Online sports betting could soon become fully legal in the state of Mississippi.
A panel of lawmakers in the state recently approved a bill that would allow mobile sports betting in hopes of meeting consumer demand and increasing potential tax revenues. While sports wagering and casino gambling has been legal in Mississippi for quite some time, online betting has remained illegal, largely due to a concern that it could negatively impact the state’s in-person casinos and their revenues.
House Gaming Chairman Representative Casey Eure has confirmed that he’s aware of that risk but is still trying to pass the legislation once more after it was previously turned down in 2024 — and it’s now moving forward after the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act was approved by the House Gaming Committee after some reworking.
“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 in a report by Mississippi Today.
The reworked Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act, House Bill No. 1302, has seen better results with lawmakers thus far. One highlighted change includes allowing casinos to partner with two sports betting platforms each instead of just one. This was one way that Eure hoped to reduce concerns that traditional casinos would be left behind by online sports gambling sites. Another way was to require betting companies like FanDuel to have contracts with these existing brick-and-mortar casinos.
But last year, lawmakers wondered if this would leave smaller casinos without any partnership opportunities while larger casinos would get all of the resulting money from the new setup. This year, the act proposed a pot of money that that establishments could draw from for the first five years after online sports betting is legalized. This would replenish every year. Unused money from the $6 million grant would go to fixing roads and bridges. The 12% tax on sports wagers that the bill proposes would also increase funding towards the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund by somewhere in the range of $40 million to $80 million.
When it comes to user safety, the 2025 version of the bill also has new solutions — nobody can place online bets with credit cards, for example. This is an attempt from the state senate to reduce gambling addiction risks by not allowing users to make bets that would immediately place them into debt.
If the bill goes through, the online sports betting platforms would be allowed to go live on December 8, 2025. For now, it’s heading to the House floor in Mississippi.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
