HB 1581 Mississippi House · 2026 Regular Session

Mobile sports betting; include tidelands and child support.

Mississippi HB 1581 legalizes mobile sports betting and online race book wagering within the state. It requires betting platforms to hold specific licenses, implement geofencing to restrict play to Mississippi residents, verify ages (banning those under 21), and partner with licensed casinos. The bill also creates a new procedure (Section 43-19-63) requiring the Gaming Commission to collaborate with the Department of Human Services to withhold gambling winnings from individuals with outstanding child support debt. This directly affects mobile bettors, licensed casinos, and individuals owing child support.

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 5, 2026 Last action Mar 3, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Current version · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill amendment primarily adds procedural and conditional provisions to the mobile sports wagering tax fund distribution, clarifies definitions related to gaming licenses and employee classifications, and makes technical formatting adjustments throughout the text. The most significant substantive change is the addition of a condition that ties the distribution of wagering tax revenues to the Public Employees' Retirement System's investment performance, which could affect how and when funds are distributed to the state's pension system.

Scope change

The bill's overall scope remains focused on legalizing and regulating mobile sports wagering in Mississippi, but the distribution mechanism for tax revenues now includes a performance-based condition that could alter funding flows to the pension system.

FISCAL

Added a new subsection (3) to Section 6 that conditions the distribution of Mobile Sports Wagering Tax Fund revenues to the Public Employees' Retirement System on the system's assumed rate of return being equal to or greater than the 2020 actuarial rate, potentially delaying or reducing pension contributions if investment returns fall below historical levels.

DEFINITION

Modified the definition of 'Gaming employee' to remove specific examples of excluded personnel (bartenders, cocktail waitresses) and streamlined the language for clarity.

Updated the definition of 'Credit instrument' to remove redundant language about debt owed to licensed persons at the time of creation, simplifying the definition.

TECHNICAL

Removed references to 'Establishment' definition subsection (i) and made formatting corrections throughout the document, including removing unnecessary line breaks and standardizing text formatting.

Corrected formatting and spacing issues throughout the document, including fixing inconsistent use of bullet points, line breaks, and text alignment.

REQUIREMENT

Modified the Retail Sports Wagering Protection Fund definition to more precisely reference the specific subsection of the Mobile Sports Wagering Tax Fund from which funds are transferred.

Floor votes · House Feb 4, 2026

How they voted

83–33

Passed · 6 other

Total votes 122

Feb 4, 2026

D Democratic40

13 Yea 25 Nay 2

62% Nay

I Independent2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican80

68 Yea 8 Nay 4

85% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 16, 2026

Committee

Referred To Finance;Gaming

upper

Feb 5, 2026

Introduced

Transmitted To Senate

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed As Amended

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

Amended

lower

Feb 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass

lower

Jan 19, 2026

Committee

Referred To Gaming

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors