The South isn’t very friendly to online gaming.
A bill to allow intra-state online gambling in Mississippi has failed to gain support and has died in committee.
Bobby Moak, a Democrat member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, introduced the bill for the second time in two years, but the bill was not approved by the House Ways and Means Committee.
A similar bill failed in the same committee last year.
The bill would have allowed the Mississippi Gaming Commission d to issue online gambling permits to operators already holding land-based casino licenses in the state.
In Louisiana, if state legislators plan to introduce intra-state online gaming to the state, they’ll have to do it over the opposition of Governor Bobby Jindal.
In an opinion piece for the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, Jindal strongly opposed internet gambling and wrote that he will do his best to keep Louisiana from joining New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada in legalizing online gaming within their borders.
Louisiana has been named as one of 10 states said to be considering allowing online gambling. Last year, the Louisiana House voted in favor of an Internet gambling feasibility study.
Jindal, however, repeated a campaign promise to stop any proposed expansion of gambling in the state.
Jindal did not reference casino mogul Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling in the piece, but did echo the coalition’s concerns that internet gaming will lead to underage and problem gambling.
Adelson has been privately financing a nationwide campaign against internet gaming and has enlisted a number of political allies.
Jindal also calls for a ruling issued by the Department of Justice in 2011 that paved the way for states to offer online gaming to be overturned. Adelson has made a similar call.
