Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn, a leader in his Baptist church and a longtime opponent of expanded gambling in the state, recently said he will appoint a committee to study a state lottery. “I’m open to looking at it. I do not think it’s going to be the golden egg that everybody thinks that it is. We can have an exhaustive conversation about that,” Gunn said.
Gunn stated he’ll ask House Gaming Committee Chairman Richard Bennett to head the lottery study group, which will include House members as well as non-legislators. He said he wants the group to examine how much it would cost to set up a lottery, how much the state could reasonably expect to collect from ticket sales and how a lottery might affect sales tax revenue.
Mississippi is one of six states that does not have a lottery, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Over the past two decade numerous proposals unsuccessfully have been floated to create a state lottery.
Governor Phil Bryant asked lawmakers to consider a lottery as a source of revenue, since state tax collections have been declining. He noted Mississippi loses money because residents frequently drive to other states to buy lottery tickets. “We can no longer contain the people’s desire for a lottery. We can only force them to travel,” Bryant said in his State of the State speech in January. He added the Arkansas lottery generates about $80 million annually.
But lottery proposals went nowhere in the recently ended three-month legislative session. In two cases, lottery amendments would have changed the bill’s original intention, which is prohibited under House rules. In a third instance, Gunn allowed a lottery amendment but the House defeated it.
Gunn said research already conducted by Bennett showed the Arkansas lottery actually generates around $35-$40 million annually, which would not significantly impact Mississippi’s $6 billion state budget. He added not as many people are leaving the state to purchase lottery tickets as many people believe.
Gunn added he believes purchasing lottery tickets could result in a reduction in state sales tax revenue, since people would buy lottery tickets instead of making other purchases.
“If a person takes $10 and goes and buys lottery tickets, versus buying milk and bread – well, that’s 70 cents of sales tax we’ve lost on that $10. So, it’s not just a quick, clean collection of dollars. There are costs that have to be backed out,” Gunn said.
