Well, there's major worry that this is only going to further delay the Mississippi betting efforts for the future. That's because there has been a ton of opposition in the past, and more of the same has arrived from a high-ranking official. In some devastating news, it has been revealed that Mississippi's Lieutenant Governor is fully against legal sports betting, which is not good at all. Indeed, Delbert Hosemann recently spoke out against the legalization efforts, which is worrisome.

In a recent social media post, Hosemann didn't hold back in saying that he's against legalization, as a major concern of his is how it could impact the youth. There has been a growing concern in Mississippi when it comes to potential gambling addiction, and it doesn't help that there have been some college sports betting scandals too. This is why Hosemann is against moving forward with things and there are plenty of people who are in his corner too.

"Mobile sports betting could undermine the billions of dollars invested in brick-and-mortar gaming facilities across our state, increase opportunities for misconduct and illegal actions involving athletes, and raise serious questions about whether the resulting tax revenue would even be sufficient to offset the associated social and economic costs," Hosemann said with passion on his official X account.

On one side, we see his point, but the fact of the matter here is that Mississippi is losing out on millions of dollars when it comes to potential sports betting tax revenue. We have seen other states have major success with online sports betting, but Mississippi is behind with things there. Hosemann is clearly not a fan of things, which isn't going to help overall. Could his passion also impact other decision makers?

Mississippi is one of 11 states without legal sports betting

What makes things even worse here is that Mississippi is one of 11 states without legal sports betting, while the majority of nearby states are also in a bit of a battle to get things over the line, the fact of the matter here is that people are quite disappointed that no positive movements have come in.

In recent years, Mississippi has tried to put together a strong sports betting bill to get past the House and Senate, but people haven't been able to align on their sports betting views. Because of this, there's been quite the delay in things, with no optimism currently on the table. Obviously, Hosemann speaking out like this is a bit concerning too for the future.

Mississippi continues to try and work against the prediction markets, but that hasn't been an easy task at all, especially since it's regulated at a Federal level. For now, that's the only 'legal' way that people can place their sports wagers in the state, but who knows how long that's going to be viable. The need for new laws is apparent, though Mississippi is in no rush to make a switch.

Mississippi will miss a ton of potential betting revenue during the football season

Just like the other states who haven't moved forward with legalization, it's safe to say that Mississippi will miss a ton of potential betting revenue during the football season. Once the NFL preseason gets here, people in the state will be fired up to take a look at the NFL betting odds and see which NFC teams are in contention.

Despite no legal sports betting on the table as a whole, this is where people will look to the prediction markets for their futures bets. As things stand, the LA Rams remain the favorites to win the Super Bowl next year, as adding Myles Garrett to the pass-rush was massive.

While Mississippi doesn't have a pro NFL team, that doesn't mean that the attention for the sports isn't quite high. If things actually were legal, millions of dollars would be wagered on the NFL each fall. For now, Hosemann and others are seeing to it that this isn't an option, which is a complete and total shame. The longer Mississippi goes without sports betting, the more money it's going to lose, no question about that.