Mississippi Commissions Study Of Pros And Cons Of Internet Gambling

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Friday, April 11th, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

The Mississippi House Gaming Committee (MGC) Chairman, Richard Bennett, has commissioned a task force to study how online gambling is faring in those US states which already have regulated markets. MGC executive director Allen Godfrey is chairman of the eight-member task force, which will take a closer look at internet gaming and make its non-legislative proposals by the end of this year. Commenting on the task ahead, Godfrey said:

“Chairman Bennett wanted to do a fact-finding study on internet gaming, the pros and cons of it. We can go look at other states now that they have it live and just do a fact-finding mission.”

Mississippi’s land-based casino industry shrinks

Mississippi’s casino industry employs 23,000 people across the state, with last year’s tax revenues of $263 million accounting for around 5% of the state budget.

Like many other casino markets in the US, however, Mississippi has been suffering from falling revenues and in 2013 gross gambling revenues shrunk by 5.1% to $2.136 billion compared to the $2.251 billion generated in 2012. In addition to being significantly down on the $2.891 billion collected in 2007, last year’s total also represented the lowest revenue tally since 1997 when the state’s casinos collected $1.98 billion.

Increased competition from nearby states have been responsible for steadily eroding Mississippi’s gaming market and commenting on the downward trend, Allen Godfrey, said: “I think competition is really hurting everyone..There’s no telling how that will end up. But if they do expand it, we will feel the impact. Just like we feel the impact from the Poarch casinos in Alabama and the casino in West Memphis.”

Mississippi Task Force to the rescue

Looking at ways to boost the state revenues, the Mississippi Task Force will now gather data on the pros and cons of Internet gambling and sports betting in the three regulated online gambling markets of Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. Initially, only online gambling was considered for the study but legislators subsequently convinced MGC Chairman Richard Bennett to expand the research to include sports betting as another potentially valuable source of revenues.

The group is scheduled to meet for the first time in May, and will discuss the operating systems of the three regulated markets, paying close attention to their geolocation technology and means by which they prevent underage and compulsive gamblers from accessing websites.

“Our most important role in this task force will be advisory, with data and analysis about internet gambling,” Godfrey said.”We will not be making any recommendations regarding any new legislation or regulations.”

The report will then be ready for the Legislature to examine should they decide to look closer at gambling expansion in the future. The eight person group tasked with the study is as follows:

1: Allen Godfrey, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, chairman of the task force.

2: Larry Gregory, director of the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association

3: Dorothy Loggins, member of the Mississippi Council on Problem & Compulsive Gambling

4: Craig Orgeron, CIO and director of the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services

5: Catherine Price, professor of Casino, Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Mississippi

6: Jan Craig, associate commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Revenue

7: Jason Pugh, vice president of Instruction & Community Campus, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

8: Michael Bruffey, a Mississippi attorney

Mississippi online gambling bills failed in the past

Mississippi has attempted to pass online gambling legislation in the past, but The South is not too friendly when it comes to internet gaming. Bobby Moak, a Democrat member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, introduced HB 1373 in 2012 which subsequently died in committee, and undaunted the following year Moak tried again with identical bill HB 254, which then suffered the same fate. If passed, the bills would have permitted land-based casino operators to obtain online gambling licenses from the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

The Magnolia state faces similar challenges when it comes to sports betting, too, as according to a federal law called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, only the four US states of Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon are allowed to offer legalized sports betting.

Similarly, New Jersey has also tried to have the Act overturned with its last attempt failing in September 2013. Nevertheless, New Jersey has since launched another challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court, with the state writing in its appeal:

“It impermissibly trenches on the states’ authority to regulate their own citizens, and it does so in a manner that discriminates among the states. That double-barreled infringement on the sovereign prerogatives of the states calls out for review.”

All the same, hopes of success remain slim as the US Supreme Court only hears roughly 1% of the 10,000 cases it receives on a yearly basis.