A panel of House lawmakers kept alive the effort to legalize mobile sports betting in Mississippi, but the bill does not appear to have enough support in the Senate to pass.

Hours before a Tuesday evening legislative deadline, the House Gaming Committee inserted into two Senate bills the language from a measure the full House passed last month to permit online betting. The legislation would put Mississippi on track to join a growing number of states that allow online sports wagering.

But the House Gaming Committee had to resort to the procedural move after its Senate counterpart declined to take up its bill. Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount, a Democrat from Jackson, said he does not support the measure, prompting frustration from House Gaming Chairman Casey Eure, a Republican from Saucier. Eure said he implemented suggested changes from the Senate after lawmakers couldn’t agree on a final proposal in 2024.

“This shows how serious we are about mobile sports betting,” Eure said. “I’ve done everything he’s asked for … I’ve done everything they’ve asked for plus some.”

In a February 88-10 vote, the House approved a new version of the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act, which Eure said was reworked to address concerns raised by the Senate last year. The new version would allow a casino to partner with two sports betting platforms rather than one. Allowing casinos to partner with an extra platform is designed to assuage the concerns of casino leaders and lawmakers who represent areas where gambling is big business.

Last year, some lawmakers raised concerns that gambling platforms would have no incentive to partner with smaller casinos, and most of the money would instead flow to the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s already bustling larger casinos.

Other changes include a provision that prevents people from placing bets with credit cards, a request from the Senate to guard against gambling addiction.

Blount said there were growing concerns in other states that have legalized online sports betting, including over what consumer protections can be put in place and the impact legalization could have on existing gambling markets.

READ MORE: House panel approves casino tax increase, a shot over bow on blockage of online sports betting

“This is a different industry than any other industry because it is subject to forces outside of the control of the folks who are on this business,” Blount said. “And so what I think we need to do as a state, and we have done this for decades, is we have provided a stable regulatory environment, regardless of who is in the legislature, regardless of who the governor is, without a lot of drama.”

The proposal would levy a 12% tax on sports wagers, with revenue reaching all 82 counties via the Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund. Eure said he believes the state is losing between $40 million and $80 million a year in tax revenue by keeping mobile sports betting illegal.

Proponents also say legalization would undercut the influence of illicit offshore sports betting platforms.

Since the start of the NFL season this year, Mississippi has recorded 8.69 million attempts to access legal mobile sportsbooks, according to materials presented to House members at an earlier committee meeting. That demand fuels a thriving illegal online gambling market in Mississippi, proponents have said. Opponents say legalization could devastate the bottom line of smaller casinos and lead to debt and addiction among gamblers.

Mobile sports betting is legal in 30 states and Washington, D.C., according to the American Gaming Association.

The House panel inserted the mobile sports betting language into SB 2381 and SB 2510. The bills now head to the full chamber for consideration.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

A bill to help poor women access prenatal care passed a committee deadline at the eleventh hour after a committee chairman said he wouldn’t bring it up for a vote. 

The policy was signed into law last year, but never went into effect because of administrative hiccups. 

Last week, Senate Medicaid Chair Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, told Mississippi Today that he would not be taking up the House’s bill to fix the issues in the program, calling it “his prerogative as chairman.” 

However, on deadline day, Blackwell called the bill up in his committee. It passed unanimously and without discussion. It will now move on to the floor vote in the Senate, where it passed with overwhelming support last year. 

Blackwell declined to comment on why he changed course. 

Blackwell had previously added the policy to another Medicaid bill, but was criticized by House Medicaid Chair Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, for attaching her legislation to what she called a “$7 million laundry list of unrelated lobbyist requests.”

In addition, the policy in Blackwell’s tech bill included language that the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services – the agency charged with overseeing state Medicaid programs – denied last year. 

Presumptive eligibility for pregnant women allows low-income women who become newly eligible for Medicaid once pregnant to receive immediate coverage as soon as they find out they’re pregnant – even if their Medicaid application is still pending. The program is especially effective in states that have not expanded Medicaid.  

Mississippi is currently one of only three states with neither expansion or presumptive eligibility for pregnant women. 

An expectant mother would need to fall under the following income levels to qualify for presumptive eligibility in 2025:

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

by Michael Goldberg, Mississippi Today
March 4, 2025

A bill that would make it easier for K-12 students to transfer to other public schools outside their home districts will die in the Mississippi Senate, the chamber’s leaders said as a Tuesday night deadline loomed.

