The Internet Gaming and Sports Betting Task Force, led by Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Allen Godfrey, recently presented its report to state Rep. Richard Bennett, chairman of the House Gaming Committee. Last year Bennett assembled the group to study the financial, legal and technical effects of internet gambling and sports betting, as potential ways to boost casino revenue.
In six of the past seven years, revenue from Mississippi’s 24 casinos has decreased, down $34 million from fiscal year 2012 to 2014. Last year, the state’s 17 Mississippi River casinos won less than $1 billion from gamblers for the first time since 1994; statewide, Mississippi won $2.07 billion, down $70 million, or 3.2 percent, from 2013, down from 2007’s record of $2.89 billion. Also, last year Harrah’s Tunica Hotel & Casino and Margaritaville Casino & Restaurant in Biloxi closed.
The report indicated the state is more likely to offer a lottery or sports betting than online gambling in the near future. “In Mississippi right now, it’s just too early for us to look at going to internet gaming,” Bennett said. He noted half of the state’s residents don’t even own a computer or have internet access.
Online gambling is illegal under state law. A bill legalizing it in Mississippi died in February after brief consideration.
Sports betting is prohibited under the Mississippi criminal code. “Sports betting would definitely help the industry here,” Bennett said. The task force report said sports betting has great potential. In Nevada, where sports betting is legal, bettors wagered $3.6 billion in 2013, with 45 percent of those bets on football. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, more than 33 million Americans played fantasy sports in 2013–80 percent male and 78 percent college graduates, with 70 percent of the bets placed on football.
Speaking at the recent Southern Gaming Summit in Biloxi , Godfrey said Mississippi has never been a leader in the discussion about sports betting. However, he said if the federal ban were lifted, it could have a positive impact on the state. Former IP Casino General Manager Jon Lucas, executive vice president of hotel and casino operations for Hard Rock International, said, fantasy sports is “going to get approved. It’s just a matter of when.”
The lottery already is legal in Mississippi. In 1992, voters approved it and the state legislature changed the constitution, but the legislation has not been enacted. Bennett said most of the states around Mississippi have a lottery, so “we would have to pull just within our boundaries,” he said. Bennett suggested the Powerball lottery, with its large national jackpots, might be a good option if tickets could be sold only in existing casinos, “not bringing lottery to every little town that doesn’t want gaming,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s an appetite with leadership, but I do think there’s support in the legislature,” Bennett said of a lottery. Mississippi is one of just five states without a lottery.
