A bill filed last week in Mississippi to allow the state’s casinos to partner with two online sportsbooks each was passed by the House Gaming Committee on Wednesday.
Rep. Casey Eure and Rep. Jeffrey Hulum III’s HB 1302 would legalize online sports betting but restrict it only to existing casino licensees. Each partner platform would have the right to offer both an online sportsbook and an online racebook.
Sports betting would be taxed at 12% of annual gross revenue under the proposal. The bill also includes a ban on using credit cards for sports wagering.
The Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act got the green light in a committee session on Jan. 29 and will now head to the full House for debate. If approved, online sportsbooks would be able to launch from Dec. 8, 2025.
Eure is pushing for online sports betting again in 2025 after his bid to legalize it in 2024 failed. Last year’s HB 774 was approved by the House and later in the Senate, with a strike-all amendment with no online wagering framework, but the bill would later die in conference committee.
Bill would create fund designed to protect smaller casinos
Other previous efforts in the state have faltered partly due to fears that legalization would cannibalize land-based revenue. Eure said the fact the new bill mandates that all sports betting is tethered to bricks-and-mortar casinos shows he is committed to retail gaming.
Another concern has been that online sports betting may leave smaller casinos out in the cold if leading sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings only seek to partner with the biggest casinos.
The lawmakers have moved to address the concern by proposing the creation of a Retail Sports Wagering Protection Fund, which would be funded by the first $6 million in annual sports betting tax revenue. Smaller casinos would be eligible to draw money from the protection fund for the first five years after online betting becomes legal. The Mississippi Gaming Commission (MGC) would allocate the funds proportionately among the eligible casinos.
The rest of the tax revenue would go towards the state’s Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund.
Is Mississippi missing out?
Eure has cited figures suggesting that Mississippi is losing out on between $40 million and $80 million annually by not allowing online sports betting.
Observers have noted that many betting enthusiasts in Mississippi are crossing into neighboring states like Louisiana and Tennessee to wager on sports online. Recent data from GeoComply found that since the start of the current NFL season, there have been around 10 million instances of people in the state attempting to access online sportsbooks, and there has also been a 77% year-over-year increase in the number of active sportsbook accounts in the state.
Eure and Hulum aren’t the only Mississippi lawmakers pushing for sports betting this legislative session. Rep. Cedric Burnett’s HB 682 was introduced earlier in January and is pending in the committee.
That bill would allow online sportsbooks to be run by either existing casinos or by licensed sportsbooks on behalf of license-holders. It proposes a lower tax rate of 8% and would take effect several months earlier than HB 1302, on July 1, 2025.