A invoice to legalize on-line sports activities betting and ban sweepstakes casinos died within the Mississippi Senate on Monday after failing to make it out of committee.
A model of the invoice that merely included the sweepstakes ban handed earlier in the home, however Rep. Casey Eure amended the legislation so as to add on-line sports activities betting legalization. He stated including sports activities wagering to the sweepstakes ban was a part of a ploy to get the state to handle tidelands considerations.
Tidelands are lands mendacity below waters naturally topic to tidal affect. Over the previous few a long time, the waterfront land, particularly its borders, has been a contentious problem between non-public property house owners and the state.
Private residents argue that the quick shoreline belongs to them, whereas the state claims it’s a part of the ebb and stream of the tide, thus belonging to the general public. The Supreme Court dominated on the most recent dispute a 12 months in the past, claiming the borders had been misdrawn and that an acre of land sitting beneath the water belonged to the Aldrich household.
Investors wish to lease that land from the household for a doable on line casino. However, lawmakers are attempting to go a invoice limiting extra waterfront casinos in Biloxi. Nothing can occur till the difficulty is mentioned and the state can work out which land is definitely theirs.
“It’s a possibility (that tidelands will not get addressed this year if the Senate does not take up mobile sports betting), but the House’s position is on mobile sports betting,” Eure told the Clarion Ledger. “We’re concerned about tidelands, but at this point, it’s all about negotiating.”
The invoice, nevertheless, obtained opposition from Senate gaming committee chair David Blount, who stated he would solely vote on a sports activities betting growth invoice on the request of the Mississippi Gaming Commission. That has but to occur.
Sports betting is authorized in Mississippi, however solely at dwell sportsbooks. Online sports activities betting has been some extent of competition, splitting legislators over the previous few years. Blount echoed the considerations of some casinos within the state, who imagine cellular betting would cannibalize on line casino prospects.
“What some call a casino is someone’s pocket,” he informed the Clarion Ledger.
Eure has argued that including cellular betting may yield an additional $50 million for the state yearly.
The sweepstakes ban was the much less controversial a part of the invoice, as different states have related payments circulating by legislatures.
New Jersey launched laws to ban the platforms, and a New York Senate committee accredited related laws. Maryland even despatched a cease-and-desist letter to one of many largest sweepstakes operators on the earth.
A federal lawsuit was additionally lately filed in opposition to Stake.us in California.
