The Mississippi House has made quick work of an online sports betting bill, sending the issue to the Senate for the second year in a row.
With an 88-10 vote, lawmakers in the Mississippi House on Monday sent forward Rep. Casey Eure’s House Bill 1302, which would legalize online sports betting in Mississippi. The bill passed the House Gaming Committee last week.
“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.”
The state legalized in-person sports betting in 2018, but lawmakers have struggled in attempts to expand online during legislative sessions since then. The bill now moves to the Senate, where last year legislators struck an entire bill’s language and did not act on it.
Fears for Mississippi sports betting
A major obstacle to online expansion is smaller, locally owned casino companies. These companies fear the online industry could hurt their revenue if they lose out to national companies.
Rep. Robert Johnson, a no-vote, is concerned about the online industry’s major sportsbooks, like FanDuel. To help quell those concerns, Eure’s 2025 bill would allow casino companies to partner with two rather than one online platform.
The bill also would create a $6 million fund to help smaller casinos offset potential losses. That money would come from a proposed 12% tax rate on sports betting revenue. Eure believes the industry can generate up to $80 million in annual tax revenue.
Senate concerns influence bill
Eure also sponsored last year’s bill. He said he reworked this session’s proposal to address concerns.
Following last session’s failure, an industry source told LSR that “there’s lots of work to be done in the Senate.” Among the other changes this year is a prohibition against credit card deposits into sportsbook accounts.
The state’s Mobile Online Sports Betting Task Force, which formed in 2023, has helped inform the past two legislative efforts.
Growing Mississippi sports betting accounts
Last month, GeoComply released a look at attempts to log into legal sportsbooks in other states by people in states where online sports betting remains illegal.
The company recorded 8.69 million attempts from Mississippi during the NFL betting season.
That included efforts from 212,363 users, a 77% year-over-year increase.
