Mississippi’s House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill seeking to legalize online sports betting.
House Bill 1302 was voted through the House 88-10. It seeks to establish the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act and will move to the Senate for further debate and potential amendments.
The bill’s primary sponsor is Rep. Casey Eure, who also chairs the Committee. Eure filed a similar bill last year that also passed through the House but stalled in the Senate. The upper chamber struck the language, and the bill died at a Conference Committee.
Mississippi’s proposed mobile sports betting bill would allow each brick-and-mortar casino to be tethered to two online sports betting skins and two race book platforms. The tethering to retail venues alleviates cannibalization fears previously voiced in the Senate.
Eure Proposes Support for Small Casinos
Magnolia State’s proposals would see sports betting revenue at 12%. The bill would create the Mobile Sports Wagering Tax Fund, which will direct $6 million per annum (until 2030) to support small retail casinos struggling with the potential shift to online wagering.
Post-2030, all tax revenue will go towards the Mississippi Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund across all 82 counties. Eure estimated last year that the Magnolia State could generate approximately $25 million in tax revenue from legalizing online sports betting.
House Minority Leader Robert Johnson, who also voted against the legislation in 2024, was the main opponent of the proposed Mobile Sports Wagering Act.
Johnson questioned why tax revenue would be distributed across all 82 counties when only a few in the state have casinos. He said “That’s the region that this gambling resource is coming out of. This (should not) protect all 82 counties. This (should) protect counties that have suffered through the risk of establishing a casino and have had them there for years. Not the county that said “no,” but the county that said “yes.””
Other regulations in HB 1302 include a 21+ age restriction and strict rules regarding verifying identification before placing a wager. It also stipulates that platforms must implement geofencing technology to ensure that only players located in Mississippi can place wagers.
Eure’s optimistic slated launch date for online sports wagering is 8 December 2025, which he believes gives regulators, casinos, and betting platforms time to invest in and implement the necessary infrastructure.
Written By
