Mississippi bill would divert casino winnings to back child support payments

District 25 Sen. Walter Michel is proposing a bill that would require casinos to hold back a portion of a person’s winnings to cover child support payments if they are behind.

The measure, S.B. 2132, has been referred to the Senate’s Gaming Committee.

“This is similar to a law from two years ago that would allow the state treasurer’s office to do the same thing when they advertised unclaimed property,” he said.

Under that bill, if you collected any unclaimed property, such as stocks or bonds left to you by a dead relative, the treasurer would be able to check state records and hold back a portion of the property to cover unpaid child support.

“If you hit a jackpot at a casino, then obviously they’re going to take your tax records, they’re going to get your Social Security number because they’re going to have to report it to the IRS. So, we will set up a portal with the Department of Human Services to where if you owe back child support, they will do the same thing,” he said.

Michel said exactly how that would be done will be left up to the Department of Human Services and the State Gaming Commission. The measure gives both agencies the authority to draw up the rules on how that will be done.

“If somebody goes up there and cashes in $25 worth of winnings from a slot machine, we don’t want to have to go through all the trouble for that. But the bigger winnings - and I don’t know what that threshold would be - it will be up to them to decide,” he said.

The bill comes about three years after a report on child support in the state was related by the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review. According to PEER, just 54 percent of child support obligations were collected in fiscal year 2019.

The report went on to say that Mississippi’s performance had not improved since fiscal year 2000, while during that same time, national collections on unpaid child support improved from 59 percent to 64.5 percent. Child support payments did increase in 2020, due to COVID-19 supplements.

Michel introduced a similar bill in 2023, but the measure died in committee. He said he received pushback from the gaming commission, which needed more time to determine how the law could be implemented.

He says similar provisions were put in place for the lottery when legislation establishing it was passed several years ago.