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Posted on: March 2, 2026, 02:54h.
Last updated on: March 2, 2026, 02:54h.
- Mississippi is inching closer to legalizing online sports betting
- Legislation to authorize mobile sports bets includes a tax break for casinos
Mississippi was one of the first states to get legal sports betting up and running. The state’s casinos began taking bets on professional and college sports in August 2018, just three months after the US Supreme Court overturned the federal law that had limited single-game wagering to Nevada.
Almost eight years after retail sports betting went live, Mississippi is now in the minority in not allowing online wagering. Mississippi’s sports betting law is designed to protect the state’s riverboats by forcing bettors to physically patronize a property make a bet.
Critics say the in-person betting requirement has hampered revenue and led to reduced tax revenue from sports betting. There are also claims that the retail sportsbook-only law is helping offshore, unregulated sportsbooks, where consumer protections don’t exist.
For yet another year in a row, Mississippi Rep. Casey Eure (R-Harrison) is leading legislation to bring sports betting online. The chair of the House Gaming Committee, Eure has been dedicated to expanding Mississippi sportsbooks to the internet.
Casino Protection
New for the 2026 legislative session is that Eure is seeking to hedge his bet on Mississippi mobile sports betting by including a provision that could reduce opposition. With many lawmakers of the belief that in-person sports betting helps casinos, as some bettors decide play a table game, slot machine, or purchase food or a beverage while stopping by the casino, Eure’s House Bill 4074 would safeguard the state’s 25 commercial gaming facilities by providing them a tax cut.
HB4074, which cleared the Mississippi House of Representatives last week with a 100-11 vote, would reduce the effective tax rate on each casino’s gross gaming revenue from 8% to 6%, effective July, 1, 2026. The state tax rate on revenue from in-person sports betting would be slashed from 18.5% to just 3.5%.
Eure says the retail casino tax cut would deliver a projected $48 million in casino revenue savings annually. That would help the smaller casinos that have previously opposed mobile sports betting on concerns that they wouldn’t land one of the big-name partnerships like DraftKings and FanDuel.
HB4074 would allow each casino in Mississippi to partner with no more than one online sportsbook.
Revenue Projection
Eure’s Mississippi sports betting legislation proposes a 22% state tax on mobile sportsbook revenue.
At 22%, mobile sports betting is projected to bring in $100 million a year [for the state],” Eure told the House before last week’s vote.
The casinos’ retail tax savings, he reasons, would allow the properties to reinvest in their properties, provide employees with raises, and remain competitive with mobile sportsbooks. The legislation, however, would allow the casinos to use the tax savings as they wish.
HB4074 has been transmitted to the Mississippi Senate and is awaiting a committee assignment.
