Louisiana Seeks to Ban Micro and Prop Bets

Louisiana’s Senate is now pushing to have prop and micro bets banned under a new piece of legislation, Senate Bill 354. The bill sponsored by Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews hopes to end the practice by prohibiting sportsbooks from taking action on these specific outcomes, citing consumer protection concerns and integrity issues as the reason why.

Illinois Seeks to Rid Itself of Prop and Micro Bets 

Should the bill pass successfully could be signed into law by August 1, 2026. The legalese surrounding the bill is not easy – it specifically seeks to redesignate the meaning of a prop wager, described as a “side bet” that does not relate to the outcome of an event, as is required by law right now to qualify a product as a “bet.” 

“Proposition bet” or “prop bet” means a side wager on a part of a sports or athletic event that does not concern the outcome of the sport or athletic event. “Sports micro-bet”  means a proposition bet which is wagered live, while a sport or athletic event is ongoing, and concerns the outcome of a play or action occurring in the sport or athletic event. 

Senate Bill 354

In the same stride, Senate Bill 354 seeks to also redefine micro-bets, arguing that they are a live form of prop wagers and are tied to the outcome of specific plays, not the entire outcome, which should disqualify them under the current gambling regulatory framework, if the redefinitions become law. 

Should the legislation come into effect, sportsbooks would have to suspend all such activity, stripping their markets of micro and prop bets. This is not the first major move the state has taken against the gambling sector.

In January, the Pelican State announced plans, through another draft legislation, House Bill 53, to seek and tie online sweepstakes casinos to racketeering crimes, thus giving the state expanded powers in taking action against the sector.

In the meantime, prop bets and micro bets have come under assault in other states as well, with multiple jurisdictions taking a dim view of the segment. The main criticism has been that by allowing people to bet on particular and often hard-to-predict outcomes of certain plays, sportsbooks were undermining the integrity of the game.

States and Sports Leagues Move Against Prop Bets

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has repeatedly called for prop bets to be suspended from sportsbooks and outright banned. Some states have paid heed to this warning and have moved forward with measures of their own.

In 2024 alone, Vermont, Maryland, and Ohio passed laws banning prop bets on college sports, while Kentucky, New Jersey, and New York are now debating the issue of a potential ban on prop bets as a whole. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently called for proposition bets to be banned– not just for college sports as the status quo is – but for professional sports as well. Meanwhile, professional sports leagues such as the NBA and the MLB have been rocked by high-profile scandals related to match-fixing and prop bets, with the NBA vowing to pay closer attention to these selections moving forward.