The Mississippi Gaming Commission has released the agenda for the June meeting to be held on June 16, 2016. Please click here for the agenda.
State Spotlight
Mississippi Gaming Commission Posts Meeting Minutes for May
The minutes for the Mississippi Gaming Commission’s meeting held on May 19, 2016, can be reviewed by clicking here.
Mississippi Governor Signs DFS Bill Passed by Legislature
In a somewhat surprising move, the 2016 Mississippi Legislature approved a bill legalizing daily fantasy sports in the state. On May 12, 2016, Governor Phil Bryant signed the legislation with the bill becoming law effective from and after its passage. Click here for the legislation as adopted.
The legislation was introduced after Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood’s office on January 29, 2016, opined that DFS were illegal in Mississippi.
Prospects looked somewhat dicey for the bill when the Mississippi House and Senate adopted different versions of the legislation. The House of Representatives added a lottery amendment to the bill, making its adoption more perilous. Once the bill reached conference between the two houses, a compromise bill emerged (without a lottery) which was successfully adopted and sent to the Governor.
As approved, the bill permits daily fantasy sports companies to operate in the state until July 1, 2017, when the law stands repealed. Presumably, this deadline and the creation of a task force to study the issue is to give the operators a chance to continue in the state but allow legislators time to craft a more complete regulatory scheme. The task force is to “undertake a comprehensive review of the offering of fantasy contests with a fee within this state and to recommend the proper oversight and regulation of the offering of fantasy contests with a fee.”
DFS operators must register with the Mississippi Gaming Commission. The bill prevents DFS operator employees and immediate family members from playing DFS; provides for the security of gaming; prohibits play by those under the age of 18; provides a mechanism for players such as problem gamblers to be excluded from playing; and requires clear separation of player moneys from operator moneys and maintain reserves. An audit of funds is also required. Only casino licensees of the MGC may offer “on premises” fantasy contests on their properties. Violators of the act can be fined up to $10,000.
Although the bill provides that the Mississippi Gaming Control Act does not apply to DFS, the patron dispute procedures of the gaming act do apply to disputes between players and DFS operators.
Mississippi Gaming Commission Posts Agenda for May Meeting
The Mississippi Gaming Commission has released the agenda for the May meeting to be held on May 19, 2016. Please click here for the agenda.
Alabama Legislature Ends Session at Impasse Over Gaming
The Alabama Legislature adjourned sine die on May 4, 2016, without adopting gaming measures which could have shored up its beleaguered budgets. Alabama’s general fund budget, chronically beset by inadequate funding for Medicaid and Corrections, was adopted in this same session over Governor Bentley’s veto even though it left a projected $85 million shortfall in Medicaid alone.
The Legislature failed to act on two lottery bills, both proposing to amend Alabama’s anti-lottery law, Art. IV § 65, Alabama Constitution of 1901. HB10 would have authorized a statewide lottery and directed the proceeds to the education budget to fund college scholarships while SB19 would have simply authorized a state lottery without designating where the proceeds would be directed. Neither measure even advanced to the floor of their respective house.
Meanwhile, legislators also failed to adopt measures that would have authorized the play of electronic bingo in Macon and Greene Counties. Both bills, HB419 and SB320, proposed amendments to the local constitutional amendments authorizing the play of charitable bingo in those counties. The legislation would specifically permit electronic bingo for charity in those counties consistent with the types of electronic games permitted by IGRA. This would have clarified the long-running dispute between operators in Greene and Macon County over electronic bingo and the legal disparity between the machines permitted by IGRA in Alabama’s Poarch Creek tribal jurisdictions versus those permitted by Alabama law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of Alabama. There is thus no resolution on the horizon to this contentious and troublesome issue.
As expected, the Supreme Court of Alabama released its decision during the legislative session on March 31, 2016, in the forfeiture action involving Victoryland in Macon County. The Court once again effectively declared electronic bingo illegal in Alabama in reversing the trial court’s order which found that Victoryland had been selectively prosecuted. The net result of the decision, along with Governor Bentley’s legal problems stemming from an inappropriate relationship with a female member of his staff, likely have ended immediate plans to reintroduce electronic bingo at Victoryland. Victoryland owner, Milton McGregor, and local Macon County officials have for months announced imminent plans to reopen in Macon County under the authority of Governor Bentley’s previously issued Executive Order No. 13. Given the uncertainty stemming from the pending impeachment proceeding involving Governor Bentley, as well as the recent Court decision, many machine vendors are understandably reluctant to once again test the waters in Alabama.
