House reverses course, sends lottery bill to Gov. Bryant

The lottery bill is on the way to the governor’s office but it will be awhile before Mississippians can play big ticket games such as MegaMillions and Powerball.

The bill passed the House 58-54 on Tuesday, the day after the same body voted it down 53-61.

“It feels like a one point victory in overtime,” said Sen. Philip Moran, who introduced the original bill in the Senate. “We did it. I’m just proud to be the author.”

Education Committee Chairman Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, who guided the bill through the House with Gaming Committee Chairman Casey Eure, said he didn’t lobby anyone to change their vote overnight.

“I believe they heard from the people back home,” he said. “The people want a lottery.”

Both Moran and Bennett said they were just tired of millions of dollars flowing to Louisiana as Mississippians crossed the state line.

The Senate approved the bill Monday night, shortly after the House voted to temporarily kill it.

If Gov. Phil Bryant signs it as expected, he’ll have to name members of the corporation that will oversee the operating of the games. The corporation board then will hire an executive director.

Bennett said the state will begin with scratch off games. It will have to apply to and be accepted by the Multi-State Lottery Association, which offers Powerball in 44 states.

Bennett said it would take about two years to get the first scratch off games off the ground then a while longer to get into the big games.

Now that the road and bridge bill and the lottery bill have been passed, Bryant is expected to call a session within the session to deal exclusively with the $700 million that will eventually come to the state in the BP Deepwater Horizon economic damages settlement.

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 1:01 PM.