Minnesota’s proposed sweepstakes casino ban has fallen away after the state legislature wrapped up its 2026 session yesterday without getting the required bills over the line.
The two measures, Senate Bill 4474 and House Bill 4410, both made it through parts of the legislative process, but neither completed full passage through both chambers before adjournment.
Both bills were introduced in March, and arguments for and against were heard in committee. Tribal groups voiced support as the bills would have reduced competition – the land-based casinos of Minnesota are operated by tribal nations under compacts with the state. On the other hand, Patrick Fechtmeyer, CEO of ARB Interactive (a sweeps casino operator) plus a representative from sweepstakes industry group, the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA) made their own arguments against the bill.
Despite both bills missing a key committee deadline, SB 4474 still managed to pass the Senate earlier this month, indicating some degree of support from lawmakers.
However, in Minnesota – as in all states – bills have to be fully passed by both chambers within the same session to progress, and this never happened. The last update for SB 4474 shows that it never moved beyond the initial House referral stage after being received from the Senate. Then, HB 4410 didn’t even make it past its originating chamber, and while neither of these were official rejections, the end result is that the sweepstakes ban effort in MN is dead for 2026.
The bills were identical, both defining “dual-currency” and “online sweepstakes games” before prohibiting the operation of businesses offering these products, as well as outlawing support from a supply chain of financial institutions, payment processors, geolocation providers etc.
So with the session now closed, nothing changes on the ground in Minnesota this year. Operators will remain active under the current legal position, but the issue is likely to resurface in a future session given the level of attention it has already had.
It’s worth noting that Minnesota’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGE) contacted more than 20 sweepstakes and offshore operators in June last year, requesting that they either stop or adjust operations. However, the AGE still doesn’t have the power to send fully-fledged cease-and-desist letters to operators it deems illegal.
Interestingly, Iowa’s regulator didn’t up until last week either, but the IA Governor recently signed off on a bill giving the state regulator formal C&D powers. Would such a bill make more sense to try in MN next year before another attempt at full prohibition of the sweeps vertical?
Either way, for now, Minnesota joins the list of states where sweepstakes legislation progressed but didn’t make it across the line before the 2026 session ended, leaving the status quo intact heading into the next cycle.
Author: Bogdan Lunkan
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