An important adjustment in Mississippi’s latest mobile sports betting legislation may be the cure that ails the passage of such a bill in the Magnolia State.
Dangling the Carrot
National brand casinos located in Mississippi, like Bally’s and Hard Rock, are more amenable to mobile sports betting as they have their own digital platforms in place and do not need third-party providers, ala DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, et al. However, smaller, locally owned casinos with retail sportsbooks will need to partner with these national providers and may be reluctant to do so.
Opposition from Smaller Casinos
Those are the Mississippi casinos that pose the greatest threat to passage of a digital sports betting bill, but an accommodation has been made in the latest legislation sponsored by Republican Rep. Casey Eure and Democratic Rep. Jeffrey Hulum III in the form of House Bill 1302, the “Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act.”
These smaller casinos are fearful that an online sports betting market may cannibalize their retail sportsbook traffic. Therefore, a substitute version has risen to the fore that includes the “Retail Sports Wagering Protection Fund,” which provides a $6 million fund from sports betting taxes to help mitigate any loss in revenues that small casinos choosing not to enter the mobile sports betting realm may suffer.
Compensation for Revenue Declines
Representative Eure wrote that relief for the casinos not engaged in the mobile market could apply for relief if their sportsbook revenues declined from 2024 to the current year. Only the difference would be paid to those casinos from the protection fund.
“At the end of each calendar year, any licensed gaming establishment without a platform whose total annual sports wagering revenue is below the total annual retail sports wagering revenue the same licensed gaming establishment without a platform received in 2024 may apply for a portion of the funds in the Retail Sports Wagering Protection Fund,” Eure wrote in the bill.
“I would like to start by saying I’m committed to the bricks-and-mortar casinos, and this bill mandates that all sports betting is tethered to bricks-and-mortar casinos,” Eure said this past week.
House Gaming Committee Approves
After the first $6 million is taken off the top, the remaining tax revenue would go toward the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund for infrastructure in the state.
This year’s version also allows for two skins per casino versus only one proposed in last year’s unsuccessful attempt. The sports betting revenue would be taxed at a maximum of 12% and is projected to generate anywhere from $25 million initially up to $80 million annually eventually in tax relief for the state.
The tiered tax structure of the bill is as follows:
- 4% of gross revenue not surpassing $50,000 per month
- 6% of gross revenue that surpasses $50,000, but does not surpass $134,000 per month
- 8% of gross revenue that surpasses $134,000 per month
- Each operator will also have to pay an additional 4% in gross revenue into the road and bridge repair fund.
- Operators would have to pay a maximum of 12% in adjusted gross revenue to the state depending on their revenue each month.
Those adjustments could allow for more support in the Senate after Eure’s gaming bill last year (House Bill 774) easily passed the House, 97-14, before ultimately dying in the upper chamber. It has been reported that the House Gaming Committee has approved this year’s bill and a hearing on the House floor is expected.
