The Mississippi House of Representatives has passed a bill that would establish a mobile/online betting task force to investigate the possibility of legalizing online sports betting across the state.
HB606, introduced by Reps. Eure and Felsher, would form the task force to ‘undertake a comprehensive analysis of all matters related to legalizing online betting, online gaming and/or online wagering’.
The bill was first introduced in January and speedily passed through the House before transferring to the Senate.
Now the Senate has transferred the act to its Gaming Committee which will discuss and conduct readings on it before a final vote.
Under the remit of the task force, there will be 11 members, chaired by the House Gaming Committee Chairperson and co-chaired by the Senate Gaming Committee Chairperson.
The other nine appointments would comprise the ED of the gaming commission or a designee, the Commissioner of the Department of Revenue, the ED of the gaming and hospitality association, three appointments from the Chair and three from the co-chair.
Should the bill be enshrined into law, the task force would be appointed within 30 days of enactment and will hold its first meeting within 60 days of enactment.
Any move to create the task force would act as a significant market in a bid to legalize online/mobile sports betting across the whole state of Mississippi, which has failed on multiple occasions in previous years.
Sports betting launched in Mississippi in August 2018 but sportsbooks may only offer sports betting on casino grounds.
