Mississippi Online Sports Betting Bill Fails as Committee Doesn’t Agree at Deadline

Online sports betting will not spread beyond the geo-fenced casino floors of Mississippi this year.

House Bill 774, which would have brought mobile sports betting statewide, flamed out in committee on Monday. The Mississippi legislative session ends on Sunday.

The original bill that passed through the state House of Representatives included online Mississippi sports betting and racing. The Senate stripped out the mobile sports betting provisions, landing the so-called Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act in committee, where it’s now labeled on the state website as “died in conference.”

The deceased bill initially would have allowed for mobile sports betting licensees in association with retail casinos. In Mississippi’s Gulf Coast casino hotbeds of Biloxi and D’Iberville, mobile sports betting is legal only on property. Get too far away from the front door, and it stops.

Mississippi Virtually Surrounded by Betting States

Three of four legal sports betting states bordering Mississippi – Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee – have online markets underway.

Sports betting launched in Mississippi in August of 2018. According to the Gaming Today sports betting revenue tracker, the state has taken in $2.6 billion in sports wagers for $291,977,792 in revenue since then.

Tennessee, which launched in November of 2020 with full state-wide mobile, is at $12.5 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Louisiana sports betting, launched in October of 2021, is at $6.2 billion and $714 million, respectively.

Arkansas is a tougher comparison. It launched in November 2018, but sports betting was confined to retail sportsbooks at racetracks until April 2022.

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