Mississippi Sports Betting Handle Declines in April 

The Mississippi Gaming Commission reported a sports betting handle of approximately $34.3 million for April, marking an 18% decrease compared to March.

Regional Betting Trends

Basketball emerged as the most popular sport for betting in Northern Mississippi, with nearly $2.1 million wagered. Baseball and parlays followed, with bets amounting to $0.6 million and over $0.9 million respectively.

Northern Mississippi: Basketball betting led with $2.1 million, followed by parlays and baseball.

Coastal Mississippi: Betting on all sports totaled over $8.5 million, with baseball slightly leading at around $8.8 million. Both basketball and baseball saw substantial wagering activity.

Central Mississippi: Gamblers wagered $2.9 million on parlays and $2.3 million on basketball.

The Coastal region players were the largest contributors, accounting for around $23.6 million of the total handle, highlighting the area’s dominance in the state’s sports betting market.

Revenue and Legislative Hurdles

Statewide, retail sports betting generated nearly $3.1 million in taxable revenue in April. Despite the legalization of retail sports betting several years ago, mobile sports betting remains illegal in Mississippi.

Efforts to pass the Mobile Sports Wagering Act have repeatedly stalled due to concerns about its potential impact on brick-and-mortar casinos.

Both the Senate and the House had versions of the act, but negotiations did not progress far enough to advance the bill.