Mississippi’s Latest Mobile Sports Betting Bill Would Give Tax Cuts to Casinos

Mississippi lawmaker, Representative Casey Eure, has launched a new mobile sports betting bill in the state legislature. Rep. Eure, whose previous efforts to legalize mobile sports betting have stalled in the Senate, introduced a new bill last week that combines legalization with a change to the gaming tax.

Under House Bill 4074, mobile Mississippi sports betting platforms would be taxed at 22%, a rate Eure said is in line with the national average. At the same time, retail casinos would see a reduction in their gaming tax, easing the competitive pressures they may face after legalization.

Eure’s proposal includes additional protections for physical casinos, earmarking the first $6 million in mobile sports betting revenue to a fund that would compensate casinos without mobile platforms if they lose out financially. Revenue beyond this fund would go to the Public Employee Retirement Fund, which is facing a $26 billion shortfall.

The new mobile betting tax is also estimated to generate $100 million annually, though Eure noted that neighboring states, including the Louisiana sports betting market, have collected more in recent years. The maximum state gaming tax for traditional casinos, meanwhile, would be lowered from 8% to 6%, with an extra reduction to 3.5% for in-person sports betting revenue.

The bill’s revised tax structure appeared to resolve concerns some legislators had about Eure’s last proposal, and it has moved to the Senate after a 100-11 vote, though it has not yet been assigned to a committee. Meanwhile, his first mobile sports betting bill has been stalled in committees for nearly a month.

Sports Betting Alliance seeks inclusion in Wisconsin legislation

Meanwhile, the state Senate, which oversees the Wisconsin sports betting market, prepares to consider a sports betting bill that recently passed the Assembly, and the sports betting industry body, the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA), continues to push for changes to allow its members to participate.

SBA President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Maloney said the legislation could require rewriting or even a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide. “Wisconsin voters definitely want to have a say in this policy and they haven’t gotten that opportunity,” he said.

The current bill would allow the state’s tribes to operate online sports betting as an extension of their existing rights to take bets on tribal land. While revenue-sharing agreements with the state would be negotiated, Maloney says excluding commercial operators like DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics, and bet365 would create a monopoly and hurt competition.

The SBA also discussed the rise of prediction markets, which operate in Wisconsin without paying state taxes, and warns that these sites are attracting residents to participate without consumer protections and safeguards. 

“Leaders in Wisconsin have to contemplate now not just illegal and unregulated targeting the residents of their state but also this entirely new category and this federally registered, federally regulated framework that is sidestepping some of the state controls that we see in the traditional online sportsbook model, specifically which grant and deliver millions of tax revenue,” Maloney said