JACKSON, Miss.—Mississippians who owe child support may have to pay it back if they win more than a certain amount from a slot machine or through in-person sports betting at a casino under a bill the Mississippi Legislature sent to the governor.
Senate Bill 2369 would require people who win more than $2,000 on a slot machine or profit 300 times the money they bet for in-person sporting wagering in casinos to use the money to fund their unpaid child support balances through the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
“If you win at a casino for an event that requires a document to be provided to the IRS, the Department of Human Services is going to make available to all the casinos in the state a list of people who owe child support and that money is going to be intercepted and sent to the parent who needs it,” Senate Gaming Committee Chairman Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, said on the Senate floor on Feb. 10.
Current law already says lottery winners who owe back child support and profit at least $600 from the lottery have to use their winnings to pay any outstanding child support arrearages. The Mississippi Lottery Corporation uses the information it collects when a prize is claimed to determine whether a person owes outstanding child support.
About $1.5 billion in unpaid child support is owed to families across the state, Blount said.
“There is an appeals process if the person feels like there’s been a mistake. They have 30 days,” he said. “They don’t even need a lawyer; they don’t need to go to court. They can do it administratively if an error has been made.”
The House passed S.B. 2369 with no debate or discussion on March 10 because it had already approved its own version of the legislation, House Bill 520, on Feb. 10. That bill would have also required slot machine and in-person sports betting profits to pay back child support if the winner owed it. H.B. 520 died in the Senate Gaming Committee on March 11 after both chambers had passed S.B. 2369.
When discussing H.B. 520, Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, wanted to clarify who is handling the personal information of gamblers who owe back child support.
“Who is responsible for the data that’s being collected on these individuals?” He asked Rep. Jay McKnight, R-Gulfport, on the House floor on Feb. 10. “Are we giving the casinos carte blanche to look at the child support registries?”
“No, the Mississippi Department of Human Services is going to create a database that they will operate and work with the casino operators and they will maintain and operate that,” McKnight replied. “Also, with passage of this bill, the Mississippi Department of Human Services will be able to collect about 66% reimbursement for the creation of that system.”
“So, that still didn’t answer my—If I owe child support and they take some of my winnings, who owns my data? Who owns control of that information?” Hines inquired. “Because that’s personal information, that’s banking account information, that’s all types of personal information. Who contains control over that? My Social Security number is out there, my driver’s license number’s out there. Who controls all of this data?”
“I think the Mississippi Department of Human Services will already have that information if you have arrearages for child support,” McKnight responded. “So, they would maintain that and they would have that.”
He clarified that casinos would not have personal information like a person’s driver’s license number or Social Security number. Casinos would only have the names of people who owe back child support on a list that comes from MDHS.
“People should pay their child support. I’m with you on that, representative,” Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, said on the House floor on Feb. 10. “But if their money is going to be withheld, it needs to go to the dependent that it’s meant for, so how do we know that’s happening?”
“It does,” McKnight responded. “It’s going to the Mississippi Department of Human Services, who collects child support and returns it to the parent who is taking care of the child or the courts of order.”
Lawmakers passed the same legislation in the Senate in 2024, but it did not make it through on the House side.
The Senate passed S.B. 2369 by a 50-0 vote on Feb. 10 and the House passed it by a 92-22 vote on March 10. The bill is now in the hands of Gov. Tate Reeves, who has until March 23 to sign it into law.