Gambling and sports betting legislation faced major setbacks in the South with Mississippi and Georgia rejecting bills to legalize it. Here are the details.
Mississippi Senate has decided not to pass House Bill 1302, which would have legalized online sports betting in the state by allowing commercial casinos to partner with major online sportsbook companies in the country. Mississippi House lawmakers Rep. Casey Eure and his Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Jeffrey Hulum III, filed this bill in the Senate after it was passed in the lower house by an overwhelming majority of 88-10.
We reported last week about this bill, which was going to be a landmark legislation for online sports betting in the state. The bill was passed in the lower house; however, it failed to gain traction in the Senate mainly due to the opposition of Sen. David Blount, who is the chair of the Senate Gaming Committee.
Mississippi Rep. Casey Eure was frustrated by the events in the Senate after he had already reworked House Bill 1302 to include answers to Blount’s concerns from last year. Notably, the bill allowed the casinos to partner with two sportsbooks instead of one, along with a commitment to set aside $6 million per year from the 12% tax revenue from online sports betting for casinos that are not going to partner with online sportsbooks.
“When you start looking at how we’re putting money back in people’s pockets, we’ve got to look at making up that money,” Eure said. “There’s an illegal market out there that’s not going away until we pass this.”
The opposition to the bill believes that allowing online sports betting will result in reduced foot traffic for the physical casinos specifically on the Gulf Coast, where the revenues are already in decline.
In another news from Mississippi, House Bill 1879 seeking to greenlight a casino to be built in Jackson Mississippi has been tabled. The Bill called the “City of Jackson Revitalization Act” aimed to expand commercial gambling in the city of Jackson by allowing the construction of a casino consisting of all the top gambling attractions including table games with live dealers, sports betting, and slot machines.
The bill would have brought in an investment of around $500 million along with a hefty $10 million licensing fee from the highest bidder to build the casino. The supporters of the bill also hoped to create a fund that could be used to give tax breaks to investors willing to invest in Jackson.
House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. John “Trey” Lamar made the motion for the bill to be tabled which was successful.
“We didn’t have the votes,”
Lamar said.
“We felt like it was worth a conversation.
Which meant that the Bill died as the Wednesday deadline passed.
There was a push last year from some state legislators to make way for a casino to be built in the city of Jackson, however, all these efforts were met with opposition from members who feared that such a move would be too disruptive for the businesses of existing casinos. Under the current Mississippi law, a casino can only be constructed along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast.
The state of Georgia is one of the largest sports markets in the country, but it remains one of the few states where sports betting is illegal. Another effort this year to legalize sports betting in the state was voted down by the Georgia Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee.
Senate Resolution 131 was introduced by Senate Republicans Brandon Beach, Lee Anderson, Billy Hickman, and Carden Summers. The resolution, if passed would allow the state to hold a ballot referendum giving the Georgian voters a choice to allow sports betting and casino gambling in the state. Voters could also vote on the possibility of a state tax of 20% on all casino and sports betting revenue. The vice chairman of the Regulated Industries and Utilities committee Carden Summers was surprised by the vote, saying,
“The word ‘casino’ seems to conjure up something evil, nasty. Let me just explain this — a casino is a business, period. You don’t have to go in. You don’t have to gamble,”
He added, “Anybody can go on their phone and get on the Georgia Lottery website and app and gamble 24 hours a day” highlighting the fact that the state already allows online slot-like games such as iLottery.
Legalization of sports gambling remains a pipedream in the state of Georgia, at least until the Republican party controls the House. There is strong opposition from the state’s religious leaders as well. One of them is Mike Griffin from the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, who said,
“This is the most addictive form of gambling that’s out there now. It definitely is being targeted toward our younger male adults. If you legalize it, you’re going to be pouring gasoline on a dumpster fire”
These developments benefit the illegal underground and offshore sportsbooks operating in the state. These operators provide no protections to their consumers and are not privy to any responsible gambling safeguards, putting Georgian residents at risk of fraud and financial loss.
Recent Posts
Daniel Horvat 
March 10, 2025 
