Mississippi Advisory Opinions August 07, 1991: 19910807 (August 07, 1991)

Advisory Opinion Text

Hon. Royal Walker, Jr.

Executive Director

Mississippi Gaming Commission

P.O. Box 23577

Jackson, Mississippi 39225-3577

Re: Opinion Request—Gambling Referenda By Judicial District

Dear Mr. Walker:

Attorney General Mike Moore received your request for an opinion, and asked me to respond. In your letter you explain,

Section 145 of the Mississippi Gaming Control Act authorizes local referenda on the issue of legalized gaming, and all three Gulf Coast counties have held county-wide elections on this question. In Harrison County, the proposal was defeated. However, Harrison County is composed of two separate judicial districts, and gambling proponents would now like to hold a new election which would only apply to voters in the Second Judicial District.

You then ask,

Does the Gaming Control Act allow local referenda on legalized gaming only on a county-wide basis, or may the referendum by held strictly within the judicial district?

Miss.Code Ann. § 27-109-15(3), as amended by the Mississippi Gaming Control Act, specifies that a referendum must be called upon submission to the County Board of Supervisors of a petition signed by twenty percent or 1500 “of the registered voters of a county” in which a notice of intent to apply for a gaming license has been filed. Upon receipt of such a petition, the Board of Supervisors is directed

“to hold an election on the proposition of allowing legal gaming to be conducted aboard cruise vessels or vessels, as the case may be, in the county.... The referendum shall be advertised, held, conducted and the result thereof canvassed in the manner provided by law for advertising, holding and canvassing county elections.”

Based on the foregoing, it is the opinion of this office that a gambling referendum may only be held on a county-wide basis, and may not be limited to a single judicial district within the county. If the voters of a municipality or judicial district want to “opt out” of the county for gambling purposes, they must take their case to the Mississippi Legislature; this office cannot sanction such a radical departure from the clear language of the Mississippi Gaming Control Act.

I hope this answers your inquiry.

Mike Moore, Attorney General

Wilson H. Carroll, Special Assistant Attorney General