The Mississippi Gaming Commission has reported sports betting revenue of $87,697 after the state’s casinos began to reopen from May 21 following their novel coronavirus (Covid-19) enforced shutdown.
Local media suggests that around 18 casinos reopened on that date, with others following either later that month, or from June 1. In those final nine days of the month, customers wagered $236,503, which after customer winnings were paid out, left $87,697 in revenue.
This marked a significant decline on the $1.2m generated on a full 31 days of activity in May 2019. However, it was a significant improvement on April 2020, when the casinos were shut for the full month, and therefore generated no revenue.
The majority of handle and revenue was generated from Mississippi’s coastal casinos, where customers staked $145,299. With no major US sports in action during the month, $134,541 was staked on other events, though baseball – in a month when Korean baseball resumed – accounted for an additional $10,108 in wagers. Just $650.00 was staked on football in the region.
From this, the casinos generated revenue of $30,398, amounting to a win percentage of 21.29%.
Following in second was the northern casinos, where $68,066 was wagered on sports outside of the US major leagues. Revenue for the region amounted to $36,688, for a win percentage of 53.90%.
Central casinos, meanwhile, saw $23,138 staked, largely from non-US sports which accounted for $17,935 of the total. A further $5,186 was wagered on baseball, with the final $17.00 bet on football. From this, casinos won $20,071, amounting to a win percentage of 86.75%.