Online Mississippi Sportsbook Regulation Study Bill Passed

• Mississippi has passed HB 606, which will create a taskforce to study online sports betting in Mississippi.
• The study will conclude on December 15, 2023, and reports are to be made public.
• Vermont is another state that created a study bill for online betting and have since increased their odds to legalize.

JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi’s House and Senate have passed MS HB 606, a bill that will create a task force for studying online sports betting. In-person gambling at casinos in Mississippi has been around for five years and they are now following in the footsteps of Vermont to get a report before moving forward with online sports betting regulation.

With Governor Tate Reeves signing the bill into law and the creation of the task force happening in mere months, there is confidence brewing that legal Mississippi online sports betting will be coming soon.

Timeline of the Bill and Study Taskforce

Much of February in the Mississippi legislature was dedicated to MS HB 606, which was originally slated to be a sports legalization bill, but was largely altered in the House and passed on February 9. After being moved to the Senate, it was amended as needed and sent to the Governor’s desk on Thursday.

Governor Reeves immediately signed the bill and began the process for the creation of the 13-member study task force. Their goal will be to create a “comprehensive analysis of all matters related to online sports betting”.

The task force is set to be made up of officials from the Mississippi Gaming Commission, Senate Gaming Committee, House Gaming Committee, Department of Revenue, and Gaming and Hospitality Association and the roster of members will be finalized by July 31 of this year.

This report will be completed and subsequently made available to the public by December 15, 2023. Good news from this report would be monumental in pushing past the fruitless efforts over the last five years from Mississippi’s legislative branch and legalizing online sports betting across the state.

How the Study Will Affect Future Bills

While in-person sports betting has existed within Mississippi since it became a state’s rights issue in 2018, online sports betting has only existed on casino property.

Now with the study soon to be underway, Vermont provides an important point of reference with them being the most recent state to employ a task force to study online betting. Now after the conclusion of the study, Vermont sports betting is getting closer than ever before to becoming legalized.

While the task force has quite the strict deadline, being created and finishing the study in a matter of about six months, the timeline will allow legislators two weeks to draft an early bill regarding legalizing online sports betting before the 2024 legislative session begins.

Overall, while the legal sports betting community would have liked Mississippi to join the growing number of online states betting states, a bill to create a study task force is the next best thing.

News tags: Gaming and Hospitality Association | Mississippi | Mississippi Gaming Commission | MS HB 606 | Tate Reeves | Vermont