The Mississippi Gaming Commission has joined the nationwide trend of declining sports betting handle with poor reported June results. The retail locations reported $20.04 million in handle, down 23.73% month-over-month from May’s $26.76. It was also down 18.69% yearly, from $25.1 million year-over-year.
Reported revenue was down month-over-month to just $1.85 million, representing 9.06% hold for the month.
The Magnolia State reports its data in three segments: Central Casinos, Coastal Casinos and Northern Casinos.
Central Casinos reported $5.1 million in handle, with a hold of 14.05% thus generating revenue of $718,000 representing a miniscule 0.32% in year-over-year growth from June 2022.
Coastal Casinos reported $13.03 million in handle, the largest of the regions. Hold was a low 6.39%, generating revenue of $832,237 for a year-on-year decrease of 19.76%.
The final of the reported trio is the Northern casinos, which reported the smallest handle with just $2.273 million. It did manage a more impressive hold than Coastal casinos with 13.14% and $299,000 in revenue. Revenue was reported as a 7.7% decrease year-on-year.
During the 2023 legislature session Mississippi lawmakers rejected a series of Mississippi online casino bills for the fourth year running. Additionally, lawmakers remain reluctant to legalize mobile sports wagering across the state which many attribute to the ever-declining handle within the state.
This year, neighbouring Louisiana has gone from having no legal sports betting to both retail and mobile sports betting. This has undoubtedly had a continued cannibalisation effect on cross-border revenue that Mississippi may otherwise have attracted.
Although online sports wagering in Mississippi is not legal, there are 26 commercial landbased and riverboat casinos in the state. In 2022, the AGA reported Mississippi to have gross casino gaming revenue of $2.57 billion.
Casinos in the Tunica and Lula market compete with Arkansas’ racino for patrons around Memphis, while the Gulf Coast riverboats compete with Louisiana which also now has both LO retail and online sportsbook to boot.