Bills aimed at the gaming industry will return for Mississippi legislators’ consideration as hot-button topics this session, with one measure legalizing mobile sports betting and another banning online sweepstakes in the Magnolia State.
Online Sports Betting Legislation Resurrected
Rep. Casey Eure led the charge last year to legalize online sports betting, and it appeared promising after the House voted 88-10 to pass his legislation. However, the Senate rejected it, but Eure made several attempts to include it as an addendum on bills that had passed the House, but those attempts proved futile.
Representative Jay McKnight has picked up the mantle by sponsoring HB 519, which would render a mobile sports betting license to each Mississippi casino operator. However, unlike last year’s measure, this iteration gives only one, and not two, digital sports betting licenses to the state’s casinos and does not increase the taxes from where they are currently on retail sports betting, which was launched in August 2018.
The tax rate on mobile sports betting revenue is the same as that of the brick-and-mortar sportsbooks operating in the state.
- 4% tax on gross revenue for sportsbooks with $50,000 or less in monthly revenue
- 6% tax on gross revenue for operators that have monthly revenue between $50,000 and $134,000
- 8% tax on gross revenue for operators with more than $134,000 in monthly revenue
Current Restrictions on Mobile Sports Betting
The only mobile sports betting allowed currently is on the premises of Mississippi casinos that operate a retail sportsbook. The tide of public opinion may be changing, portending a good omen for mobile sports betting stakeholders. Governor Tate Reeves has expressed openness to mobile sports betting, but a bill has not yet reached his desk.
Brandt Iden, vice president of government affairs at Fanatics Betting & Gaming, recently spoke about the possibility of Mississippi lawmakers passing a mobile sports bill, stating, “Expansion to [Mississippi] online sports betting is not easy, lots of hurdles, but a bill has moved out of the House the past two years. Again, there’s an issue in the Senate, but lots of discussion, and lawmakers are aware of the issue.”
Should the bill pass both chambers and be signed by the governor, it would not take effect until July 1st, nearly three months following the adjournment of this year’s legislative session.
Sweepstakes Ban Surfaces Again
Dual currency online sweepstakes allow the consumer to pay cash for tokens (the dual currency) with the possibility of winning back those tokens plus more through casino-style games and turning them back into cash. It essentially mirrors online casino betting but uses tokens as the buffer to delineate it from iGaming.
However, state legislators and gaming officials have grown increasingly hostile toward the industry, with many sending cease-and-desist letters to the operators. The logic is that these sweepstakes platforms are taking discretionary income from the consumers that could be used to bet on a sports event or, in some states, the licensed online casino gaming platforms that pay taxes on their revenues to the state.
Fillingane’s SB 2104
Senator Joey Fillingane has spearheaded the fight to end online sweepstakes and is back this year, following the failure of his bill to gain legislative traction last year. However, with a new session comes renewed hope, and Fillingane is back in the ring to take another swing in the form of SB 2104.
The bill would criminalize online sweepstakes in Mississippi, and operators could incur a $100,000 fine if they persisted. This law would buttress the Mississippi Gaming Commission’s several cease-and-desist orders to sweepstakes operators in 2025.
