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Mississippi Casinos PDF Print E-mail
Mississippi was the third state to legalize riverboat gambling when it was approved by that state’s legislature in 1990. The law restricts casinos to coast waters (including the Bay of St. Louis and the Back Bay of Biloxi) along the Mississippi River and in navigable waters of counties that border the river.

Mississippi law also requires that riverboats be permanently moored at the dock and they are not permitted to cruise. This allows the riverboats to offer 24-hour dockside gambling. The Isle of Capri in Biloxi was the first casino to open on August 1, 1992 followed one month later by The President.

Since the law does not require that the floating vessel actually resemble a boat, almost all of the casinos are built on barges. This gives them the appearance of a land-based building, rather than a riverboat.

Due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2006, the Mississippi legislature allowed the state’s gulf coast casinos to be rebuilt on land within 800-feet of the shoreline and some casinos have been rebuilt in that manner.

The Mississippi Gaming Commission does not break down its slot statistics by individual properties. Rather, they are classified by region. The Coastal region includes Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay Saint Louis. The North region includes Tunica, Greenville and Lula. The Central region includes Vicksburg and Natchez.

With that in mind here's information, as supplied by the Mississippi Gaming Commission, showing the machine payback percentages for each area's casinos for the one-year period from June 1, 2007 through May 31, 2008:

 

Coastal

North

Central

5¢ Slots

92.24%

91.07%

93.96%

5¢ Prog.

91.01%

88.66%

91.50%

25¢ Slots

94.78%

93.42%

93.09%

25¢ Prog.

93.53%

90.79%

88.67%

$1 Slots

94.83%

94.31%

94.78%

$1 Prog.

92.90%

92.70%

89.84%

$5 Slots

95.98%

95.31%

95.01%

All 

93.48%

92.98%

92.82%

These numbers reflect the percentage of money returned on each denomination of machine and encompass all electronic machines including video poker and video keno. The best returns for each category are highlighted in bold print and you can see that all of the gaming areas offer rather similar returns on their machines.

Mississippi is one of the few states that breaks down its progressive machine statistics separately and you can see that the return is always less on machines with progressive jackpots.

The Pearl River Resort in Philadelphia, Mississippi is the state's only indian casino. There is no public information regarding the payback percentages of gaming machines in Mississippi's indian casino.

Unless otherwise noted, all casinos are open 24 hours and offer: slots, video poker, blackjack, craps, roulette and three card poker. Other game listings include: Spanish 21 (S21), baccarat (B), mini-baccarat (MB), poker (P), pai gow poker (PGP), let it ride (LIR), Caribbean stud poker (CSP), big six wheel (B6), casino war (CW) and keno (K). The minimum gambling age is 21 and there is no charge for valet parking at those casinos offering it.

NOTE: If you happen to win a jackpot of $1,200 or more in Mississippi, the casino will deduct 3% of your winnings and pay it to the Mississippi Tax Commission as a gambling tax. The tax is nonrefundable and the $1,200 threshold would also apply to any cash prizes won in casino drawings or tournaments.

For more information on visiting Mississippi call the state’s tourism department at (866) SEE-MISS or go to: www.visitmisissippi.com

For Biloxi tourism information call (800) 237-9493 or go to: www.gulfcoast.org. For Tunica tourism information call (888) 4-TUNICA or go to: www.tunicamiss.com

Shown below is a list of all Mississippi casinos. Click on a casino name to see a page of detailed information about that particular casino. 

 
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Did You Know

The FBI estimates that more than $2.5 billion is illegally wagered annually on March Madness each year. Comparatively, sports book operators estimate $80 million to $90 million – less than 4 percent of the illegal take – is wagered on the tournament legally through Nevada’s 187 sports books. According to the NCAA, more than 10 percent of Americans participate in March Madness “office pools.”

The top 7 gaming markets in the U.S. and their annual revenues in 2007 were

  1. Las Vegas Strip  $6.750 billion 
  2. Atlantic City, N.J.   $4.921 billion
  3. Chicagoland, Ind./Ill.   $2.602 billion
  4. Connecticut  $1.685 billion
  5. Detroit  $1.335 billion 
  6. Tunica/Lula, Miss.  $1.243 billion
  7. Biloxi, Miss.   $1.007 billion

More bets are placed on the Super Bowl than on any other sporting event of the year, including March Madness.

Coming in at #2 last year was the Kentucky Derby

The 2007 Super Bowl marked the second biggest Super Bowl revenue for the Nevada Sports Books ever, with gross revenue for the weekend reaching $12.9 million.  Approximately $93 million was wagered on the Super Bowl in the state’s sports books in 2007, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

In the 12 states with commercial casinos in operation in 2007, casinos contributed $5.79 billion in tax revenue to state and local governments, a 11.3 percent increase over 2006

In 1989 The Mirage Hotel & Casino Resort opened in Las Vegas and it began the tradition of the destination casino resort. When it opened, the Mirage was the most expensive hotel casino ever built, with construction costs of $630 million. It featured more than 3,000 rooms and headliner attractions such as Siegfried and Roy's magic show.

Slots and other electronic gaming machines generate about 65% of the gaming revenues for the average U.S. casino.

Blackjack is the most popular table game in U.S. casinos.

There are 11 states with "racinos" - racetracks with a casino - Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana , Maine, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

Of the total amount bet on the Super Bowl, only about 1.5 percent is wagered legally; these bets are made by those over age 21 and physically present in the state of Nevada.