(The Center Square) – Off-premises online sports betting has cleared the House of Representatives in Mississippi.
Next up is the Senate, where it is likely to visit the Gaming Committee before the full chamber is called upon to send it to Gov. Tate Reeves. The House vote was overwhelming, 97-14.
July 1 remains a possible enactment date.
House Bill 774, sponsored by state Rep. and Gaming Committee Chairman Casey Eure, R-Gautier, would allow gaming license holders to create sports betting apps for use outside of casinos – the only properties allowed by the statutes.
Eure told the House while presenting the bill on Thursday that Mississippi was tops nationally when it came to the use of Google searches for illegal offshore betting apps and websites. He also said 80% of Google searches for sportsbooks in Louisiana and Tennessee – neighboring states that allow online, off-premises sports wagers – are for legal sportsbooks.
Eure said the estimated additional gaming revenue of $25 million to $30 million could be higher.
“It’s estimated that $64 billion was wagered on sports bets in the United States last calendar year,” Eure said. “Mississippi makes up 5% of that market, which is $3 billion. You could take that $3 billion and roll that from the illegal to the legal to the 80% and we could be a lot higher than the $25 to $30 million.”
Eure also said lawmakers thought $80 million would be the likely cap on lottery revenues transferred to the state, but revenues have exceeded those estimates every year since its creation.
Mobile sports betting generated $83.6 million in tax revenues for Tennessee and $40.3 million for Louisiana.
Passage of the bill would allow Mississippi’s casinos to better compete with neighboring states as all except Alabama – which prohibits both casinos and sports wagering – allow off-premises mobile sports wagers.
The bill was amended by Eure to mandate the 12% fee on revenue from sportsbooks be sent to the state’s Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund. The Mississippi Lottery, created in 2018, sends the first $80 million of its revenues to this fund, with any additional revenue going to K-12 education.