JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Several of you have probably filled out a bracket for this year’s March Madness. And some of you may have placed your bets at a state casino.
It’s a time of year that highlights the state’s lack of mobile online sports betting. But there’s a chance that could change.
”It’s the kind of thing that people start looking at, maybe I haven’t bet before but I would like to now,” said Jay McDaniel, Executive Director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission. “And they maybe come to realize they can’t do it legally unless they go to one of our casinos to do it.”
But it could be as simple as pulling up an app on your phone if House Bill 774 passes this legislative session.
Some of the casinos have a mobile component now, but you have to be on the premises to use it which results in money crossing the state lines.
“We had a 20 million wagered on March Madness last year,” noted McDaniel. “20 million has kind of been our numbers that’s wagered. I look at our surrounding states that have mobile and what they have wagered it is significantly more than that.”
And there’s no secret that others are placing the bets on the black market, not just in Mississippi.
“The American Gaming Association I believe estimates about $2.7 billion to be bet on March Madness. That’s legally. The number estimated illegally is many times that number,” McDaniel said.
University of Mississippi School of Law Distinguished Professor of Law Ron Rychlak was a member of the legislative task force on the issue last year and he focused on encouraging continued protections.
“When we talk about mobile sports betting, the most vulnerable, if you’re going to talk about people exposed to potential gambling problems, […] the most vulnerable are young men from 20 to 35, somewhere in that range,” said Rychlak. “And so there are dangers.”
He says they’re finding ways to wager, legally or not, but it is a consideration the legislature should make. The other element he believes is important is to ensure prop bets on individual collegiate players isn’t allowed.
“So to try to protect the athletes, the college student athletes, who should be college students first, I think is an important thing,” he added.
If the current bill passes, the Gaming Commission says mobile wagering would be ready to implement in a matter of months because the technology is already in place at some of the casinos.
The Senate gaming committee has until April 2 to take action to keep the bill alive.
We reached out to the chairman to see if he plans to bring it up, but haven’t gotten a response.
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