep leaning on the same statutes instead of writing a new path for sweepstakes casinos. The model stays outside the state’s gaming system, and any access you still have can disappear quickly once regulators turn their attention to the site you are using.

Other Sources

• Gatto, J. G. (2025, July 14). Louisiana governor vetoes legislation that would have banned social casino sweepstakes games. National Law Review. Link
• Louisiana Gaming Control Board. (2025, June 17). Louisiana Gaming Control Board takes strong action against illegal offshore wagering and online sweepstakes gaming [Press release]. Link
• Wallach, D. (2025, August 6). Louisiana opinion on sweepstakes casinos provides legal playbook for state AGs. Forbes. Link