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So far, 2025 has been a difficult year for gaming in Minnesota.
In February, a sports betting bill sputtered out in committee. And, this past month, Attorney General Keith Ellison sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple sweepstakes casino operators in the state.
The message this year has been clear: Minnesota doesn’t want to expand gaming beyond the 18 tribal casinos that operate in the state.
Minnesota doubles down on restricting online gambling
Minnesota is one of the few states without legal sports betting. It’s likely to stay that way based on the AG’s letter — not because he addressed sports betting directly, but because of his firm stance on sweepstakes casinos.
Many states allow sweepstakes casinos, but recently there’s been a movement to push them out because of a growing sentiment that they resemble real gambling more than the free-to-play, social platforms they claim to be.
Typically, those anti-sweeps positions come from states with multiple forms of gaming that produce tax revenue. In those cases, sweepstakes casinos can be viewed as a threat to that tax revenue — which typically funds state programs or infrastructure — because they aren’t regulated the same way legal online casinos are.
The fact that Ellison targeted sweeps casinos in a state with no competing tax interest (tribal casinos don’t pay state taxes on their monthly win) suggests Minnesota wants no part of gaming outside tribal casinos.
Minnesota adds fuel to national anti-sweeps push
If the national push against sweepstakes casinos is a campfire, then Ellison’s letter is another log on the flames. This year alone, sweepstakes casinos have been pressured or banned in several states, including Mississippi, New Jersey, and New York.
That trend is likely to spread as more lawmakers take notice of the reasons behind the bans and cease-and-desist letters: consumer and revenue protection.
As for online gambling, Minnesota‘s decision to avoid any gambling expansion may affect three of its four neighbors. Only one of Minnesota’s bordering states offers full online gaming:
- North Dakota: Only at tribal casinos
- South Dakota: Only at certain tribal casinos
- Iowa: Mobile and in-person
- Wisconsin: Only at tribal casinos
Minnesota’s aggressive stance against online betting reinforces what has become an online gambling border block. Every state on the Canadian border from Washington to Wisconsin has either no online gambling or, in Washington’s case, online sports wagering only at tribal casinos.
