March Madness overtakes NFL's sports betting in Mississippi

With the NFL season completely over but basketball dominating at Mississippi sportsbooks, the state saw an increase in betting handle and hold in March. According to the Mississippi Gaming Commission’s March revenue report, Mississippi sportsbooks marked USD 32.4 million in sports betting tickets and had a 15 percent hold, resulting in total taxable revenue of USD 4.9 million versus USD 2.8 million in February, a 75 percent increase.

NCAA Men's Division March Madness was a key driver in March, bringing about bettors placing USD 24.9 million in basketball bets, the highest number on basketball since sports betting started last summer. On the first day of the tournament, Executive Director of the Gaming Commission Allen Godfrey said that operators were telling them that foot traffic in the casinos drastically increased. Parlays collectively were a distant second in terms of handle with USD 4.28 million bet, followed by “other” at USD 2.33 bet and baseball at USD 700,000.

In February, Mississippi was among the states that took a loss on the Super Bowl, and revenue was USD 25.1 million, the lowest since football season started. After bringing in USD 9.8 million in handle in August, when sports betting launched, Mississippi sportsbooks have had a handle of USD 31.8 million (September) or great figures for six of the last seven months.

Of the six states that currently offer legal sports betting, Mississippi and Delaware are the only two that haven’t legalized mobile sports betting, which has proven to be the real driving in betting handle. Mississippi lawmakers didn’t agree on mobile sports betting legislation in committee in March, Sport Handle reports. New Jersey is currently the only state outside of Nevada with an active mobile landscape, and according to state revenue reports, mobile sports betting accounts for up to 80 percent of revenue.

Pennsylvania is expected to launch its first online sportsbook in late April or early May, while Delaware North launched online sports betting in West Virginia in December, only to shut it down due to a contract dispute in March. Rhode Island legalized mobile sports betting in March, and is expected to launch by football season.

According to revenue numbers provided by the Mississippi Gaming Commission, the Coastal Region, home to about half of the state’s sportsbooks along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, had a 13.77 percent hold overall, and 13.35 percent for basketball.

Unlike Delaware and New Jersey, which use cash accounting systems, where futures bets are included in handle, Mississippi is using an accrual system like Nevada does, and futures bets are held out of the total.