In mid-February, the Mississippi Senate became the first state legislative chamber to approve a ban on sweepstakes casinos. On the final day of March, the bill died after being returned to the same chamber.
Sen. Joey Fillingane’s SB 2510 fizzled out in conference in the Senate after the deadline for reporting bills out of conference committee passed on Monday.
Fillingane’s proposal would have increased punishments for operators and collaborators of illegal gambling. It also would have explicitly banned digital sweepstakes casinos and charged their operators and promoters with a felony. The bill was returned to the Senate after being approved by a unanimous 51-0 re-vote in February without sports betting included.
After being sent over, House Gaming Commission Chair Rep. Casey Eure added sports wagering language that would have allowed existing retail casinos up to two skins to partner with online sportsbooks or racebooks and offer sports betting taxed at 12%.
The altered bill passed in the full House and returned to the Senate. Late last week, the Senate said no to the idea of adopting the heavily amended bill upon its return to its original chamber, instead inviting conference with House representatives.
Sports betting was an ambitious addition
Shoehorning in sports betting language was a major change to what was initially online casino-focused legislation. Based on Mississippi’s track record, it always looked like an ambitious attempt.
Last year, Eure led a bill that passed in the House but was hit with a strike-all amendment in the Senate and ultimately died in conference committee. This year, Eure’s latest sports betting bill HB 1302 died in the Senate Gaming Committee earlier this session after it had been approved 88-10 on the House floor.
Eure had tweaked his proposal to give casinos two skins rather than one and to create a Retail Sports Wagering Protection Fund that would dedicate $6 million in annual sports betting tax revenue to smaller casinos without an online sportsbook partner to help them offset potential losses. Still, the Senate did not approve.
Eure has cited figures suggesting that Mississippi is losing out on between $40 million and $80 million per year by not allowing online sports betting.
But, given the roadblocks sports betting legalization has met before, grouping together sports wagering and unlicensed sweepstakes casinos on a single Mississippi bill at a late stage always felt like a long shot. Now, this particular push is officially over.
