Earlier this year, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant asked lawmakers to consider a lottery as a way to generate revenue. He noted Mississippians go to other states to buy lottery tickets. Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves questioned if a lottery would bring in new revenue or shift the way people spend money.
To get the facts, the day after the legislative session ended, House Speaker Philip Gunn—a leader in his Baptist church–said he will appoint a committee to study the impact of 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,” Gunn said.
Gunn has long opposed gambling expansion in the state, including a lottery. But he said he wants to see the numbers to evaluate how a lottery could affect Mississippi’s economy.
No lottery proposals gained traction during the three-month session. State Rep. Mark Baker tacked a lottery amendment onto a bill about mental competency in criminal cases. But under House rules, members may not make drastic changes in a bill’s original purpose; it died in February when it was not brought up for debate in the full House.
In another attempt at a lottery bill, Gunn ruled an amendment could not be added because it would have changed the scope of the measure. Gunn said another lottery amendment to a bill was relevant and could be allowed, but it failed in the House.
