It looks like it’s all over in Mississippi.
The main legislative vehicle that tried to bring statewide mobile sports betting to the Magnolia State is dead after lawmakers failed to find agreement on compromise legislation and missed a key deadline.
A conference committee formed to find that common ground did not file a report for House Bill 774 by Monday, the last day for those efforts. H.B. 774 is now labeled as "dead" on the Mississippi legislature website, and the same is likely true for the prospects of legalizing online sports betting this year in the southern state.
The failed attempt follows disagreement in the legislature. The bill began as a mobile sports and race betting measure and was passed by the House of Representatives in early February but it stalled in the Senate. Senators then removed all of the online wagering provisions in a bid, one lawmaker said, to keep discussions on the legislation going.
Well, looks like the best shot at legalizing statewide online sports betting in Mississippi this year is dead, as lawmakers failed to reach a compromise on House Bill 774 before Monday's deadline:https://t.co/oMu6pmMe00 pic.twitter.com/AIO20XSeIj
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) April 30, 2024
A conference committee was then formed earlier this month to fashion a bill that would earn the approval of three-fifths of lawmakers, albeit all for naught, ultimately. The southern state’s legislature is scheduled to adjourn on May 5.
Sports betting in Mississippi is still legal, but only on the property of a brick-and-mortar casino. Mobile apps are available for wagering on some of those properties, and there are nearly 30 casinos in the southern state, but they do not accept action from anywhere else but at and around those facilities.
That will remain the case for the foreseeable future unless the governor were to call a special session for the purposes of passing sports betting-related legislation, which is unlikely.
Better luck next year
It’s bound to be a tough pill to swallow for Mississippi sports bettors who were hoping for statewide mobile wagering.
While previous legislative efforts also failed, hopes were higher heading into 2024, as a task force was formed last year that did a lot of homework on the potential routes of legalization. The group even published a report that provided projections and policy considerations for lawmakers ahead of this year’s legislative session, such as regarding a possible tax rate.
Yet discussions during the task force meetings highlighted the concerns held by some brick-and-mortar casino operators who were worried about what allowing people to wager from home could mean for those businesses. Those anxieties factored into the legislative process and were perhaps a hurdle too high for some lawmakers.
Mississippi is one of 20 U.S. states that lacks statewide mobile sports wagering, despite neighboring jurisdictions such as Louisiana having already authorized that activity.
Interest is there
There does appear to be interest among Mississippi residents in enabling statewide online sports wagering. Data that technology company GeoComply Solutions Inc. provided to the task force showed more than 1.7 million Mississippi-based attempts to access legal sportsbooks outside the state over a little less than two months of the football season.
And some demand for online sports betting could continue to flow to offshore and illegal bookmakers. That could mean Mississippi lawmakers are again debating the legalization of mobile wagering when the legislature returns next year.
“Mississippi is No. 1 for illegal online sports betting in the country,” said Rep. Casey Eure, the principal author of H.B. 774, in early February. “Mississippi was the highest state for searches on illegal offshore accounts as a percent of all Google searches.”
