A backdoor attempt to legalize online Mississippi sports betting is dead, and it took sweepstakes prohibition legislation with it.
Senate Bill 2510 died in conference committee on Monday. The initial Senate legislation further defined illegal online gambling, including online sweepstakes.
Once the bill reached the House, however, lawmakers added language to expand Mississippi sports betting online. That came after a House bill legalizing online sportsbooks died in the Senate.
The conference committee for the combined legislation was created last week.
Mississippi online sports betting saga
Mississippi legalized in-person sports betting in 2018. Since then, lawmakers have attempted to expand that to online sportsbooks.
This year, Rep. Casey Eure worked to appease the Senate by updating a proposal that passed the House in 2024. This year, Eure’s legislation passed the House by a vote of 88-10, but the Senate declined to advance it.
In 2023, an online proposal was turned into the Mobile Online Sports Betting Task Force, which has helped inform Eure’s legislation.
MS sweepstakes ban
Sen. Joey Fillingane introduced Senate Bill 2510, which further defined illegal online gambling in the state and explicitly prohibited online sweepstakes casinos. The Senate passed it by a 51-0 vote.
Eure amended SB 2510 in its House committee visit to include his sports betting legislation language. The House then approved the amended version.
Once back in the Senate, the upper chamber declined to concur with the changes and invited a conference committee. In conference committee, the bill died.
When the initial bill passed the Senate, the Social & Promotional Games Association released a statement of disappointment about the legislation.
Sweepstakes bills sweep nation
A number of states have recently introduced bills to prohibit sweepstakes operators, including in places like Florida and New York.
The Mississippi Senate was the first to pass the legislation, with the Maryland Senate following shortly after. Multiple other bills have passed through committees.
No full legislation has passed a sweepstakes ban as of yet.
