Mobile sports betting in Mississippi moved one step closer to happening Tuesday after a House Bill was passed by the Senate’s Gaming Committee.
Previous efforts to bring mobile sports betting to Mississippi failed to gain traction before the House passed HB 774 in February. The lower chamber sent the bill to the Senate Gaming Committee with one amendment, setting the tax rate at 12% to match the levy on retail sports betting revenue.
The Senate has until April 11 to take a floor vote on the bill. Mississippi was the third state to have sports betting following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down PASPA, launching retail wagering at casinos in August 2018. Sports betting apps are available at some venues, but online wagering can only be done on-site.
Mississippi trying to catch up to its neighbors
The urgency to add mobile wagering increased in recent years as three of Mississippi’s four bordering states — Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas — all legalized sports betting with mobile wagering available. Tennessee was the first all-digital state to launch in November 2020, and Louisiana started mobile betting in January 2022, two months after the state launched in-person wagering.