December sports betting revenue was $7.8m, up 123% y-o-y but down 4.3% from November’s $8.1m.
Annual sports betting handle for 2020 was approximately $364m, down slightly from $369m in 2019. Revenue was just shy of $44m, also a small decline from the prior year when sportsbooks earned $44.5m.
Mississippi sportsbooks were hurt by a months-long sports shutdown last spring and summer caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Mobile sports wagering was not as strong as in other states, because Mississippi law requires mobile and online bets to be placed on-site within the vicinity of an authorized sports betting operator.
Mississippi state Sen. Scott DeLano of Biloxi has proposed a bill that would legalize online sports betting without such restrictions.
Outside of sports wagering, casino gaming handle fell in December compared to the same month a year prior.
Slot machine take was $1.8bn, down 5.4% y-o-y, while table games handle was $142m, a decrease of 16.2%.
Mississippi’s total gaming revenue for 2020 was about $1.8bn, down from approximately $2.2bn in 2019.