The state House approved legislation Monday for the second year in a row to legalize mobile sports betting, a move that puts Mississippi on track to join a growing number of states that allow online betting.
House Gaming Chairman Rep. Casey Eure, R-Saucier, is trying again to pass legislation after lawmakers couldn’t agree on a final proposal in 2024. Sports wagering has been permitted in the state for years, and casino gambling for decades. But online betting has remained illegal amid fears the move could harm the bottom line of the state’s casinos — a concern Eure acknowledged in committee and on the House floor.
“As I told y’all last year, I’m committed to and this bill is committed to our bricks-and-mortar casinos,” Eure said on Monday. “All mobile sports betting will still be tethered to bricks-and-mortar casinos in the state of Mississippi.”
In an 88-10 vote, the House approved a new version of the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act, which Eure said was reworked to address concerns raised by the Senate last year. The new version would allow a casino to partner with two sports betting platforms rather than one. Allowing casinos to partner with an extra platform is designed to assuage the concerns of casino leaders and lawmakers who represent areas where gambling is big business.
Last year, some lawmakers raised concerns that gambling platforms would have no incentive to partner with smaller casinos, and most of the money would instead flow to the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s already bustling larger casinos. That concern was raised again Monday by the Democratic leader, Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, who voted against the bill.
“You talk about partners, but there is nothing that says FanDuel or ESPN has to partner with any particular casino,” Johnson. “They just have to partner with a casino in the state of Mississippi.”
Johnson also said bets should be geofenced regionally, rather than within the state as a whole, to steer revenue to local casinos.
To protect smaller casinos from revenue losses, this year’s proposal would create a pot of money that establishments could draw from for the first five years after online sports betting becomes legal. The $6 million fund, generated from taxes on sports betting, would be replenished each year. Any unused money would go to fund road and bridge repairs.
Other changes include a provision that prevents people from placing bets with credit cards, a request from the Senate to guard against gambling addiction.
The proposal would levy a 12% tax on sports wagers, with revenue reaching all 82 counties via the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund. Eure said he believes the state is losing between $40 million and $80 million a year in tax revenue by keeping mobile sports betting illegal.
Proponents also say legalization would undercut the influence of illicit offshore sports betting platforms. Since the start of the NFL season this year, Mississippi has recorded 8.69 million attempts to access legal mobile sportsbooks, according to materials presented to House members at an earlier committee meeting. That demand fuels a thriving illegal online gambling market in Mississippi, proponents have said.
Mobile sports betting is legal in 30 states and Washington, D.C., according to the American Gaming Association.
The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.