Legal Sports Betting Mississippi
Mississippi sports betting is somewhere between legal and illegal. The good news is that sports betting has been legal and regulated in the Magnolia State since August 2018, whether retail, online or mobile betting. The bad news is that you must be physically located in a Mississippi casino to bet legally.
The aim was to change this in 2022, but the idea died in committee, so the Mississippi Gaming Commission cannot provide licenses for online sports betting sites. Legal sportsbooks across Mississippi are only permitted physically and can be accessed online as long as you are in the venue.
This means there are no purely online gambling sites for sports wagering or mobile sports betting sites, and there aren’t likely to be any in 2022.
How To Pick A Mississippi Sportsbook
There are many Mississippi sports betting venues and sportsbooks for you to get involved with. The list of casinos that have been approved for a sports betting license includes: the Beau Rivage, Gold Strike, and Sam’s Town with the playMGM sportsbook, the Grand Sierra with the William Hill sportsbook, the IP Casino with the B Connected sportsbook, the Boomtown Casino and Hollywood Casino with the Penn National sportsbook, the Golden Moon, and Silver Star with PRR Sports sportsbook, the Golden Nugget with its sportsbook, and the Scarlet Pearl with the DraftKings Sportsbook.
There are also several casinos awaiting their sportsbooks but are licensed for you to access an online sportsbook, including the Ameristar Casino, the Diamond Jacks, the Magnolia Bluffs, Island View, Treasure Bay, Palace Casino, Riverwalk Casino, Tunica Roadhouse, and Silver Slipper.
When choosing online betting sites, the first thing is to make sure it’s safe to bet with, which means making sure the proper authorities regulate it. In this case, the proper authorities in Mississippi sports betting are the MS Gaming Commission.
History / Timeline Of Sports Betting in Mississippi
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act 1992 was lifted in 2018, and Mississippi was one of the first states to waste no time in getting sports betting legalized across the state.
The Hospitality State has a long history with sports betting, considering it was one of the few exceptions outside of Nevada and New Jersey regarding this blanket and a nationwide ban on sports betting.
In 1990, the Mississippi Gaming Control Act allowed casinos to operate along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, and in 2017 daily fantasy sports were legalized despite other states putting the concept under the ban of PASPA.
Once the Supreme Court overturned PASPA, the Mississippi Gaming Commission was created to regulate the newly legalized Mississippi sports betting.
Mississippi Sports Teams
Whatever the sport, Mississippi sports betting fans don’t have any major professional teams to get behind in their sports betting. Still, with so many neighbors and transport, there is bound to be some crossover in fans, and Mississippi has a lot to choose from.
Louisiana has the Super Dome, meaning a lot of sports fans tourism from Mississippi and beyond. There are three professional sports teams from New Orleans: the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, and even the Major League Rugby team of New Orleans Gold.
In Tennessee, there are the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies for basketball fans, the Nashville Predators for the NHL fans, Nashville SC for soccer fans, and the famed Tennessee Titans for the NFL.
And that’s all without mentioning the many college teams and more niche and obscure sports that engage Mississippi sports fans.
Retail Sportsbook Betting in Mississippi
Mississippi isn’t short on casinos for the average Mississippi sports betting fan. There are over 30, including a few tribal casinos and a riverboat casino. With the legalization of Mississippi sports betting in 2018, the state’s many sports gambling venues are allowing full access to sports betting, whether with betting apps on site or at home. The concept of legal Mississippi sports betting has been around long enough that you don’t have to wait for venues to gain their licenses and sportsbooks, and you don’t have to wait for an online market to establish itself. It’s all there and waiting for you.
The three biggest casinos in Mississippi are the Island View Casino Resort, the IP Casino Resort Spa, and the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino – and they all reside in the coastal towns of Gulfport and Biloxi.
The Island View Casino offers 2,700 slot machines, 45 table games, and 5 poker tables and has its sportsbook to indulge all your Mississippi sports betting needs. Bet from the comfort of one of the 17 dining areas, including the Sweet Stop and the Island View Buffet, or one of the five bars. Enjoy the luxury of the spa, the swimming pool, and the nightlife that includes live music and entertainment.
The IP Casino Resort Spa has 1,700 slot machines, 60 table games, and 13 poker tables. The IP sportsbook allows you to bet on everything from football to golf and anything else you can think of in between. Bet from the pool, bet from the spa, bet from the Infusion Coffee Bar, or the six other dining options. Or enjoy one of the three nightlife options while you bet, or save it for later while you watch a live show.
The Beau Rivage Resort and Casino offers gambling, Mississippi sports betting, a massive range of dining options, a spa, a golf course, a theatre, and an arcade. Play through the 1,800 slot machines and the 110 table games, including 16 poker tables, and place your bets on the teams with the BetMGM Sportsbook.
So, there is much to choose from for the average Mississippi sports betting fan looking for a night away. Still, there’s nothing like a vacation, so if you’re a sports betting fan looking to get away to do your gambling, Mississippi is in a prime place to take advantage of its neighbors.
Tennessee is unfortunately out of the question for land-based gambling of any kind. There are no casinos, tribal or retail, or racinos. However, Mississippi sports betting fans will be happy to know that Tennessee legalized mobile and online sports betting in November 2020. All the national operators are available, like BetMGM, FanDuel, and DraftKings; however, there is no physical venue for you to gamble in; you can just bet from your phone wherever you fancy.
