Sports Betting Boosts Mississippi’s Casino Revenue

• March Madness boosted the revenue in Mississippi casinos.
• Over $32.4 million was wagered on sports in March.
• Casinos have been in an upward trend ever since sportsbooks were introduced.

JACKSON, Miss. – Sports betting has boosted Mississippi’s overall casino revenue during March thanks to the March Madness basketball tournament.

The Sports Betting Bump

The overall numbers for gambling in casinos in Mississippi have stayed relatively the same. This year, gamblers lost $212 million in March. That is about $11 million more than March of 2018, which saw $201 million lost by gamblers.

The biggest contributing factor to this number is legal sports betting. A report from the Mississippi Gaming Commission was released and it gives the sports betting figures for March.

Overall, over $32 million was wagered on sports and about $4.9 million of that money was taxable revenue. This means $27.1 million of the $212 million lost by gamblers in March was thanks to sports betting.

March Madness Boosts Sales

The primary reason why sports betting in Mississippi helped boost casino revenue was largely due to March Madness. The report provided by the Mississippi Gaming Commission breaks down sales for different sports. Although it doesn’t differentiate between college and professional sporting events, over $6.5 million was wagered on basketball in March and about $728,000 became taxable revenue.

Deputy Director of the Commission Jay McDaniel said that the increase in casino revenue mostly came from March Madness bets. The NBA season was winding down and the teams who were going to make it to the Playoffs were essentially already locked in. This led to more action towards NCAA basketball games rather than the NBA games.

This is further proven by the American Gaming Associations report in March about how much will be wagered on March Madness this year. The report said that $8.5 billion will be wagered on the NCAA basketball tournament this year with $4.1 million placed in a casino sportsbook.

Overall, the casinos in Mississippi are performing as they normally would have during March. Tax refunds are given around this time and it usually leads to a boost in casino sales. The main difference this time is that Mississippi sports betting is now legal and sportsbooks offer more opportunities to gamble.

News tags: Mississippi | Mississippi sports betting | MS revenue | sports betting