Mississippi Online Sports Betting Gets Closer

The Mississippi Senate’s Gaming Committee approved a House Bill recently, bringing mobile sports betting in Mississippi one step closer to reality. Earlier attempts to legalize mobile sports betting in Mississippi were met with resistance, and in February the House enacted HB 774. With one modification, however, the lower house forwarded the bill to the Senate Gaming Committee, adjusting the tax rate to 12% in order to align it with the revenue levy on retail sports betting.

The bill will be put to a floor vote in the Senate on April 11. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down PASPA, Mississippi became the third state to allow sports betting, with retail wagering at casinos beginning in August 2018. Some locations provide sports betting apps, but internet betting is only possible on-site.

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Since three of Mississippi’s four bordering states—Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas—all legalized sports betting with mobile wagering, the need to incorporate mobile wagering in Mississippi has grown. In November 2020, Tennessee became the first state to become fully digital, and two months later, in January 2022, Louisiana began accepting bets on mobile devices. After opening for business in July 2019, Arkansas added two more mobile books by September 2022 and its first in March 2022.

 In Mississippi, the income from sports betting fell in the first two months of this year, down 21.7%. The good news for the state is that because of parlay wagering, revenue is up 8.6% compared to last year. Parlays account for about 21% of the handle.

Compared to Arkansas, the state of Mississippi is missing out, as Arkansas had their handle nearly triple to $353.8 million in 2023 while sportsbook operator income more than doubled to $37.2 million in the Razorback State. Sports betting brought in more than $5.3 million in tax revenue for Arkansas last year, up more than $2.8 million from 2022.

In a report published in December of last year, a task force tasked with researching mobile betting predicted that total handle might triple between 2025—the year it goes live—and 2029, growing at a rate of 20% annually. It also referenced the “State of the States” 2023 report from the American Gaming Association, which stated that Louisiana’s entry into the mobile industry in 2022 caused a 7.7% reduction in retail handle.

There is no question that more and more gamblers are choosing to place their wagers using their mobile devices. States that don’t have mobile gambling are missing out on big revenue and that is one reason why Mississippi wants to allow mobile gaming. The state of Mississippi is not one of the biggest ones in terms of sports gambling but it still has plenty of players who place sports betting wagers on a daily basis.Check out the latest sports betting odds and make your wagers at Caesars.