Mississippi betting market to go live next month

The Mississippi State Gaming Commission has approved final sports betting regulation, paving the way for the state’s five land-based casinos to take bets.

The market is set to go live 30 days from the approval yesterday.

Commission executive director Allen Godfrey said the state’s casinos are already properly licensed to allow betting, but may need approval for equipment such as betting terminals.

The state will levy a 12% tax on casinos’ betting revenue, with 8% going to the state and 4% to local governments.

The bill does allow for mobile betting, but customers must open the account and remain on-property to place wagers.

“We’re excited about the type of customer this is going to attract to the state of Mississippi,” said Johnathan Jones, General Manager of local casino, Hurrah’s Biloxi.

“Folks will come in and they’ll enjoy watching sports and sports are a big part of the culture here in the south. We’re also excited about what it means for our hotel business, our restaurant business and other gaming businesses as well.”

The legislation to allow betting had previously been enacted in a DFS bill back in 2017

In related news, New York’s efforts to pass a sports betting bill before the end of the legislative session came up short yesterday, although the failure wasn’t taken too badly by operators, because the proposed legislation contained the so-called integrity fee of 0.25% cut for the leagues.

New York lawmakers are expected to revisit the bill when they reconvene in January 2019.