Mississippi celebrates legalized sports betting
ROBINSONVILLE, Miss. — Ricky Henrad stood in line with his wife at Gold Strike Casino and explained that he’s the type of gambler who has his own handicapper. And it was this handicapper who convinced him to bet $1,000 on the Chicago Cubs when they face the Pittsburgh Pirates.
So at noon Wednesday, after a cluster of balloons fell from the ceiling and cheers erupted in the lobby, Henrad didn’t think twice when asked what this moment meant for him.
“Now,” he declared, “I can start betting legally instead of using a bookie.”
On Wednesday, exactly 26 years after the first legal bet of any kind was taken in Mississippi, it became the fourth state in the country — joining Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware — to allow legalized sports betting.
The Gold Strike, along with one of its sister casinos in Biloxi, each held press conferences to commemorate their status as the first Mississippi casinos to open a sports book. Elected officials, a former Mississippi Gaming Commission chairman and even former Tennessee Vols wide receiver and Memphis resident Stanley Morgan attended the event outside Tunica and cast the ceremonial first bets.
You could make regional bets. Can Memphis win the American Athletic Conference football championship (9/5)? Will Tennessee win the SEC football title (50/1)? Maybe the Grizzlies can win their first NBA championship (400/1).
You could make bets on every Major League Baseball game Wednesday night, or any NFL preseason and regular-season game.
You could make prop bets on what team scores the first points, and how they do it, in Thursday night’s NFL preseason opener between the Bears and Ravens. You could make bets on NASCAR, golf, boxing and the WNBA, too.
There is no more need for stories like the one Memphis resident Thomas Whitehead told Wednesday about his Catholic grandmother who used to religiously place bets on Notre Dame and the New Orleans Saints with a
sketchy-looking bookie named “Rat.”
“It’s been part of the fabric of this area, and now it’s just more out in the open with this,” he said. “It’s something we’ve been clamoring for in the area for awhile.”
“What we offer here,” added David Tsai, the president and COO of Gold Strike Casino, “is the same as what we offer in Las Vegas.”
Except, of course, Tunica isn’t Las Vegas.
The Sports Book at Gold Strike was built within the pre-existing restaurant next to the lobby of the casino.
There are several screens up front with betting odds and 20 flat screen televisions surrounding a room of booths and tables for visitors to watch the games.
For now, customers can only place bets in person. Soon, Gold Strike will have mobile betting capabilities to allow bettors to place bets on their cell phone.
Tsai said the casino is also in the preliminary stages of creating a more permanent location for its sports book. But they only had 60 days to put this all together.
It’s the result of a Supreme Court ruling in May, due to a lawsuit brought by the state of New Jersey, that struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a federal law enacted in 1992.
It’s a day Mississippi legislators foresaw.
They passed legislation for legalized sports betting in 2017 should the federal law be repealed, well aware of the parlay that could follow. The state of Tennessee has not legalized gambling, aside from its statewide lottery and fantasy sports, and doesn’t appear on the verge of doing so soon.
For now, places like Tunica will benefit the most.
Consider this: A 2017 study by Oxford Economics, conducted for the American Gaming Association, estimated that sports betting could generate $41.2 billion and result in about $3.4 million in taxes to local governments. In New Jersey, sports bettors reportedly placed more than $16 million in wagers in just the first two weeks sports bets were legal in the state.
Also consider this: According to The Action Network, a website dedicated to sports gambling, a casino in Mississippi will now become the closest venue to place a legal sports bet for 22 of the country’s 50 biggest cities.
“It’s a product no one else in the region has and it’s only a positive when you have a product no one else has,” said Cedric Burnett, a Mississippi state representative from Tunica.
This is why Robert Newton drove in from Muscle Shoals, Ala., for Wednesday’s festivities.
Once the balloons fell and the ribbon cutting ceremony ended, he was the first member of the general public to collect a betting ticket.
“We’ll be here more now,” Newton declared. “We do this in Vegas, but … it’s easier when you can drive two hours.”