It's time to find out how serious the latest drive to legalize statewide online sports betting is in Mississippi.
- Mississippi’s House passed a bill to legalize statewide online sports betting, but it now heads to a Senate that has repeatedly blocked similar efforts.
- Lawmakers may face growing pressure as online sports betting already happens widely in the state through unregulated platforms and prediction markets.
- The bill would allow mobile betting tied to existing casinos, tax it at relatively low rates, and funnel money to protect brick-and-mortar sportsbooks.
House Bill 1581, which would authorize statewide online sports betting in Mississippi, was passed by the state’s House of Representatives last week by an 85-31 vote.
The bill now heads to the Mississippi Senate, which has historically been a graveyard for mobile sports wagering legislation.
Last year, for example, the Mississippi House likewise passed an online sports betting bill. The legislation then sat in the Senate and died.
Looks like Mississippi's last, best chance at legalizing statewide online sports betting this year is dead, along with the proposed ban on sweepstakes casinos to which House lawmakers tried to attach OSB: pic.twitter.com/DWLgRJxxew
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) April 1, 2025
(For its part, the Mississippi Senate has already passed a bill to explicitly ban online casino gambling, including sweepstakes casinos, as well as unauthorized mobile sports wagering.)
So, if you’re someone hoping to access DraftKings’ or FanDuel’s online sportsbook in your Mississippi home, it’s probably best to manage your expectations. While there is legal sports betting in the state, it has been and will be confined to the properties of brick-and-mortar casinos for at least the foreseeable future.
That being said, there may be some new, material reasons for Mississippi lawmakers to rethink their past positions. The clock is ticking, too, as this year's legislative session runs until April 5.
Among other things, the rise of prediction markets has brought statewide online sports betting to Mississippi via sports event contracts offered for trading by the federally regulated exchanges.
Moreover, research done by the University of Mississippi last year, after another failed effort at legalizing online sports betting, suggested almost 60% of college students in the state who placed a bet had made those wagers over the internet.
In other words, online sports betting is already happening all over Mississippi, without the permission or taxation of state lawmakers and regulators.
The ol' college try
H.B. 1581 proposes to change the status quo and create a state-regulated, statewide version of mobile sports wagering. That wagering would have to begin by Dec. 8.
Republican Rep. Casey Eure’s "Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act" would authorize statewide mobile wagering on horse racing and sports. The platform operators, however, would have to partner with a licensed casino operator in the state. A casino could have up to two online sportsbook partners.
Online sports betting revenue would be subject to a casino-like scale for taxation but would remain relatively low compared to other states.
The levy on gross revenue up to $50,000 per month would be 4%, then 6% on monthly revenue from $50,000 to $134,000, and then 8% on monthly revenue above $134,000.
A new "Mobile Sports Wagering Tax Fund" would be created to collect the tax revenue, and the first $6 million deposited into the fund each year until June 30, 2030, would go toward a "Retail Sports Wagering Protection Fund.”
As its name suggests, money in the latter fund would be used for payments to brick-and-mortar sportsbook operators that would take a hit from mobile wagering. The provision is aimed at easing the concerns of casino operators worried about the effects of mobile wagering on their business.
"I told you last year," Eure said earlier this month, per the Clarion Ledger. "I do not feel that any casino is going to lose money on this."
