Mississippi House Bill number 254, also known as the Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act of 2013, died in committee today after it was double referred. Although the state has 30 brick and mortar casinos and is known throughout the country as a gambling destination, the bill did not have any support in the conservative Mississippi Legislature. That was the case for a second year.
The bill had fierce opposition by religious groups that have opposed any expansion of gambling in the state. These same groups have opposed a state lottery. According to the Hattiesburg American, the state’s casino industry supported this bill to protect their brick and mortar business from offshore companies. Several of these casinos are owned by companies that have supported similar legislation in Nevada and New Jersey.
Mississippi casinos have had a rough past few years. Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast gaming markets of Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis in 2005. Casino expansion in Florida, the legalization of racinos in Arkansas, video bingo in Alabama, and a poor economy in the South have hurt Mississippi gaming revenue in recent years. This bill looked to help offset some of those losses.
The Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act of 2013 would have legalized all online poker and casino games that are already legal in the state’s dockside casinos. The bill was submitted by Representative Bobby Moak in response to the 2011 Department of Justice opinion that online gambling was not covered by the Wire Act as long as it did not involve interstate sports betting.
Mississippi residents will be forced to continue making their wagers with offshore online poker rooms and online casinos where they will not have the same protections they would have from a regulated online gaming industry. The state will also not be able to claim any taxes on the revenue generated by these offshore outfits.
Residents in the state that are proponents of online gambling must now rely on the federal government to pass legislation. This seems less likely as states are certain to progress towards their own intrastate legislation in the short term.
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