Mississippi Online Sports Betting Hopes Die Without Senate Support

• Any hope for legalized Mississippi online sports betting is buried for this session
• The Mississippi House approved two online sports betting bills but both are now dead in committee
• Sen. David Blount (D-29) said legalized online sports betting lacked Senate support and would have cost state tax revenues

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The years are different but the story remains the same, as Mississippi online sports betting hopes are dead for 2026 as an approved House bill received little Senate support.

The Mississippi House of Representatives approved Rep. Casey Eure’s HB 4074, a bill to legalize online sports betting, by a 100-11 vote on Feb. 25. However, the bill never received a hearing in the Senate finance/gaming committee and is now listed as dead.

Sen. David Blount (D-29), chair of the Senate finance/gaming committee, said the bill as written would have decreased Mississippi gaming tax revenues by nearly $20 million and had very little support in the Senate.

No Senate Support and Reduction in Revenue

Speaking with Mississippi Today, Blount said the state’s land-based casino industry is too important to Mississippi’s economy and tourism industry to negatively impact with the legalization of online sports betting.

“Look, this is an important industry in our state. They employ tens of thousands of people who go to work and support their families. My take on the industry as a whole, is we have legalized gaming in Mississippi to create jobs, to promote and encourage tourism, and promote investment in the state. It has a major economic impact, a lot of people support their families in this business. Mobile sports betting doesn’t do any of that. It doesn’t create jobs, no investment, just people who want to gamble on their phones,” Blount said.

To make the legislation more acceptable to Mississippi casinos, legislation authors included a 25% casino tax rate cute to the state’s current 8% rate. If approved, the casino tax rate would have decreased to just 6%, Blount said, with the state budget estimating a nearly $50 decrease in casino tax revenues.

Based on the House projected online sports betting tax rate, the bill estimated a net $30 million to $32 million in tax revenues.

“The bill, as a whole, would cut $50 million in taxes to get $32 million. It doesn’t make sense,” Blount said.

It is the current opinion of the Senate, he said, that this piece of legislation is not something the state needs presently.

“I don’t think there is a vehicle alive under the deadline that can bring this back this year,” he said.

Prediction Markets Also to Blame

The rise of prediction markets have also muddied the waters for any potential online sports betting legalization. The current administration has effectively legalized nationwide online sports betting, and betting on anything imaginable, with the proliferation of prediction market companies, Blount said.

“You have a renegade federal agency, called the CFTC, which was set up 100 years ago to regulate soybean futures and ag futures, and they have now legalized, effectively, mobile gambling nationwide without any vote from Congress and with opposition from all 50 states. This is wide open now,” he said.

Any estimated online sports betting tax revenues have to be reduced now, he said, as sports betting companies are losing market share to prediction market companies because their offerings are not taxed.

They can also offer a wider variety of bets than sports betting companies, Blount said.

“The law today is you can bet on not only the football game, the basketball game, but you can bet on literally when the U.S. will bomb Iran. You can bet on when Taylor Swift will have a baby. This is a disaster,” he said.

While companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel do not offer their prediction markets in states where they hold sports betting licenses, other companies such as Kalshi, Polymarket, and Crypto.com will continue to operate in Mississippi.