Mississippi Moves Along With Two Betting Bills

We’re about a month away from the end of Mississippi’s legislative session on April 5, 2026. So we’re weeks away from knowing the fate of not one, but two different bills that would greatly affect Mississippi betting.

The state has a pretty medium-sized legal betting industry, however, each of these bills could expand it to much bigger heights. As it stands, the state is home to several casinos, commercial and tribal ones alike. Many of those casinos reside on the water, as the state has been known for its riverboat gambling.

But the state has landlocked casinos too. And if these bills get passed, those casinos would cut off some key competition and also earn the right to offer online sports betting. That’s right, keep on reading and we’ll update you on what lawmakers are currently kicking around.

Sports Betting Bill Heading To Senate

So here’s the deal: sports betting IS legal in the state, but barely. Bettors can only wager on sports if they’re at physical casinos. As we know, this rally puts a lid on the industry. Most states that offer both types of betting typically get 95 percent of their betting volume from mobile betting apps. People just want to bet from their phones and not waste gas driving. Makes sense, right?

Welp, that could be changing in Mississippi. That’s because the House just passed its second online sports betting bill of the session, and in lopsided fashion, no less. HB 4074 cleared by a whopping 100–11 vote.

Not only was the support overwhelming, but the timing was too. The bill moved after the usual February 12 crossover deadline. Normally, that’s where bills go to die if they haven’t left their original chamber. But… this one survived because it’s classified as a revenue bill. Under House rules, revenue bills get a longer leash.

Now, what’s actually on this bill? Most importantly, it would bring mobile betting to the state. That means bettors would be able to place sports bets anywhere inside state borders — not just at a physical casino. Internal estimates peg this at a $100 million opportunity for the state’s tax coffers every single year. That would be in-line with nearby states like Tennessee ($125 million) and Louisiana ($102 million).

The bill also says the online sports betting tax would jump from 18.5 percent to 22 percent. Rep. Casey Eure, who’s sponsoring the bill, says that puts Mississippi right at the “national average.” At the same time, the bill cuts the gaming tax on brick-and-mortar casinos from 8 percent down to 6 percent. Eure says that would save casinos roughly $48 million.

The tax savings handed back to casinos don’t come with strings attached. They don’t have to reinvest that $48 million into jobs, upgrades, or anything else. It’s just money back in their pocket, while the state, in theory, makes up the tax loss through sports betting. Feels like a win-win to us.

Anywho, the bill, now that it’s approved, heads straight to the Senate. Getting past here won’t be a given though, as well explain next.

Will The Senate Pass It?

This is literally the hundred-million-dollar (probably more like billion) question: does the bill die here or advance past the Senate? History tells us the latter is much more likely to happen.

This is not the first time Mississippi has talked up mobile sports betting. They did so in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Obviously, none of them worked, some despite early success. In each of the past two years, the Senate has killed two mobile betting bills despite passing in the House.

Heck, there’s actually a sports betting bill already waiting in the Senate that’s been approved by the House. Not the bill we just covered, but an entirely different one — HB 1581. It passed early February, and since then it’s just been sitting there.

Let’s call a spade a spade at this point: mobile sports betting is not likely coming to Mississippi. Here’s a state that was one of the first to legalize sports betting when PAPSA was removed in 2018. And since then, any attempt at offering it online has been killed.

What makes 2026 any different? As far as we can tell, absolutely nothing. There is, however, another betting bill that has a chance — and it doesn’t have to do with mobile sports gambling.

Sweepstake Casinos On The Chopping Block

Instead of expanding betting, this other bill would cut out some gambling from the state: sweepstakes casinos. These have popped up across the country, and if passed, SB 2104 would outlaw those sites entirely and attach serious penalties to anyone running them.

Not only would offering these casinos to Mississippi residents be a felony, but the penalties would be steep too. We’re talking fines of up to $100,000 and as much as 10 years in prison. The state is not playing around, and wants to protect their physical casinos with this action.

Mississippi regulators have already started that crackdown. The Mississippi Gaming Commission sent cease-and-desist letters to several sweepstakes operators last year, warning them to get out of the state. So SB 2104 would just level up those actions. To us, this proposal has a real shot at passing, unlike the mobile betting one.

We’ll just have to see what happens from now til next month’s legislative session finishes. Tick tock, tick tock.