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