Mississippi Sports Bettors Show Strong Decline In Profitability

• Mississippi sportsbooks set new monthly records in terms of the betting handle and revenue for October 2019.
• The revenue generated in October from Mississippi sportsbooks equals a third of all revenue collected in 2019 for the state.
• No state has seen sports bettors continue to lose at a higher rate than that of Mississippi.

BILOXI, Miss. – Mississippi was one of the first states to legalize sports betting after the repeal of PASPA last year and the industry took off almost instantly. With a monthly betting handle reaching levels above $40 million a few times during the NFL season, it seemed that nothing could slow down this industry.

Fast forward to October 2019 – the last sports wagering revenue data reported by the state – and things have improved, but not as much as anticipated.

The October betting handle $48 million and revenue $12.3 million amounts did set new monthly records, however, this seems to be more on an indication of the bettors in the state rather than the industry as a whole.

Mississippi Bettors Losing At The Sportsbooks

No reported state has seen their bettors do as poorly as Mississippi bettors over the course of August through October. While the country’s legal sportsbooks are averaging a hold on the betting handle just under 9.4%, Mississippi is wildly off this average.

Over the aforementioned three-month span, Mississippi residents have allowed the state’s books to keep 19.68% of all action risked. This level was reached not only with back-to-back months above 14.5% but also with a hold percentage of over 25% during October.

In comparison to other states with legal sports betting, no state except Delaware (18%) posted a hold percentage higher than 13% during October. Mississippi nearly doubled this threshold.

Additionally, no state other than Mississippi has seen its hold percentage increase every month for these three months. The sports bettors in Mississippi have done such a rough job, that October’s $12.3 million in sports betting revenue equates to a third of the collective sportsbooks in Mississippi’s year-to-date revenue.

Compared to October 2018, the state took in more than $15 million in total sports wagers but paid out over $11 million less year-to-year.

While things will likely turn around for sports bettors, the state is loving the failed attempts by the gamblers as of late.

Over the last three months, over $1.66 million has been contributed to the state in the form of sports betting taxes, and an additional $832,452 has been sent to the local cities that host the sportsbooks. In short, the three-month span has accounted for 57.6% of all tax contributions throughout 2019 as well as 40.6% of all tax contributions for Mississippi’s reported 15-month sports betting history.

News tags: Delaware | Mississippi