The Mississippi House sent a comprehensive sports betting bill to the Senate but what came back was a substantially altered bill in which the upper chamber gutted many key components like online sports betting. The House, in return, has rejected the Senate’s version and a compromise must be reached for at least some manifestation of gaming in the Magnolia State to occur.
Diverging Opinions
The Mississippi House of Representatives has a very aggressive and bold vision for expanding gaming to its citizenry. Conversely, the Senate has a much narrower expansion in mind and they made that quite clear when they took the proverbial red pen to the bill and drastically amended it. That iteration of HB 774 came out of the Mississippi Senate Gaming Committee which was then sent to the floor where the upper chamber passed it by a vote of 36-15-1.
“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.
That was a foreshadowing of things to come and there is little doubt that online sports betting, which was eliminated by the Senate, will be the primary issue when the two chambers discuss compromise legislation.
Mobile sports betting is the overwhelming revenue driver as 90% of the wagers are placed digitally versus at a retail sportsbook. Therefore, the gaming package will likely hinge on whether the House can get its Senate colleagues to accept online sports betting.
ONLINE SPORTS BETTING REVENUE IS SURGING AND LEFT RETAIL SPORTS BETTING. $DKNG $GENI $RSI $CZR $MGM. pic.twitter.com/ONzfcaQPFc
— Michael Kitara (@MichaelKitara) February 6, 2023
What Now?
A study authorized by the legislature to research the effects mobile sports betting would have on the Mississippi economy revealed that most of the 35 states that allow online sports betting bring in more revenue than the Magnolia State. As of this writing, the only mobile sports betting allowed in Mississippi is on the premises of the casinos that house a retail sportsbook.
If bringing mobile sports betting to the masses is the primary goal of those in the House who supported HB 774 in its initial form, before the Senate employed a strike-all amendment that reverted the bill to the present gambling laws, then tethering those sportsbooks to any of the state’s 28 casinos would be a close second. Some casino owners are skeptical of bringing sports betting to Mississippi because of online casino gambling, often referred to as iGaming, which could be part of the next gaming expansion in the state.
However, the steady drumbeat to bring mobile sports betting to Mississippi would be far more welcome to the casino operators if they were getting a piece of the pie. House Gaming Committee Chairman Casey Eure said at the time the bill was passed in the House, “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.”
As of this moment, conference committees will be formed to forge a sports betting bill that both legislative chambers can support. However, time is running out as the session adjourns on May 5th, which means much work will have to be done if a gaming expansion is to come to the Mississippi masses anytime soon.
