A bill to allow mobile sports betting in Mississippi died in the Senate Gaming Committee after its chairman, Sen. David Blount, blocked the measure, the Magnolia Tribune reported. It is the second time this session that a House-backed mobile sports betting bill has failed in the Senate.
The Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act passed the House 100-11, according to the Magnolia Tribune. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Casey Eure, R., chairman of the House Gaming Committee, and proposed raising the tax on mobile sports wagers to 22% from a previously proposed 18.5% while cutting the state gaming tax from 8% to 6%.
Eure told the House that the 22% rate “is projected to bring in $100 million per year” and said the reduced gaming tax would give “approximately a $48 million tax cut to the casinos,” allowing them to reinvest in properties and raise employee pay, the Magnolia Tribune reported. Eure’s measure also would have directed $50 million per year from mobile wagering revenue to the Public Employees Retirement System for 10 years to help address its roughly $26 billion in unfunded liabilities.
Blount said he killed the bill because the casino tax cut and other changes would cost the state revenue and because revenue estimates are overly optimistic, the Magnolia Tribune reported. Blount shared a Tax Foundation study with the paper and said even with the higher mobile tax, Mississippi would lose money if combined with a 25% casino tax cut. He also has cited the broader economic importance of a strong gaming industry, including hotels and restaurants.
Attempts to establish mobile sports betting in earlier legislative sessions also have failed in Blount’s committee, the Magnolia Tribune reported.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
