Several legislative efforts to make sweeping changes to Mississippi’s gaming market will no longer be considered after the bills failed to advance in this year’s regular session.
Senate Bill 2104 died in Mississippi’s House Gaming Committee after it was unable to attract a favorable vote ahead of the state’s March 3 deadline for committees to report bills and amendments that originate in the opposing chamber. Despite passing the Senate, the demise of SB 2104 concludes another unsuccessful attempt to ban online sweepstakes gaming in Mississippi, following a previous effort back in 2025.
Mississippi lawmakers will also no longer consider House Bill 1581, a measure that aimed to bring online sports betting to the Magnolia State. The Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act suffered a similar fate as the proposed sweepstakes ban, dying in the Senate Finance Committee after passing the House. It did not receive a committee vote before the deadline.
House Bill 4074, another online sports betting measure introduced by the same lawmaker as HB 1581, also failed to advance during Mississippi’s 2026 regular session.
Mississippi’s proposed sweeps gaming ban
Sens. Joey Fillingane and David Blount introduced SB 2104 as their second legislative attempt to ban online sweepstakes gaming in Mississippi. However, the lawmakers’ latest effort provided clarity for what would have constituted a prohibition on the controversial vertical.
SB 2104 aimed to outlaw online sweepstakes by placing “internet sweepstakes casinos” and “online sweepstakes casino-style games” in the definition of illegal gambling devices – a definition that was not included in Fillingane and Blount’s previous bill. The bill also outlawed the promotion of online sweepstakes, online sports pools and online racebooks, while providing penalties for any brands found to be operating and promoting sweepstakes.
The measure proposed fines of up to $100,000, with a person operating an online sweepstakes casino also facing a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
That bill ultimately failed in the House despite passing the Senate, just like 2025’s Senate Bill 2510, which died in conference.
Online sports betting efforts fail in Mississippi
Mississippi’s legislature also failed to advance House Bill 1581, a piece of legislation that proposed allowing online sports betting through partnerships between online operators and land-based casinos.
The bill would have allowed each retail casino in Mississippi to partner with up to two online sportsbooks and would have taxed operators based on the state’s sliding tax scale for gaming. The scale requires operators to be taxed at a 4% for the first $50,000 in revenue an operator generates monthly. That rate increases to 6% once its $84,000 in revenue threshold is met, with an uptick to 8% for additional monthly revenue.
HB 1581 also addressed cannibalization concerns, providing $6m in funding for land-based casinos each year for the first five years of regulated online sports wagering.
The funding was designed to provide compensation for revenue impacted by online betting. HB 1581 also proposed a one-time $600m transfer from the Mississippi Capital Expense Fund to the state’s pension system, while also supporting state infrastructure.
Mississippi lawmaker introduced varying sports betting bills
Rep. Casey Eure, who drafted HB 1581, also introduced another online sports wagering bill in the state’s legislature. Eure introduced HB 4074 as a bill that aimed to legalize online sports betting and online race books, while banning “all forms of interactive gaming”.
HB 4074 only allowed land-based casinos to partner with one online sportsbook and levied a 22% tax rate on sports betting revenue from online wagering. By comparison, the state’s brick-and-mortar sportsbooks are taxed at an 18.5% rate.
Eure projected the 22% rate to generate $100m in tax revenue annually, of which a portion would be distributed to the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System.
The bill also addressed cannibalization concerns, but took a different approach. HB 4074 included a tax provision for casinos amid pushback over cannibalization concerns. It proposed lowering the tax rate for land-based casinos from 8% to 6%. The tax rate decrease was projected to result in approximately $48m in annual savings for retail casinos.
HB 4074 also failed to receive a committee vote before the March 3 deadline.
Other failed online sports betting bills in Mississippi
Eure wasn’t the only lawmaker to introduce an online sports wagering bill in 2026.
Rep. Cedric Burnett introduced an online sports betting bill in January, but the piece of legislation was referred to the House Finance Committee, where it died. Sen. Juan Barnett’s Senate Bill 2249 also failed to progress past the Senate Gaming Committee as an online sports betting bill. It allocated a portion of tax revenue to the HOPE Scholarship Program.
This bill is in addition to an online sports wagering bill introduced by Rep. Jay McKnight which also failed to make it past the committee stage.
While we’re only a few months into 2026, the prospect of any gambling bill being passed in Mississippi is looking bleak.
