Posted on: January 3, 2025, 01:55h.
Last updated on: January 2, 2025, 02:56h.
Mississippi online sports betting talks in the Jackson capital are expected to resume when lawmakers gather for their 2025 session later this month.
Legislation to expand sports betting online that originated in the state House of Representatives passed the lower chamber of the Legislature with robust 97-14 support in early February 2024. However, after House Bill 774 moved to the Senate, the measure was heavily amended before passing 36-15 in the upper chamber.
A bipartisan conference committee with members of the House and Senate struggled to find common ground. The push to bring online sportsbooks to Mississippi died as the Legislature adjourned.
There were considerable disagreements between the chambers about how to license and tax online sportsbooks. Some state Senators expressed concerns that online books would hurt the state’s physical casinos. Others said if the state wants to allow online sports betting, why not include online casino games, too?
While differing opinions remain, Mississippi limiting sports betting to retail sportsbooks at commercial and tribal casinos is unquestionably keeping some bettors with unregulated, illegal online sportsbooks. Other Mississippians continue to drive into neighboring Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee to place their online bets. The state is also not reaping much of a tax benefit from only allowing retail sports gambling.
Casinos Support Online Sports Betting
Mississippi is home to 26 commercial casinos. The properties’ annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) of approximately $2.5 billion last year ranks the state in the top 10 commercial gaming markets in the nation.
Mississippi’s commercial casinos, the American Gaming Association reports, have an annual economic impact of more than $5 billion, support 33K jobs, and generate over $760 million in tax revenue a year.
MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Penn Entertainment, Body Gaming, and Golden Nugget, which all have properties in Mississippi, largely support online sports betting. Executives with those firms say online sports betting complements in-person casino gambling and doesn’t harm brick-and-mortar GGR.
State Sen. David Blount (D-Jackson), who chairs the Senate Gaming Committee, told the Clarion Ledger recently that he has no plans to file an online sports betting bill in 2025. He added that he wouldn’t form an opinion on sports betting expansion until he read a bill seeking it.
The House has been outspoken in wanting to expand gaming in the state, so I don’t know what they may do. I’ll have to wait and see if there’s a Senate bill or not to consider,” Blount said.
In states where in-person and online sports betting is allowed, the vast majority of the bets are made remotely. In New Jersey, for instance, online sportsbooks took almost $11.6 billion in bets between January through November 2024. Physical oddsmakers printed less than $500 million in handle.
Online sports bets generated over $130.3 million in New Jersey tax revenue during the 11 months. Physical sportsbooks delivered tax revenue of just $2.8 million.
2025 Expansion
2025 was the slowest year for sports betting legalization since the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2018 overturned a federal law that had limited single-game sports wagering to Nevada. Only Missouri passed legislation, which voters approved of during the November presidential election, to bring legal sports betting to the state.
Missouri marked the 39th state, plus Washington, D.C., to legalize sports betting. Along with online sports betting in Mississippi, sports betting legislation is expected to be considered this year in Texas, Minnesota, and Georgia.
