Casino revenue down on the MS Coast, impacted by changes in Alabama
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Competition from neighboring states is affecting Mississippi, Atlantic City and other regions, and the American Gaming Association said the challenge will grow as more states expand casinos and legalize sports betting.
The AGA released its annual State of the States report Tuesday, showing commercial casino revenue was up 10% for the year across the country to a record high $66.5 billion. Revenue was down 3% in Mississippi in 2023, in part because of the expansion from Arkansas, said David Forman, vice president of research at the AGA.
While Coast casinos are posting higher revenue than before COVID — something Atlantic City hasn’t achieved — 2023 was the second year of declining revenues in South Mississippi and for casinos across the state.
The year didn’t start any more encouraging. The January report shows an $8.5 million drop in casino revenue on the Coast compared to January 2023 and a $21.7 million decline across the state.
Increased competition
“I think Atlantic City is similar to a lot of other markets across the country that are being impacted by cross border and regional competition,” Forman said. “New Jersey is now entirely surrounded by states with a fair amount of gambling and a fair amount of gambling options that have expanded over the past few years,” he said.
The same could be said for Mississippi if legislators in Alabama are successful in getting a referendum on the November ballot to let voters decide if they want casinos, online sports betting and a lottery.
The measure passed the House 70-32 and has moved to the Alabama Senate. The bill would allow up to 10 casinos across the state with sports betting in-person and online. The legislation also would authorize the governor to negotiate a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which has three casinos in Alabama and has considered opening a commercial casino on the Coast.
Impact on the MS Coast
Mississippi casino operators said they saw a definite decline in revenue when Louisiana legalized online sports betting before Mississippi. Now that Mississippi Legislators seem likely to approve online sports betting, the state could get some of that lost revenue back. Like Mississippi, Alabama doesn’t have the huge population of New York or New Jersey to keep casinos afloat.
The Beau Rivage Resort & Casino and Harrah’s Gulf Coast in Biloxi bring players in by planeload every week and Alabama will need to draw gamblers from other states, in part by attracting some of the drive-in traffic before it gets to Mississippi.
Of the more than 1 million people who came to Coast casinos in December and reported in January, nearly one-third traveled from Alabama, Georgia and Florida. That is than 300,000 people from those three states playing at casinos, and many of them eating at the restaurants and staying for the night.
A casino permitted in Mobile under the current bill would cut into the number of people driving over from Alabama. It would also capture some of those visitors coming to Coast casinos from Georgia and Florida, where an expansion of gambling also is being considered by the legislators of those states.
The forecast for the casino industry released by the AGA in February 2023 wasn’t anticipating a record-breaking year.
“Last year there were concerns about the economy. “Inflation was high, the cost of capital was rising, uncertainty was in the air,” said Bill Miller, president and CEO of the AGA. “But in the end 2023 defied those expectations,” he said.
The report shows that in 2023. Commercial casino revenue is nearly 50% higher than it was in 2019, driven by physical expansion but also by new online casino options available to more people.
