Mississippi sports betting handle declines in December
Although the sports betting handle grew year-on-year, December’s figures were down month-to-month.
US.- Players at Mississippi’s casinos wagered $56.8m on sports in December 2021 down, 6.2 per cent month-over-month but up 2.8 per cent year-on-year. Revenue for the last month of 2021 amounted to $3.2m, down 59 per cent from 2020 and a decrease of 66.3 per cent from November 2021.
During December, the majority was staked at the state’s coastal casinos, which made up $37.5m of the total. A further $10.7m was wagered at properties in Mississippi’s central region and $8.7m in casinos in the north of the state.
The most popular sport among Mississippi bettors was American football with $24.9m staked on the sport. Basketball followed with $15.5m, while parlay bets totalled $10.4m. Other bets added $6.1m.
In terms of revenue, the biggest contributor was the coastal region generating $2.2m, while the northern region generated $553,536 and the central region $496,568.
See also: Mississippi sports betting handle reaches $83.5m in October
Mobile sports betting in Mississippi
On January 4, when the 2022 legislative session opened, representative Cedric Burnett introduced House Bill 184, which would amend the Mississippi Code to allow online sports betting for adult residents and visitors within the state’s borders.
Although Mississippi was one of the first states to offer legal sports betting following the US Supreme Court’s repeal of PASPA in 2018, bettors can currently only wager at the state’s casinos and not online. Burnett’s bill seeks to allow gaming operators to “accept wagers placed from sports pool wagering accounts through digital platforms, provided such wagers are initiated, received and made within Mississippi”.
The bill allows for the standard kind of wagers, including single-game bets, teaser bets, parlays, over-under lines, moneyline bets, in-game wagering and in-play bets.
If approved, the act would take effect on July 1, 2022. The bill has been referred to the House Gaming and Ways and Means committees for further consideration. It’s the fourth attempt to legalise mobile sports wagering in the state. Similar bills have failed in the past three years.
