It’s that time of year where sports bettors learn all about “H.B. something or other” and the exact mechanics of their state’s legislature — after all, we’re nearing the end of legislative sessions, and a handful of states are debating sports betting legalization. The most recent state to get a house bill put forth is Mississippi, and Mississippi mobile sports betting could be on the ballot sooner than expected. But there’s a catch …
The Mississippi Senate passed House Bill 774 pretty resoundingly on Tuesday (36-15). House Bill 774 in its unaltered form was written to bring mobile sports betting throughout the state. As it stands, mobile sports betting is allowed through apps when in some retail locations, but statewide there are no offerings.
H.B. 774 passed the Mississippi House with mobile sports betting in the bill. However, the Senate basically ignored it for two months before amending the bill to remove basically all provisions for mobile sports betting. That is the bill that passed this week.
Now, you may be wondering: “Well, then what the heck is the point?” It’s a fair question, and responses are only modestly satisfying. The goal in gutting the bill and voting on it was to keep the debate alive in the Senate since there is a large contingent opposed to statewide mobile betting. However, enough Senators were willing to keep debate going. Thus, there is an outside chance — not a strong one but not an impossible one either — that mobile betting could be added back to the bill and pass a Senate vote.
There are a number of other steps in the process such as the House voting against the amended bill, but that is the Cliffs Notes version.
Time is running out since Mississippi’s legislature will end its session on May 5. That gives them about 3 1/2 weeks to figure this out and potentially get a mobile betting ballot to Mississippi residents.
