Mississippi Casino Revenues Fall 4% to $177M in May

According to the Mississippi Revenue Department’s latest gambling results, the state’s 28 casinos generated $177 million last month, lower by 4% versus the $185 million collected in May of 2015. While Mississippi’s 12 land-based casinos saw their business improve by 4% to $104 million, it was Mississippi’s 16 riverboat casinos which accounted for May’s decline, with revenues plummeting by 14% to $73 million compared to the $85 million posted a year earlier.
May’s results show the different directions Mississippi’s gambling market are currently heading, as The Magnolia State’s riverboat casinos continue to decline, while its land-based casinos have seen their revenues rise during four of the past five months. Furthermore, May’s results were their highest tally since 2008 when revenues came in at $107 million.
For the first five months of 2016, Mississippi land based gaming revenues are currently higher by $26 million compared to the same period of time in 2015, when the state had one less land based casino. At the end of last year, the $290-million Scarlet Pearl casino in D’lberville (photo) then opened for business, complete with 1,350 slot machines, 45 table games, 300 hotel rooms, as well as a conference center, restaurants, and a 36 hole mini golf course.
The City of D’Iberville located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast has seen its market rise over the past year thanks to its new gambling venue, and commenting on the current state of business, Allen Godfrey, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said:
“[Coast casinos] are up about 6 percent this year, maintaining that steady growth. I think it has a lot to with the reinvestment casinos have put into their properties.. Nice, slow growth is a good, positive thing. For the other places considering [expanding] gaming — Florida, Georgia and Alabama — the longer they hold off expanding gaming, the better off Mississippi will be.”
In 2015, Mississippi’s gambling market generated $2.09 billion, of which the Gulf Coast casinos accounted for $1.143 billion of revenues, and the River Counties the remaining $953.95 million.