Sweepstakes Casinos in Mississippi: A 2013 Law Already Bans Sweepstakes Cafés, and a 2026 Bill to Widen It Died in Committee

Mississippi does not need a new statute to reach an internet sweepstakes café: section 97-33-8 of its code has done that since 2013, and it is written around the two things every sweepstakes model depends on — consideration collected through something other than the game, and a cash or cash-equivalent prize. In 2026 the Senate passed a bill to stretch it to online sweepstakes casinos, make it a felony and seize the assets. The House Gaming committee let it die on 3 March.

The café statute, and why it is built the way it is

Section 97-33-8 opens by saying what it is for: to clarify that the operation of “internet sweepstakes cafes” is illegal gambling. It then makes it unlawful to possess, own, control, display, operate or have a financial interest in an electronic video monitor that is offered for play in a “simulated gambling program” in return for direct or indirect consideration — expressly including consideration associated with a product, service or activity other than the program itself — where the player may become eligible for a cash or cash-equivalent prize.

The definitions close the usual exits. Consideration “associated with a product, service or activity” includes money paid for internet access, for computer time, or for a sweepstakes entry, which is the café model in one sentence. And the prize limb applies whether or not the prize has “any relationship to the outcome or play of the program”, which is aimed at the pre-reveal argument that the game only displays a result already decided.

This is a reading of statutory text as it is reproduced in a 2026 bill, not a legal conclusion. We have not read the section in the official code publication, and we found no Mississippi decision applying it to an online platform.

What SB 2104 would have added, and what its death leaves

SB 2104 of the 2026 regular session, by Senator Fillingane, would have rewritten three sections at once. It would have declared any online, interactive or computerized version of a casino game — “including, but not limited to, … online sweepstakes casino-style games” — to be a gambling device; added “online sweepstakes casinos” to § 97-33-8’s statement of purpose and “or platform” to its operative sentence; raised the offence from a misdemeanour to a felony punishable by up to $100,000 and ten years; and made the assets used in a violation liable to forfeiture. Its marketing-promotion exception would have been narrowed to promotions “unrelated to digital tokens, coins or currency associated with a sweepstakes game”. The Senate version also added a safe harbour for internet, cable and telecommunications providers.

The Senate passed it on 4 February 2026. The House referred it to its Gaming committee on 6 February, and on 3 March 2026 it died there. Mississippi’s own status system records the disposition as Dead. The existing section — the café statute, a misdemeanour — is what remains in force.

Whether § 97-33-8 as it stands already reaches an online platform is the question SB 2104 would have answered, and it is unanswered. Its operative words are an “electronic video monitor”, defined broadly as any unit, computer, terminal or device able to display images; the bill’s authors evidently thought “or platform” worth adding.

The older sections, and the free-play proviso

Section 97-33-1 is Mississippi’s general gambling offence: encouraging, promoting or playing at any game “for money or other valuable thing”, or wagering money or other valuable things on a game or contingency. Section 97-33-7 makes it unlawful to possess or operate a slot machine or similar device outside licensed gaming.

The same section 97-33-7 carries a proviso that has stood through every amendment we have seen: pinball machines “which do not return to the operator or player thereof anything but free additional games or plays shall not be deemed to be gambling devices, and neither this section nor any other law shall be construed to prohibit same.” It is a narrow provision about pinball machines, and we do not read it as a general rule about software. It is, however, a legislature stating in terms that more play is not a thing of value.

Can you still play a sweepstakes casino in Mississippi?

Mississippi has had a law against sweepstakes-café gambling since 2013, and it turns on two things: money collected through a related product or service, and a cash or cash-equivalent prize. The 2026 attempt to extend it by name to online sweepstakes casinos, and to make it a felony, passed the Senate and died in the House. That leaves the older statute, and an open question about how far its “electronic video monitor” reaches online.

Casino gambling in Mississippi is licensed and regulated by the state. A sweepstakes site being reachable from Mississippi is not evidence that it is lawful there.

Sources

• Verified Mississippi Legislature, SB 2104, 2026 Regular Session — status history, read 23 September 2026: referred to Judiciary B 9 Jan; do pass committee substitute 28 Jan; passed the Senate 4 Feb; referred to House Gaming 6 Feb; died in committee 3 Mar 2026; disposition Dead. Principal author Fillingane, co-author Blount.
• Verified Mississippi Legislature, SB 2104 as introduced and as passed the Senate, read 23 September 2026. The proposed changes are the bill’s underlined text; the felony, forfeiture, “or platform” and digital-token language are quoted from it.
• Probable The current text of Miss. Code §§ 97-33-1, 97-33-7 and 97-33-8, read as SB 2104 reproduces it (current law being the bill text without its underlined insertions and with its struck words). The official code publication was not read, so an amendment the bill does not show would not appear here.
• Unverified Any Mississippi court decision or Gaming Commission action applying § 97-33-8 to an online platform. The CourtListener search for the section returned two unrelated 2020 decisions.

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Last verified: 2026-09-23 · status row last checked 2026-08-28. Flickloot corrects tracker pages in the same week a status changes. This page is a compliance reference, not legal advice.