Louisiana Declares Online Casino-Style Games Unlawful
Popular online gambling websites like Stake.US have become incredibly popular with young adults and influencers like Adin Ross, but not in Louisiana. The Bayou State’s laws make websites like it illegal, according to a new letter from the Attorney General.
Online gambling is already incredibly regulated where legal, but sweepstakes and social gambling websites break several regulations that Louisiana has for gambling. State law requires a public vote before a casino can open in an area, and according to the Attorney General’s office, there is no form of legal online casino gambling because “no law authorizing it has been passed nor any election for such has been conducted.”
Many of these online casinos attempt to create a loophole with a secondary currency or in-game coin that can be exchanged for real money, but the loophole doesn’t apply in Louisiana. Because the “sweepstakes” these websites promote end up being year-round and unchanging, which makes clear that the goal is to make a profit by promoting regular sales.
In 2014, the state of Louisiana passed laws strictly to ban “Internet sweepstakes cafes.” The idea for these cafes was similar to the sweepstakes websites of today, where customers could gamble through a perceived loophole. At a sweepstakes cafe, a customer would pay for something like an hour of internet access and be given 100 free spins on the computer’s “casino” game.
These cafes were dubious because, unlike casinos, there were often few laws that forced these casinos to run real odds of winning, meaning you could feasibly never win a dime from these computers.
The laws put in place back in 2014 are a big reason why you won’t likely win a jackpot from Stake.US in the Bayou State anytime soon.