Mississippi has taken a major step forward in the process for legalization of online sports betting. By an overwhelming 97-14 margin, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed the Mississippi Mobile Spots Wagering Act last week.
If the bill were to pass in the Senate, it would allow legal sports betting platforms such as FanDuel and DraftKings to operate within the state and make mobile sports wagering legal anywhere in Mississippi.
Since 2018, sports betting inside Mississippi casinos has been legal, but the more common method of online wagering has still been banned in the state.
According to Casey Eure, who is the chair of the Mississippi House Gaming Committee, Mississippi accounts for around 5% of the $64 billion in illegal online wagers placed, an amount that adds up to roughly $3 billion.
Legal sports wagering would bring this revenue into the state economy. Currently, with 29 states operating sports betting legally, Mississippi would become the 30th.
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For Alabama, all four neighboring states offer some kind of legalized wagering, taking potential revenue out of the state when Alabamians travel across state lines to gamble.
The topic of legalized wagering is coming up in Alabama once again in 2024.
The Alabama House is expected to take up a legal gambling proposal of its own during the 2024 state legislative session, which began today — and while the largest portion of the bill would likely be setting the parameters for adding casinos across the state and a potential state lottery to benefit education — sports betting would likely fall somewhere in the bill as well.
According to the American Gaming Association, sportsbook revenue hit $7.5 billion in 2022.
While in-person casino gaming with a combined slot and table game revenue hit a record of $47.83 billion, Flutter, FanDuel’s parent company, expects that the total addressable U.S. sports betting market will be worth north of $40 billion by 2030, almost doubling current gaming revenues.
Alabama will likely want a piece of that action.
As for Mississippi, the Senate now has until April 2nd to adopt or reject the bill.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
