On August 31st, 2018, the governor approved Senate Bill 2001, referred to as the “Alyce G. Clarke Mississippi Lottery Law” to be effective September 1st, 2018. The new statute establishes the Mississippi Lottery Corporation (MLC). Proceeds from the lottery will be used to fund roads, bridges and for specific infrastructure funding needs. The law will require lottery retailers to post a Mississippi lottery bond from an acceptable surety. “Acceptable” sureties are generally those insurance entities granted a certificate of authority to market surety bond products in the state.
As currently written, the surety bond will be in an amount not to exceed twice the average lottery ticket sales of the retailer for the period within which the retailer is required to remit lottery funds.
The bond requirement does not apply to lottery tickets which are prepaid by the retailers. The MLC may facilitate the purchase of Mississippi lottery bonds by establishing lottery retailer pools for the purchase of the same for retailers. Given the recent passage, program commencement is not expected until the last quarter of 2019. A surety bond form model is not yet available. It’s also not known at this time if the bond will be required of all lottery retailers or only those retailers that don’t meet specific requirements, similar to practice in other states. The bill also creates an additional surety bond requirement for MLC employees with access to corporate or lottery funds, which will be set in an amount to be established by the administrative rules and regulations of the MLC’s board.
National surety bond leader, Surety One, Inc. offers lottery bonds in all jurisdictions where required by law. We are a surety-focused general agency licensed in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada. Call (800) 373-2804, email Underwriting@SuretyOne.com click the instant message icon on our website at https://SuretyOne.com for more information about a Mississippi lottery bond or any surety bonding need.
