mississippi gold strike casino sportsbook

Mississippi Casinos Strike Gold In 2021 Despite No Mobile Sports Betting

As Gulf Coast casinos in and around Biloxi set an annual revenue record with $1.6 billion and Tunica casinos pulled in nearly $$700 million in 2021, Mississippi unmasked a total gambling haul of nearly $2.7 billion in earnings statewide.

Notably, this is without Mississippi mobile sports betting.

Of course, despite the above figures – which bode exceptionally well for the market in the wake of downturns throughout 2020 due to COVID-related casino closures – all that talk in town remains on the aforesaid mobile sports betting.

Many industry analysts thought that 2021 would be the year that MS got over the hump and finally legalized domestic online sportsbooks, particularly in light of COVID’s impact on the state’s gambling products.

That didn’t happen.

So as neighboring states began to legalize mobile domestic sportsbooks and reaped the obvious rewards of doing so, 2022 became the logical conclusion.

But while Mississippi doesn’t have to contend with any of the tribal exclusivity issues that have harried many other states’ plans to implement online sports betting, there’s no real hurry among MS lawmakers to approve mobile betting, after all.

In fact, at least five Mississippi casinos are vocally against online sports betting, and their argument is easy to understand.

Current MS gambling law mandates that all patrons must be physically within licensed casino property to place sports wagers.  This, obviously, gets people onto the gambling floors where they can “parlay” their sports betting winnings into big casino losses.

Such is, after all, the main allure of the casino sportsbook from a business perspective, as casinos themselves don’t make all that much money off hosting sports betting services.

So, if MS residents are simply allowed to bet sports online – especially without having access to online slots, online blackjack, online roulette, and other casino table games – there’s not a great deal of financial incentive for these operators to go all in on mobile sportsbooks.

As a result, all five of this year’s Mississippi mobile sports betting bills died in committee on Tuesday.

Which is actually kind of fitting.

You see, sports bettors worldwide suffered a massive blow on Tuesday with the retirement of Tom Brady, who leaves the NFL – and its millions of online sports betting enthusiasts – at a serious crossroads.

The free ride is over.

For 22 years, Brady was a stone cold lock on the boards every Sunday, winning 10 conference championships and seven Super Bowls. For serious futures bettors, Brady was literal early retirement.

Now, they’ll need to find another meal ticket. We’ll need to find another meal ticket.

Nevertheless, Mississippi’s collusion with Tom Terrific won’t stop us – or you – from betting on Super Bowl 56 and other football fare, even if our only legal option to do so remains the offshore Tunica casino sportsbooks we recommend.

And here’s to better bettor things in 2023!

Sources: WLBT, Sun Herald

Goldstrike Casino

The Tunica County casinos used to be one of the only locations for gambling and legal sports betting since the early 1990s. Tunica was the South’s premier gambling location, with over eleven casinos in the county alone.

But since then, other states have begun legalizing gambling and sports betting within their jurisdictions, causing competition and a handful of Tunica brick-and-mortar casinos to shut down. Last June, the Resorts Casino Tunica closed its doors, making it the third casino to do so since 2014.

Only six casinos remain in Tunica, including Resorts Casino Tunica neighbor Hollywood Casino Tunica. Tunica County legalized gambling in 1992, peaking in 2001 with 13,000 jobs and high revenues. Revenues have fallen since 2006, and the casino now employs around 5,000 workers.

With neighboring states like Arkansas and Tennessee opening gambling restrictions, the scene does not look good for Tunica’s future. Memphis has continued to grow in popularity for gambling, and a 2019 Arkansas referendum approved four full-fledged casinos.

Moreover, Tennessee upped the competition with their new online regulated sports betting market, enjoying operators with big names like BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Tennessee Action 24/7. The first week of business brought in over $27 million in wagered capital.

The coronavirus added another stressor to the Tunica domestic gambling industry. After statewide lockdowns lifted, casinos were hopeful of returning to normalcy after seeing traffic beginning to trickle in.

But job market reports show that Tunica is still struggling to recover from the pandemic, with a 13.8 percent unemployment rate. President and CEO of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau spoke on the issue.

“The gaming commission came out with the fact that we have to run at the 50 percent occupancy, but the numbers are strong, and we are lucky that NFL and College Football is all going. Sports betting is something that people are coming down for,” Franklin said.

When asked on the return of live shows and entertainment, Franklin said, “You can gamble anywhere in America today, it’s not like it was when we first started in the ’90s, and what separates you as a destination is the entertainment that we have here.”

But anyone who keeps up with us knows that one of the best options for Mississippians to gamble is using one of our recommended online Tunica casinos. These casinos operate internationally, so you do not have to worry about domestic restrictions, shutdowns, or the coronavirus. Our online Tunica casinos are industry-leading reputable gambling destinations.

Sources:
Las Vegas Sun
FOX 13 Memphis