In November 2023, the Mississippi Gaming Commission unveiled its latest findings, revealing some interesting trends and figures in the sports wagering industry. Overall, the handle for sports wagering was $62.4 million, with the majority of bets coming from the Coastal region, amounting to $43.1 million.
The total taxable revenue for the state reached $3.1 million, with a win amount of 5%. Breaking it down by region, Central saw a handle of $12 million and taxable revenue of $1.1 million, with a 9% win rate. The best-performing sport in this region was basketball, with a handle of $3 million and taxable revenue of $289,672. On the other hand, baseball performed poorly, resulting in a write-off of $16,546 and revenue of -$46,233 due to a negative win rate of -279%.
In the Coastal region, basketball was also the top performer in individual sports, accounting for $23.2 million in handle and $128,574 in revenue. However, baseball continued to struggle, bringing in $196,745 in handle and -$80,196 in revenue due to a win rate of -41%.
Moving on to the Northern region, football took the lead with a handle of $3.7 million and a revenue of $133,355. Yet again, baseball was the underperformer, with $24,738 in handle and -$13,369 in revenue.
The gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the month totaled $191.6 million, comprising the three core regions: Central ($24.4 million), Coastal ($122.3 million), and Northern ($44.9 million). This figure represents a slight increase from October 2023’s GGR of $191.1 million, with a 2% growth compared to the previous year.
Moving on to slots, they accounted for a total handle of $2.1 billion and generated a win amount of $158.7 million. With 21,205 slot units across the state, the average win per unit amounted to $7,484. It is noteworthy that penny slots in the Coastal region reported the highest amount of bets, reaching $520 million.
In terms of table games, there was an overall drop of $147.8 million and a hold of $25.7 million, resulting in a hold rate of 17%. Of all the table games, blackjack emerged as the top performer in all three regions, with a $4.7 million drop in Central, $37.6 million in Coastal, and $17.6 million in Northern.