The Louisiana Senate joined the growing list of state legislatures seeking to restrict certain sports betting formats that, in a few years, went from being a novelty to becoming one of the most popular products of online sportsbooks. Senate Bill 354 (SB 354), introduced during the 2026 Regular Session, directly targets prop bets and live sports micro-betting. If approved in time, the measure will take effect on August 1, 2026.
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What SB 354 proposes and how it changes current law
Current Louisiana law defines a sports bet broadly as money risked on an uncertain outcome linked to a sporting event, and explicitly includes prop bets among the approved types of bets. With the changes proposed by SB 354, sponsored by Senator Katrina Jackson-Andrews, that category would be removed from the legal definition.
The bill introduces a new legal description of prop bets as those parallel to a component of the sporting event that are not related to the final outcome. It also defines sports micro-betting for the first time, describing them as live bets placed during an event and linked to the outcome of a specific play or action. Under the new framework, licensed operators would be prohibited from accepting or paying for either of these two formats, while the rest of the current restrictions would remain unchanged.
Louisiana’s regulatory background
Louisiana does not come to this debate without history. In April 2024, the state had already banned prop bets on college athletes as a measure to protect the well-being of student-athletes. SB 354 goes a step further by extending that logic to all sporting events, including professional ones, and by incorporating micro-betting as a new category to be regulated.
The 2026 legislative session arrived loaded with proposals seeking to reshape the state’s gambling regulatory framework. In addition to SB 354, initiatives were presented to ban sweepstakes platforms, expand the list of organized crime offenses linked to illegal gambling, and legalize online lottery sales, reflecting a climate of broad review of the local regulatory ecosystem.
A trend gaining ground across the country
Louisiana’s proposal is not an isolated case. Maryland, Ohio, and Vermont banned prop bets on college sports in 2024. Massachusetts lawmakers have bill S302 in process, which seeks the same goal and must be debated before March 6 to remain active. Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, and Utah are also considering similar legislation, and in North Carolina, a similar initiative remains in limbo.
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New York represents, in this sense, a paradox: while one bill seeks to restrict prop bets, another moves in the opposite direction to expand the offering of that same format, reflecting the political and economic tension surrounding this debate in states with more consolidated betting markets.
Sports leagues also join the restrictions
Lawmakers are not alone in this trend. MLB limited prop bets in November 2025, when Commissioner Rob Manfred announced a $200 cap on pitch-level markets and prohibited these bets from being used in parlays. In December of the same year, the NBA began requiring a reduction in this type of betting following a series of high-profile scandals linked to match-fixing, adding institutional pressure to the debate currently being waged in state legislatures.
The coincidence between the restrictions imposed by the leagues themselves and the state legislative initiatives suggests that the debate no longer revolves around whether these formats should be regulated, but how far those restrictions should go.
The potential impact on the Louisiana betting market
Louisiana’s sports betting market exceeded $3 billion in annual volume for the first time in 2024, with eight online sportsbooks operating under license in the state, including DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM, and BetRivers. Prop bets and micro-betting are two of the highest-volume formats on these platforms, so their elimination would represent a substantial change in the offering available to users and, predictably, an impact on operator revenue.
SB 354 will continue its legislative journey in the Senate Judiciary B Committee, where it must pass debate and voting before the August deadline makes its approval urgent.
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