On Thursday, the Senate voted to approve a House sports betting bill but the revisions were severe and resulted in a motion to reconsider, which would delay any passage.
Sports Betting Hangs in the Balance
After the Mississippi House passed the latest version of a sports betting bill, it advanced from a Senate Committee to the floor of the upper chamber. However, although the Senate approved HB 774 by a vote of 36-15-1 on Thursday, it did so with a strike-all amendment that came out of the Mississippi Senate Gaming Committee, which essentially keeps the title of the bill but guts the content.
The version the Senate passed allows retail but not online sports betting, which is where the vast majority of the money is made. Without an online arm of the sports betting bill, the tax receipts will drop substantially considering that over 90% of sports bets are made on mobile or PC devices versus brick-and-mortar locations in states which allow both.
“The amendment that came out of committee makes no changes to the current law. It does not express a Senate position one way or another but it does express our position to continue to discuss this and hear from people across the state on this issue,” said Sen. David Blount before the vote.
“It keeps the issue alive and sends it to conference for further discussion,” he added.
Blount also commented, “If people are talking, it’s a good thing. We want to continue to let them do that. We want to continue to move the bill along. There are a lot of issues that we need to consider from the perspective of the industry and also from the perspective of the consumer that we will do if we get to the point where we might be able to get something done this year.”
Where Does the Bill Go From Here?
The bill that was passed omitted one critical item – online sports betting. The Senate has passed the bill with the understanding that it will almost assuredly be debated vigorously in subsequent committees that will advocate for mobile wagering.
House Bill 774 in its original form mandated that online sports betting operators would have to align with any of the 26 retail casinos in the state to make sure those businesses got a piece of the digital betting action.
House Gaming Committee Chairman Casey Eure said at the time the bill was passed in the House back in February, “The number one goal is to protect our brick-and-mortar buildings. Every mobile sports wager will be tied to a brick-and-mortar building.”
Representative Robert Johnson III voiced concerns that some of the smaller casinos could be left in the lurch with the major casinos getting the major platform providers to partner with them. Chairman Eure countered that fear with, “I wouldn’t think that any casino would have a problem partnering with someone.”
Under the House version, a 12% tax on sportsbook adjusted gross revenue would be imposed with 8% allocated to the state and 4% earmarked for the local municipality where the tethered casino is located.
At this point, it is unclear whether the discussions between the House and the Senate will be able to reconcile the bill before the end of the legislative session on May 5th.
