State Tax Revenue From Sports Betting In Mississippi Surpasses $1M On The Year

• Basketball wagering in Mississippi (since August 2018 launch) is $5 million away from reaching the $100 million mark.
• Baseball action was responsible for 47% of the month betting handle and 30% of May’s revenue.
• Over $3.46 million has been delivered to the state and city governments since Mississippi’s sports betting launch.

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Gaming Commission released its monthly sports wagering revenue report on Tuesday.

Though the monthly betting revenue was at its lowest level since October of last year, the total tax revenue for the state has reached a year-to-date milestone: surpassing $1 million.

This comes with nearly $95,500 being contributed to the state in May, while the cities hosting the sportsbooks were able to secure an additional $47,750.

Sportsbooks in Mississippi are required to send 8% of their monthly revenue to the state and 4% to the city they are located. The total taxes of $143,000 came directly from the $1.19 million secured in winnings by the sportsbook.

Most (21%) of this revenue came directly from basketball betting action in the coastal region (Biloxi and surrounding areas), accounting for $251,690 in revenue. Behind that, baseball betting action in the same region accounted for $215,881 in revenue or 18% of the entirety of the sportsbooks’ revenue. Parlays cards in the coastal and northern (Tunica) regions both made the books over $130,000 in revenue and, combined with the aforementioned betting action, resulted in 60% of the total revenue in May.

It is clear that the coastal region has been the leader in legal Mississippi sports betting, as their year-to-date revenue is a few losing wagers away from eclipsing $7.5 million.

As far as the betting handle in Mississippi, May was the lowest month in total action accepted ($17.5 million) since their late-August 2018 launch. The books had averaged nearly $28 million a month since the start of the year, but the majority of that came during January’s NFL Playoffs and March’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Basketball betting has certainly been the most active throughout the year, as the year-to-date betting handle makes up 60% of all action on the year. But the focus towards playing the odds on baseball has started to come full circle.

In May alone, baseball betting was responsible for 47% ($8.2 million) of the handle, where the coastal region brought forth $5.6 million in baseball betting alone or 32% of every books’ action.

Baseball betting doubled in the central region (Native American books) from April to May; however, all other betting action decreased. At the northern sportsbooks, baseball action increased by over 500,000 but the regions 1.35% hold on baseball betting gave no help to the books or the state coffers.

News tags: Biloxi | Mississippi | Mississippi Gaming Commission | Tunica