Lottery Bill Clears Mississippi House

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The Mississippi House has voted twice in one day to establish a state lottery, but the effort is likely to be squashed in the Senate.

Rep. Tommy Reynolds of Charleston on Tuesday introduced a lottery to Senate Bill 2541 (http://bit.ly/1UrUOD0 ), which would set rules for online fantasy sports contests. Half of the lottery would go to public education and half would go to county road and bridge maintenance.

Rep. Alyce Clarke of Jackson, another Democrat, introduced her amendment to Senate Bill 2524 (http://bit.ly/1PEbEqp ), originally written to revise pay for supervisors of charity bingo games. Clarke is a longtime supporter of lotteries.

Mississippi voters chose to legalize the possibility of a state lottery in 1992, but many legislators oppose the games of chance because of religious reasons.