Mississippi Online Sports Betting Stays Alive With HB774

Online sports betting in Mississippi remains active as legislation advanced House Bill 774 for a final bill in a conference committee.

The conference could come the week of April 22, according to an industry source that informed Legal Sports Report.

House version of HP-774 would have allowed casinos in the Magnolia State to offer online sports wagering

Although the legislative session ends May 5, last Thursday was the Senate’s deadline to act on House bills.

The initial House version of the bill would have allowed Mississippi’s 30 casinos to offer statewide online sports betting.

The House passed the initial online sports betting bill on Feb. 1.

“There is no new language,” said Sen. David Blount, chairman of the chamber’s gaming committee, last week. “I anticipate the House will invite conference when we send this back over to them.”

Based on the House proposal, each of the 30 casinos could partner with one online sportsbook. The state would tax online sports betting revenue at 12%.

Mississippi is one of 20 states without any legalized forms of online sports betting

However, the Senate approved a version of HB-774 that contains no online sports betting-related provisions.

In 2023, legislators amended an online sports betting bill to create a Mobile Online Sports Betting Task Force.

The task force investigated this problem last fall. Rep. Casey Eure used the discussions to create his bill this session.

At the moment, the Magnolia State is one of 20 without any legalization of mobile wagering. For the time being, patrons can only place bets on site of the brick-and-mortar casinos.

Mississippi legalized in-person sportsbooks and apps on casino property in 2018. Mississippi became the fourth state with active legal sports betting.

It also became the third to launch following the Supreme Court‘s repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992 in May.

While wagering on sports was already illegal at the time, PASPA banned states from regulating and taxing gambling. Few states were allowed exceptions.