Latest Attempt To Legalize Mississippi Online Sports Betting Moves to Senate

When it comes to attempts to legalize online sports betting in Mississippi, it sounds a lot like someone counting steamboats in a game of touch football.

One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi.

Still no pass.

There is again movement on this front. The Mississippi State House passed House Bill 1581 (HB1581) by an 85-31 vote. If passed into law, the bill would legalize online sports betting in Mississippi.

Officially titled “The Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act”, the bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Casey Eure. The language of HB1581 is fairly standard fare for online sports betting bills. All online sports betting licenses would require that each online sports betting site enter into an official partnership with a Mississippi land-based casino. Casinos would be limited to two online sports betting partners.

Players must be at least 21 years of age to wager on sports online, and they must be physically located within the state lines to place a bet. Each sportsbook would be required to contract geofencing software to verify this fact. Responsible gambling initiatives, including the monitoring of accounts and age and identity verification software, would also be must-haves for any online sports betting site.

The bill would enact one of the lowest taxation rates on sports betting in any state. The Mobile Sports Wagering Tax Fund would be a rolling structure with the tax rate ranging between 4-8% based on revenue earned by the online sportsbook.

Tax revenue would be directed into the Mississippi Public Employee Retirement Fund, which has a shortfall in the range of $26 billion. Estimates are that Mississippi online sports betting could create annual revenue between $40-$80 billion.

An unusual section of the bill is known as the “Retail Sports Wagering Protection Fund.” This would see the first $6 million of each year’s online sports betting revenue earmarked to make payments to retail sportsbooks in the state, should their revenue drop once online sports betting is implemented in Mississippi.

Eure doesn’t foresee money from this fund being distributed.

"I do not feel that any casino is going to lose money on this," Eure told the Clarion Ledger.

Another unique feature of HB1451 would require outstanding child support payments to be deducted from any player’s winnings in excess of $2,000.

Online sports betting isn’t a priority with the Mississippi Senate

This will be the third online sports betting bill advanced to the Mississippi Senate. Neither of the first two attempts came close to passage. The state has offered legalized retail sports betting since 2018.

The hope is that this time around, with prediction markets moving into the state and studies showing that 60% of Mississippi college students are placing illegal online wagers in neighboring states, there will be an appetite for the passage of an online sports betting bill.

Eure estimates that approximately 80,000 Mississippians have gone to neighboring states to place online wagers on sports

"These are Mississippi residents crossing over into other states," Eure said. "Mississippi receives zero tax revenue, there's zero oversight, zero consumer protections against these people placing these bets, and problem gambling goes undetected and unmanaged."

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