New Mississippi Sports Betting Bill Aims for Online Shift

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00:00Finally, we're getting a new sports betting bill in Mississippi, a topic we've talked

00:04about a number of times here on the show, as sports betting has been legal in Mississippi

00:08for many years.

00:09One of the first states to legalize sports betting and actually put it into action.

00:14Now they're trying to get it online.

00:15It's the same conversation we've had for several years, Pat.

00:18It's like I close my eyes and I picture like Robert De Niro in casino, like walking through

00:24and getting these people on the phone saying, nope, nope, we don't want it.

00:27Nope, we don't want it.

00:28I mean, because in the end, the casinos are going to potentially be hurt by having online

00:35betting because then you don't actually have to go to the Beau Revache or anywhere else

00:39to bet on sports.

00:40And look, I don't have any information that that is actually accurate, that these casinos

00:44are going to be blocking it, Pat.

00:46But if I had to guess, that's my conspiracy theory is that the casinos themselves, they

00:51don't stand to benefit from this.

00:53Yeah.

00:54And that's really where it comes down to.

00:55I mean, it did pass back in 2018 to have in-person sports books at the casinos in 2018.

01:00That's one of the first states to legalize.

01:03And since then, the lawmakers have been trying to, or at least some lawmakers have been trying

01:08to introduce online casino and take it statewide.

01:12And yet the appetite from a lot of the casinos in Mississippi are not there.

01:16Of course, the big operators, the Caesars, the MGMs of the world, they're fine with it.

01:21They want online casino, and that's where a lot of this kind of back and forth is.

01:25And to your point, the locally owned smaller companies that are fearful of the competition

01:32and cannibalization of that in-person casino revenue are saying to their local legislators,

01:39no, don't pass this.

01:40We don't want this.

01:41We want to keep all the money in our sports books in person.

01:46And so that's what you're fighting.

01:48This year was kind of a give and go of, is this going to happen?

01:52Another attempt to go online.

01:54The Senate chair of the gaming committee came out and said, unless the Mississippi Gaming

02:00Commission tells me to put in a bill to go online, I'm not going to do it.

02:04And the Gaming Commission said, well, we don't say whether or not to do bills.

02:07So the Senate was kind of just not going to do anything.

02:11We do have a house bill that was introduced at the beginning of the session to take it

02:14online.

02:16That will be heard in the house gaming committee.

02:19So it could pass the house.

02:20Does it pass the Senate?

02:21If it passes the house, again, it's all the legislative process.

02:26That's why we watch.

02:27That's why I watch it.

02:28So everybody that listens here or reads LSR can find out what's happening.

02:33It hasn't passed since 2018.

02:35As we've seen over and over again, this online expansion bill, try to get through, is 2025

02:41any different?

02:42Who knows?

02:43I mean, we look at the Southeast and what's happening.

02:46Alabama has been trying for years to pass just a lottery bill and they can't.

02:50Georgia has been trying to pass sports betting for years, can't.

02:55So the Southeast, you've got that little population of adamantly morally against casinos.

03:03So I think even though Mississippi has a great gambling culture with all their riverboat

03:07casinos, I don't know if the online expansion can garner enough momentum to break through

03:14that this year.

03:15So we're going to watch it carefully and let you know as it develops, Craig.

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