Mississippi’s sports wagering handle of $29.23 million in May was a double-digit percentage drop from April, which was in line with the ebb of sports wagering across the country.
In Mississippi, which essentially has just retail sports wagering, the May sports betting handle was down 17.7% from April ($35.5 million) and down nearly 40% from March, when the amount wagered was almost $47.9 million.
The handle was also down 19.1% from May 2021 ($36.1 million) in a year-over-year comparison.
Two casinos do have in-house Mississippi mobile sports betting, meaning bettors can only use their mobile devices to place a bet inside those respective casinos.
Sports Betting Down Nationally
The overall downward trend of sports wagering in the spring and summer reflects the sports calendar itself with the NFL and college football seasons being the most popular with bettors, along with the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
The state’s May sports betting taxable revenue of about $4 million was down 4.8% from April ($4.21 million) but up 3% from May 2021 (about $3.9 million), according to figures from the Mississippi Gaming Commission.
Of the state’s 26 casinos, the coastal casinos had about $18.94 million of the handle and $2.45 million of the taxable revenue, central casinos had about $5.79 million in handle and more than $945,000 in taxable revenue, and northern casinos had about $4.51 million in handle and more than $613,000 in taxable revenue.
Efforts to legalize a true mobile sports betting market stalled in 2022, with none of the five proposed bills in the state legislature making it out of committee.
Mississippi Sports Betting, May vs. April
Slots Again Top $2.3B in Wagers
On the casino side of the action, the state’s nearly 22,000 slots were the money-making kings.
The slots drop throughout Mississippi last month was $2.311 billion, down 1.9% from April ($2.355 billion). Still, the slots win in May was nearly $186.38 million, an 8.06% win rate for the house.
The May table games drop was $169.37 million, down 2.3% from April ($173.42 million). The casino hold on table games was $32.77 million, an average 19.35% hold for the casinos.
MGM Resorts International announced last week that it is selling the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica to the Cherokee Nation for $450 million.
