Mississippi Senate Deals Final Blow to Online Sports Betting

The Mississippi Senate effectively doused any hope of sports betting legislation being passed by rejecting the House’s proposal not once, but twice this session.

Backdoor Closed

Senator Joey Fillingane introduced Senate Bill 2510, which had everything to do with defining what constituted illegal online gaming in the state, specifically targeting online sweepstakes casinos, and nothing to do with legalizing mobile sports betting. Fillingane’s bill was approved by a 51-0 vote before it advanced to the House.

Once the Social & Promotional Games Association caught wind of the bill, the organization issued a statement expressing its alarm. “This bill not only misrepresents the nature of sweepstakes gaming — an established and consumer-friendly model — but also sets a troubling precedent by equating these operations with illicit gambling,” a statement read.

“Rather than enacting punitive measures that reduce innovation and consumer choice, we urge lawmakers to consider a regulatory approach that enshrines transparency and consumer protections while allowing Mississippi adults to continue enjoying the fun, fair, and free-to-play games offered by social sweepstakes operators.”

A Losing Bet

Once there, Representative Casey Eure, who has led the charge for mobile sports betting but whose bills this year and last were both snubbed by the Senate, decided to backdoor mobile sports betting legislation by including it in an amendment to SB 2510. The House approved Eure’s changes and sent it back to the Senate, which promptly rejected it.

A conference committee was convened between the chambers, led by Senator Fillingane and Representative Casey Eure. Unsurprisingly, those talks went nowhere, and the legislation has officially died. Those who hoped for legalized sports betting in the Magnolia State will have to wait until next year to see if the political climate in the Senate significantly changes.

Political Gamesmanship

Representative Eure is a savvy politician who has twice forced his sports betting agenda this session by tying it into a Senate bill that the upper chamber was forced to kill. Eure has demonstrated a willingness to cooperate with the Senate’s bills, but the upper chamber has refused to reciprocate. This has left not only Eure’s sports betting legislation in the dustbin but also two of the Senate’s bills, namely the Tideland’s Act and, most recently, SB 2510, as described above.

After watching his mobile sports betting legislation get extinguished by the Senate last year, Eure made the necessary changes to appease the upper chamber’s concerns, which ultimately birthed House Bill 1302, also known as the “Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act.” Eure’s measure was passed by an 88-10 margin in the House before it was summarily rejected by Senator David Blount, who chairs the Senate Gaming Committee.

But Blount had a pet project of his own, Senate Bill 2381, also known as the Tidelands Act. Once Blount’s measure passed the Senate, it advanced to the House, where Eure amended it to include mobile sports betting, just as he did with SB 2510.

The bill now sits with Blount, but it is doubtful he will approve it with the sports betting legislation inserted, which means online sports betting is not happening in Mississippi, at least not this year.