Mississippi House Passes Ban on Sweepstakes Casinos, Joins Senate

^{Mississippi House Gaming Committee Chairman Casey Eure really wants sportsbetting to be included in any gaming legislation. (Image: Rogelio V. Solis / AP)}

The Mississippi House passed its own version of a sweepstakes casino ban on Wednesday, though changes from the Senate version of the bill still make in uncertain whether a prohibition on the online casinos will go into effect in the state during this session.

The House version of the bill passed by an overwhelming 83-19 margin, about a month after the Senate’s version was approved by a 44-1 vote.

Sports Betting Split Could Delay Sweepstakes Ban

Both bills were passed under the title of SB 2510, a bill introduced by State Sen. Joey Fillingane (R-Columbia). However, the new versions include language that would additionally approve online sports betting in the state, added by Rep. Casey Eure (R-Biloxi), who chairs the House Gaming Committee.

Eure has argued that legalizing online sports betting would put a dent in an illegal gaming market that he says is thriving in Mississippi, while also potentially bringing in $50 million in taxes for the state each year. 

But throwing sports betting into unrelated bills will make it harder to get agreement in both houses of the Mississippi legislature. For one, at least eight stakeholders in the state’s casino industry signed a letter opposing online sports betting.

“A state-wide expansion of gaming, with no local referendums, putting a casino in the hands of every person in Mississippi, no matter where they are located…this is not the right vision for gaming in Mississippi,” the letter, obtained by the Clarion Ledger, reads.

Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount (D-Jackson) has opposed sports betting bills using much of the same language as that letter, as well as sharing concerns that it could cannibalize at least some revenue away from existing brick-and-mortar casinos. 

Eure ‘Negotiating’ by Attaching Sports Betting to Unrelated Bills 

In addition, Eure has received criticism for also attaching sports betting language to a second bill that deals with the state’s tidelands boundaries, and which would give local municipalities more control over how lands near those boundaries could be developed by casinos or other private parties. The original bill included no language about online sports betting, and could now threaten passage of that bill as well.

“I still don’t think the legislature has grasped the magnitude of the impact of doing nothing,” Secretary of State Michael Watson said about the tidelands reforms. “Should the legislature do nothing, the assault on the Public Trust Tidelands will continue until state ownership is completely dissolved giving individuals control of rightful State property.”

Watson also said tying the two subjects together undermined legislative integrity, a thought echoed by some lawmakers.

“I don’t think legislation should be something that’s traded,” Blount said noting that Gulf Coast casinos were unanimously behind the tidelands bill while remaining divided on sports betting. “If you think it’s a good bill, you should pass it, and if you think it’s a bad bill, certainly you have every right to oppose it, but to link bills together when the topics are not related to each other, to me, is not the way the legislature should work.”

Eure defended his tactics, saying that the House is committed to a sports betting bill.

“We’re concerned about tidelands, but at this point, it’s all about negotiating,” Eure said. “I didn’t kill tidelands. I just passed tidelands.”

Sweepstakes casinos, which operate under a dual currency model that attempts to skirt gaming regulations in favor of operating under sweepstakes law, have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators and legislators in many states. On Wednesday, Maryland joined that growing list, as the state senate passed Senate Bill 860 – which would prohibit online sweepstakes gaming in the state – by a unanimous 47-0 vote.