But the House responded by inserting language from the legislation into an unrelated bill, a Hail Mary attempt to keep the measure alive this session. The last-minute procedural move was aimed at saving legislation that would allow students to request a transfer to another school district outside their home area, and introduce legal requirements to ensure districts comply.

Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, said the policy, known as “open enrollment” or “portability,” would not advance this year.

“Nothing will happen this year as far as requiring public-to-public (transfers). But I still would like to have it studied, so that might come up later this year,” DeBar said. “I do not believe you’ll see anything regarding portability being implemented this year.”

DeBar’s statement confirmed the bill didn’t have the votes to pass in its current form, which was later affirmed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who leads the Senate.

The legislation’s demise in the Senate unfolded even though easing public school transfers was cited before the session as a key education priority by the Republican leaders of both chambers, House Speaker Jason White and Hosemann.

On Tuesday afternoon, it appeared the conversation between the legislative leaders on education had soured. If the House portability bill died in the Senate, it would show a failure of leadership on Hosemann’s part, White said in remarks to Mississippi Today.

“I think it speaks volumes to the leadership in the Senate and where they are on education, and that they are for the status quo. At some point, the Lieutenant Governor has to embrace the fact that he is part of that status quo. He was on record all through the fall saying he was for portability,” White said. “His mouth says one thing but his actions and leadership in the Senate say a completely different thing.”

In a statement, Hosemann said he supports portability, but confirmed the votes weren’t there to pass the bill in his chamber.

“I have always supported public-to-public portability with capacity requirements and will continue to do so despite not currently having the votes,” Hosemann said.

The House Education Committee inserted language from the portability bill, HB 1435, into SB 2618, an unrelated bill that aims to address chronic absenteeism in schools.

Rep. Jansen Owen, R-Poplarville, said the move will “continue the discussion and give the Lieutenant Governor an opportunity to accomplish two policy goals he has stated multiple times in the press in the last few months.”

Hosemann has cited both portability and fighting chronic absenteeism as key priorities.

Portability is a component of a broader array of policies known as “school choice,” which proponents say gives parents greater autonomy to customize their children’s education. Opponents say the policies undermine public schools serving some of the state’s neediest students. 

Mississippi currently has a very limited form of “open enrollment” that allows students to transfer from their home district to a nearby school district. However, the transfer requires the approval of both the home and receiving school districts.

HB 1435 passed the GOP-majority chamber last month 67-46, with partisan crossover supporting and opposing the legislation. Four Democrats joined the Republican majority to support the proposal, while 10 Republicans joined with the Democratic minority to oppose the bill.

Under the House-approved legislation, sponsored by Owen, a student could request to transfer to another school district outside their home district. The receiving school district would have 60 days to either accept or reject the student’s application. The home school district could no longer prevent the student from transferring to another district.

In a statement shortly after the Senate Education Committee declined to take up his bill on Tuesday morning, Owen told Mississippi Today that there was still time for the committee to reconsider ahead of the evening deadline.

“I’m hopeful the votes are there to move this legislation to the next step,” Owen said.

But DeBar said there was a “plethora of issues” with easing public transfers that needed to be studied further before the Senate would get on board with the policy.

“At this point, there are so many issues ranging from local taxes, how do you get a child from one school district to the other when you’re poor and you can’t afford it anyways,” DeBar said.

School districts receive funding through local property taxes and the state government. The state funds under the bill would follow the student from district to district, while the funds from local property taxes would stay in their original district.

Under the House proposal, the state would pay the difference to the receiving school district if a student transferred. House lawmakers said they planned to allocate $5 million for transfers for the first year if the proposal becomes law.

Some House Democrats, almost all of whom are Black, said they worried the proposal could bring re-segregation of schools because families with means would flock to well-performing school districts while poorer families who lack reliable transportation would be locked in low-performing school districts.

Proponents said the bill would allow open enrollment for all students, and the legislation prohibits school districts from discriminating against applicants over their race, sex and income level.

There were also members who feared portability could be used primarily as a pretext for making athletic transfers easier, DeBar said.

White had put school-choice issues such as portability near the center of his legislative agenda. But most of the measures have either already died or had yet to advance ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

“It was a baby step in the school choice movement to give parents some other outlet,” White said of the portability bill.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.