Last week, the Mississippi House reviewed two gambling bills. However, only one of them – the bill concerning the Daily Fantasy Sports – got an approval and won the vote to move forward to the Senate. The other bill, which was related to the state lottery failed to pass, so it would not proceed any further.
What is interesting, is the fact that the Mississippi House has reversed its own decision in terms of the Daily Fantasy Sports bill – House Bill 967. First, the bill failed on Wednesday as it did not manage to get the needed support in order to move forward to the Senate, but after a second vote on Thursday, it proceeded to the next step.
As mentioned above, the second bill, which was related to the State Lottery, did not receive the approval of the House. Until now, a total of three bills on the same matter failed to move forward, but the daily fantasy sports are not considered as a dead-end issue, so there is still potential for another piece of legislation of DFS.
Under the provisions of the House Bill 967, a 8% tax is planned to be imposed on operators of Daily Fantasy Sports on the territory of the state of Mississippi. The local Gaming Commission would also be given the right to regulate the issues related to Daily Fantasy Sports in both land-based and online casinos.
Last year, the fantasy sports contests were first legalised in the state of Mississippi, so the state authorities established a special study group to recommend rules for regulation of the matter. Now, the recommendations have been implemented in the bill and have been used as a base for the bill.
What is more, the Mississippi Gaming Commission would be granted with the powers to initiate background checks on local operators that provide daily fantasy sports. Such service providers would be required to be granted with a special operating license, and a background audit would be conducted on an annual basis.
When it comes to the customers, all users who would like to take part in daily fantasy sports contests would be required to be at least 21 years old. In addition, local regulatory authorities would be engaged with taking care of prevention of underage gambling on the territory of the state.
- Author
Daniel Williams
