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Mississippi Kills Mobile Sports Betting Bill as Louisiana Thrives
By Jeff Osienya Mar 11, 2022 LegalityMississippi’s pursuit for online and mobile sports betting has been shelved again following opposition from retail sportsbook owners. Meanwhile, Louisiana, the next-door neighbor to the east, continues to thrive after its mobile bookies went live in Jan.After another round in the ring, mobile sports betting in Mississippi has lost the fight after strong opposition in the state legislature. This was the fourth time legislators shot down a mobile sports betting measure in The Magnolia State. Following the latest rejection of gambling expansion to include mobile sports wagering, Jay McDaniel, the Executive Director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said:
Quote“All mobile sports betting bills that were sponsored this session have died. So, there won’t be any legislation this year, absent some kind of special session.”
Additionally, it is important to point out that there hasn’t been any indication that a special sports betting session will be held in the legislature so far. Mississippi’s regular legislative session in 2022 started on January 4th and will be ending on April 3rd.
What Went Wrong This Time Around?
To understand the basis of all the opposition in Mississippi, we need to first take note of the dynamics of the state’s gaming industry. For starters, there are 26 regulated brick-and-mortar casinos spread across the state. Twelve of the said casinos are situated along the Gulf coast, and 8 of them are located in the Biloxi area.
When it comes to sports betting, in-person wagering has been legal in the Magnolia State since August 2018. As for online wagering, it isn’t entirely non-existent in the state. Yet, this doesn’t mean that you can bet via your mobile device at home, a local pub, or even a friend’s house. The law only allows residents to use their mobile devices to wager on sports only if they are within the brick-and-mortar casino’s property. Moreover, this feature is only permitted on two MGM resorts owned casinos. These are the Bureau Rivage Resort and Casino located in Biloxi and Gold Strike Resort located in Tunica.
Having been caught up on how the betting scene looks like in Mississippi, we can trace our footsteps back to January when Rep Cedric Burnett, a 55-year-old Democrat, introduced a bill to the state assembly. The bill would have allowed adult residents and visitors to place sports bets from their smartphones at any location within state lines.
However, it appears that the land-based casinos in the state made the remote mobile sports betting bill grind to a halt. According to Rep Casey Eure, the chairman of the Mississippi House Gaming Committee, the bill faced opposition from five local casino operators. Additionally, there was a deadline set for February 1st, 2022, a date by which all bills relating to mobile sports betting had to pass. Unfortunately, this deadline was not met due to the opposition the bills faced, and so the hope for the remote sports betting expansion vanished with it.
Mississippi’s Next-Door Neighbor Continues to Make Significant Sports Betting Strides
One of the reasons why many perceived that the mobile sports betting bill would easily sail through the Jackson statehouse was because of the events in Louisiana, Mississippi’s neighbor to the east. Owing to the unique nature of operations in Louisiana, there was a general election to approve sports betting in the state. Fifty-five out of the state’s 64 parishes voted to authorize sports betting. Only Caldwell, Catahoula, Jackson, Franklin, Sabine, Union, LaSalle, Winn, and West Carroll voted not to allow sports betting in their distinctive capacities as parishes.
That being said, the larger Louisiana opened its doors to retail sports betting last November despite some delays, and it was anticipated that the mobile vertical would soon be added to the sports betting slate. The Bayou State did indeed follow through when online and mobile sports betting operations were formally launched on January 28th. The state couldn’t have chosen better timing for the debut, as it was just in time for the Super Bowl, USA’s biggest sporting spectacle.
The results, merely four days after sports betting operations had commenced in the state, are very impressive, to say the least. The six sportsbooks operating in the state (Barstool sportsbook, Bet MGM, Bet Rivers, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, and FanDuel Sportsbook) reported a staggering $40.5 million in bets. Mind you, the four-day handle almost matched the $49.3 million wager volume that Louisiana’s 13 retail sportsbooks handled for the entire month of January.
What was even more impressive about the performance in the first four days is that Louisiana’s per capita betting figures eclipse those of New York. Beating The Empire State in any aspect of sports betting is a huge deal, especially now that the state is already smashing records following its January 8th debut. Furthermore, we can also expect impressive revenue figures for The Pelican State’s sportsbooks from online and mobile sports betting. $2.7 million worth of revenue was collected over the first four days of action from a 6.7% hold, whereas retail sportsbooks generated an income of $5.3 million after holding 10.8%.
Clearly, the floodgates of an exciting future for the Louisiana mobile sports betting scene have been unlocked. Given that more mobile sportsbooks are expected to throw their hats into the sports betting ring, big things are coming for the so-called Child of the Mississippi.
What Does the Future Hold for Mobile Sports Betting in Mississippi?
Will the tough stance of the retail casinos stand even through next year? That remains to be seen considering the heightened competition from the neighboring states. The retail casino scene is getting swamped, and it is increasingly becoming apparent that mobile wagering is the future. The exclusivity that Mississippi once enjoyed when none of its immediate neighbors offered any form of betting is long gone. Its cold feet on taking the next step to mobile wagering may prove detrimental in the future. Here’s to hoping the process doesn’t stall for much longer.
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