- Mississippi’s mobile betting legislation breezed past the House with just 11 opposing votes before getting knocked down in the Senate.
- With a 22% tax rate on the table, the state had its sights set on pulling in $100 million each year from mobile wagering.
- Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount pulled the plug, saying a casino tax cut in the bill would wipe out any money the state stood to gain.
JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi bettors will have to wait at least another year, as the state’s latest push to legalize mobile sports betting has once again come up short.
The Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote of 100 to 11, only to be shut down in the Senate Gaming Committee before it could ever reach a floor vote. It is the second time this session alone that it has happened.
This is the third year in a row that a law supporting online sports betting has been enacted by the House; the Senate rejected the prior two efforts.
The bill was first submitted in January by Rep. Casey Eure, the chairman of the House Gaming Committee. His most recent proposal, which he claimed would put Mississippi in line with the national average, would have taxed mobile sports betting sites at a rate of 22%, up from 18.5% in earlier iterations.
Eure estimated that the law might generate $100 million in additional revenue annually, citing Tennessee and Louisiana, two nearby states that generated $125 million and $102 million, respectively, in 2025. He also threw out the idea of routing $50 million yearly into the Public Employees Retirement System, which is currently carrying $26 billion in debt it has yet to cover.
Why the Bill Failed
David Blount, the chairman of the Senate Gaming Committee, vetoed the proposal due to budgetary concerns. According to Blount, Eure’s measure reduced the state gaming tax for physical casinos from 8% to 6%, which would cost the state about $48 million annually.
The money earned from legal sports betting would not be enough to offset that loss, according to a Tax Foundation analysis that Blount referenced.
Blount also brought up the growing popularity of online prediction market apps, which allow users to place bets on athletic events without being bound by state laws or taxes.
He cautioned that whatever money Mississippi sportsbooks could have made could be reduced by these unregulated platforms.
Eure’s bill will not advance before the session closes in early April. The question for Mississippi gamblers going into the next session is whether a revised version that directly tackles the casino tax concerns will be back.
