Key points:
- Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has vetoed a recent anti-sweepstakes bill
- The bill had successfully passed through the Senate, but is now rendered moot
- Landry has specified that the LGCB is already enforcing adequate measures against illegal gambling in the state
Louisiana Senate Bill 181, which was recently passed by both chambers of the legislature and sought to outlaw sweepstakes gaming, has been vetoed by state Governor Jeff Landry.
As part of statement pertaining to the decision, Landry has specified that measures are already being developed in collaboration with the Louisiana Gaming Control Board (LGCB) to help tackle illegal gambling activities in the state, including both sweepstakes gaming and offshore wagering. Further, Landry highlighted a number of recent successful initiatives which took down illegal and unlicenced gambling operators in the region – citing that, for these reasons, SB 181 would not be a necessary addition to Louisiana state law.
As part of his statement, Landry specified: “This bill is a solution in search of a problem that is already being solved by our current system, and some of the language in this bill is overly broad and could be interpreted in an adverse manner which may harm or impede our current enforcement actions taken against these bad actors.”
Good to know: There are currently enough votes to override this latest Louisiana veto – however, this legally complex path remains an unlikely outcome
Within the bounds of US law, Governors and Senators often have the final say on whether a given bill passes into law – even after the proposal passes through the Senate. A recent example of this was New York Senator Kathy Hochul’s veto of a bill which sought to expedite the NYC casino bidding process in November.
In April, Louisiana Senate Bill 181 was brought to the attention of the Social and Promotional Games Association (SPGA), who noted that if the bill was passed it could lead to the misclassification of legal promotional prize draws as gambling activities.
