Talk of Mississippi Move to Legalize Mobile Sports Betting Given Boost Following Comments from State Senator
Moves to allow online sports betting in the state of Mississippi look set to move forward after the governor of the state moved to sign a bill that will study the pastime, a move that many believe is a precursor to legislation to legalize the activity.
Governor Tate Reeves has backed House Bill 606, which is designed to legalize Mississippi sports betting, but will start by creating a committee to study the matter prior to doing so. The timetable associated with this process could mean online sports betting would be in operation by 2024.
Currently, those in the state of Mississippi who wish to bet on sporting events can only do so in certain physical casinos that have been certified to allow betting on sports.
The sponsor of House Bill 603, Rep. Casey Eure, is clearly of the opinion that the state should move to allow online options, stating;
"As you know, for the last several years we've been working on a mobile sports betting bill, and at this time we felt it was the proper thing to put this task force together, then hopefully come next year and have a good mobile sports betting bill that this House can pass,"
The mobile sports betting task force will be led by Ronald Rychlak, appointed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
Rychlak is well aware of the financial benefits of legalizing online betting but also pointed out possible downsides to the move, stating;
"One of the things I spoke to is when and if we go to an online-based betting that those protections that we have in place must remain so that we won't put kids in jeopardy,"
"You (also) increase the risk exponentially of threats and bribes to athletes."
"When people bet on these things, they take it very personally,"
"They think they have a stake in it,” Rychlak added.
"I hope we realize when we're talking about college students and college athletes that we do everything we can to minimize the risks to students."
"The chairs have made it clear that they expect there to be a bill proposed this legislative session, so the question is, what is it going to look like,"
"The end result is to have a piece of legislation that does not overlook important things.”
"Having that legislation does not mean it will pass, but they want to have something to take forward that hasn't overlooked important considerations,"
"You have to understand that there are people who have gambling problems and are going to suffer from this,"
"I'm also concerned just in general about the college kids sitting around with a phone app that is controlled by a gambling industry that can tell you should parlay your losses.”
"Everywhere they've done this, calls to anonymous gambling addiction hotlines have essentially doubled, and the high-risk area is young men," Rychlak concluded.
As for sports betting in the state as a whole, August numbers showed that wagers in the state of Mississippi increased by 1%, with $21.4 million wagered in the month, with the total of 2023 as a whole now standing at over $260 million.
Almost half of those bets were placed on baseball, which is actually an 8% downturn in terms of betting on the sport.