One non-tribal casino in Alabama is The Centre Stage Bingo venue in Cottonwood. However, sports betting isn’t legal in Alabama, so that won’t do any Mississippi sports betting fans any good. Meanwhile, Arkansas has two racinos detailed further down in this guide. However, it has legalized sports betting across the board, which means even if you visit grandma at home, you can indulge in some sports betting via your phone or by visiting one of the racinos. The details of which are further down in the racino section.
But your best bet to enjoy Mississippi sports betting in the neighboring states is in Louisiana. Louisiana has over 130 casinos, including 6 cruise ship/riverboat casinos, four tribal casinos, and four racinos. The best reviewed online casinos are Margaritaville, Harrah’s Louisiana Downs, and the Golden Nugget Lake Charles. Sports betting is legal in all forms, including online, mobile, and retail.
The Margaritaville resort houses over 1,200 slots and 50 table games, including poker, and uses the Barstool sports book for all your Mississippi sports betting needs. This is in a venue that houses four dining experiences, four bars, live bands, stand up comedians, car raffles, a spa, and a swimming pool.
The Golden Nugget in Lake Charles competes with this with 1,600 slot machines, 72 table games, six poker tables, and the Caesars sportsbook at their disposal. Place your bets in any 13 drinking and dining experiences or while enjoying the spa, private beach, and marina. Take a break to enjoy live gigs or join the Golden Nugget Country Club or an event at The Grand Ballroom.
The Harrah’s Louisiana Downs is smaller but just as well reviewed. It offers no table games but 800 slot machines and uses the Caesars sportsbook, which you can access from the fitness center or pool, one of the two dining venues or the Fat Tuesday’s bar.
Tribal Casinos
There are four tribal casinos in Mississippi: The Foxwoods Resort Casino developed by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the Bok Homa Casino, the Golden Moon Casino, and the Silver Star Hotel and Casino, all owned by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. They offer Mississippi sports betting and many other amenities, such as slots, table games, poker, etc. The Golden Moon Casino has a water theme park and a golf club. The Silver Star Hotel and Casino has golf, a spa, a swimming pool, and live entertainment. The Foxwoods Resort Casino offers bowling, shuffleboard, and shopping experiences.
If you’re looking for the tribal casino experience for all your Mississippi sports betting needs, you should head to either Louisiana. Alabama has three tribal casinos but hasn’t managed to legalize sports betting across the state, so you’d be better off heading to Louisiana, where there is the Cypress Bayou Casino Hotel, run by the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, the Paragon Casino Resort, owned by the Tunica Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and Mohegan Tribe, the Jena Choctaw Pines Casino, run by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Coushatta Casino Resort owned by the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. The Cypress Bayou Casino and the Jena Choctaw Pines Casino don’t have their own sportsbook. Still, the Paragon Casino Resort and Coushatta use the BetFred Sports sportsbook and the Rez Sportsbook, respectively.
Daily Fantasy Sports
Daily fantasy sports have always occupied a legal grey area. If you were sports betting fan before lifting the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, you might even have looked into it. Despite its status as a game of skill, it was put under the term sports betting and, therefore, was banned more often than not. However, as we have already mentioned, Mississippi was an outlier to this.
But this ban doesn’t mean Mississippi sports betting hasn’t bred some daily fantasy sports betting fans. The game is considered a hobby that can be indulged in with or without the gambling incentive. Therefore, many big names have developed in daily fantasy sports, like DraftKings and FanDuel. Now that Mississippi sports betting is legalized, so is fantasy Mississippi sports betting, and the gambling aspect can be injected back into the game.
Offshore Sports Betting
Offshore Mississippi sports betting isn’t recommended and isn’t necessary. The Mississippi state has legalized plenty of venues to allow sports betting, there isn’t much need to access any offshore sports betting sites.
If you insist on visiting an offshore sports betting site to carry out online sports betting, make sure that it is at least licensed by an authority recognized by the US government, the Curacao Gaming Authority, and the Costa Rica Gaming Authority.
Without these authorities keeping an eye on things, you will have no safety net or form of defense if you find that you lose your money when you place a sports bet.
Mississippi Horse Racing & Off-Track Betting
Horseracing has always been the lucky exception to the blanket ban on Mississippi sports betting and sports betting across the country. Sports betting fans could always indulge in betting on horses before the Professional, and Amateur Sports Protection Act was lifted.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any Mississippi racinos in the state, so Mississippi sports betting fans, even before lifting the PASPA in 2018, would have to go elsewhere to enjoy some sports betting. The bet-friendly Louisiana is a good choice here again since it has four racinos available to play and bet in. These are the Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino, Harrah’s Louisiana Downs, Delta Downs Racetrack and Casino, and Fair Grounds.
The second place would be Arkansas which has two: the Oaklawn Racing Racing Casino and Resort in Hot Springs and the Southaland Casino in West Memphis. Aside from these two casinos, Arkansas has no other gambling facilities, so you can imagine how popular and well fitted they are for Mississippi sports betting fans.
Final Thoughts / Summary
So, there is much to love if you are a Mississippi sports betting fan. Sure, you need to be inside a casino for the time being to partake in sports betting, but with so many fun casinos and so many teams to get behind, it’s a small price to pay