Updated:
Apr 13, 2026 , 05:03 PM ET
• 4 min read
States are pushing sweeps bans, sportsbook limits, and prediction market rules, signaling a shift from expansion to tighter online gambling regulation.
Photo By – Reuters Connect.
Nearly every state legislature meeting this year introduced some sort of gaming-related bill. More than three months into most legislative sessions, the majority of the remaining bills would in some way limit online gambling.
Key Takeaways
- States nationwide are advancing sweeps casino bans, with several on track for near unanimous passage and more expected this year.
- Lawmakers are increasingly targeting sportsbook operations with new restrictions on advertising, deposits, and betting limits.
- Multiple states are pursuing prediction market bans despite federal authority claims, setting up potential Supreme Court challenges.
Most of these bills relate to banning online sweeps casinos, dual-currency digital operators that have been derided by opponents as an illegal form of gambling. After years of aggressive legalization and expansion, several other states are considering restrictions on online sports betting funding and marketing.
A handful of states are also considering regulations of prediction markets, the upstart training platforms that have dominated gaming industry conversations this year.
Here’s where many of the most notable gaming bills stand as of April 13.
Sweeps ban push accelerates
Six states passed legislative bans on sweeps casinos before the 2026 legislative season began. At least six more are set to join them before the end of the calendar year.
Maryland, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Minnesota are all close to passing their respective bans of online dual-currency online casino games. Opposition has been negligible or nonexistent in all four states; several houses of the legislature have already passed these bills unanimously.
It’s likely sweeps bans in all four of these states will pass with large, bipartisan, and veto-proof majorities by as early as May. The quartet is set to join Indiana and Maine, each of which passed a sweeps ban bill earlier this year.
Other states have considered sweeps bans and could follow later this year or next.
The wave of sweeps opposition comes as these games have generated billions of dollars in revenue in recent years. Though they offer free-to-play versions of digital casino offerings such as slots and table games, these platforms’ revenue comes largely from customers paying real money to buy “sweeps coins” that can later be exchanged for prizes.
The games have used celebrity endorsements to advertise heavily online and on TV. Sweeps’ presence has been unavoidable to lawmakers in all 50 states, a growing number of whom are now using their authority to prevent these games in their respective jurisdictions.
Regulatory and legal crackdowns have come without a corresponding push to try to legalize and regulate these sweeps operators. Separate efforts to legalize compliant gaming operators’ real-money iCasino platforms have likewise failed to pass in a single statehouse this year.
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Online sportsbook restrictions
A handful of states are also considering additional restrictions on existing digital gaming purveyors.
More than a half-dozen states have introduced some sort of online sports betting limitation, ranging from minor (banning deposits with credit cards, which most sportsbooks already don’t accept) to extreme (prohibiting online sports betting entirely). Though most of the more radical restrictions are unlikely to pass, a few states have bills under consideration that could alter the day-to-day sports betting experience.
There are 3 major categories of gaming bills still being discussed in statehouses this legislative season (a non-exhaustive list):
– Sweeps bans: MD, MN, OK, TN
– Sportsbook restrictions: CO, CT, MA (plus long-shot bills in NJ, NY, OH)
– Prediction Market bans: HI, MN, NJ, VT— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) April 13, 2026
Connecticut has advanced a bill out of committee that would prohibit sportsbook advertising at state universities and bars and outlaw artificial intelligence from targeting customers. A Massachusetts bill would bar all sportsbook advertising during live sporting events and limit some bettors from wagering more than $10,000 in a single month. In Colorado, a proposal to ban sportsbook advertising between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. and also stop bettors from depositing more than five times in one day is under consideration.
This trio of proposals has gotten far more legislative traction than sweeping bills in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio, which would effectively ban most types of mobile sports betting. But the fact that any such restrictions could gain momentum, after widespread expansion boomed in the years prior, underscores a rising political sentiment to better regulate sportsbooks and their advertising.
Prediction market bans
The most consequential 2026 gambling development isn’t currently subject to state law. That hasn’t stopped several from trying.
A few states are considering regulations or prohibitions on prediction market event contracts involving sports or politics, which make up 90% of these platforms’ trading volume. Minnesota has already advanced a ban bill through multiple legislative committees, and Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont have introduced legislation as well.
The federal government has maintained sole regulatory authority and will undoubtedly challenge any of these bills should they pass, but the move to ban these platforms, particularly in Democratic-controlled states, reaffirms brewing political opposition.
Prediction markets’ ultimate legality will most likely be determined by the Supreme Court. In the meantime, state lawmakers are looking to follow gaming regulators to try to combat what they consider illegal gaming purveyors.