It’s a return to the good old days for Mississippi for whom sports betting and gambling in general, is engrained into the roots of the state.

Having pre-empted the fall of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), state regulators moved to initiate proceedings by introducing the necessary legislation in 2017.

Upon hearing the decision by the Supreme Court, The Mississippi Gaming Commission wasted little time in releasing draft regulations for sports betting.

By August 1st, the industry was live in The Magnolia State, becoming one of the first to take advantage of the ruling.

Initially, bettors could only wager at Beau Rivage and Gold Strike but options have since grown. At the time of writing, there are 27 operational sportsbooks at commercial casinos across Mississippi.

As mentioned, any form of sports wagering in The Magnolia State requires you to be on the premises of a land/water based casino. This is where you’ll set up your account in-person also.

Creating your personal sports betting account is a simple and straightforward process providing you can provide the necessary information required. We recommend having your National ID card, a bill confirming your address and a credit/debit all to hand to ensure a hassle-free process.

The registration won’t ask anything you’ve not been asked before. Just the simple details; full name, address, date of birth, as we say nothing out of the ordinary. But verifying your identity with your ID card and having a valid means to fund your betting are crucial to a seamless procedure.

You should be a member of your preferred casino within ten to fifteen minutes of starting. Once confirmed, you’ll receive a member’s card to be used by the cardholder only.

How to place a sports bet at Mississippi casinos

Sports betting is a new concept for many across the states. Even the governor of Delaware, John Carney, didn’t fully grasp the process initially.

Having made a win for Philadelphia Phillies the first official sports wager to be made outside of Nevada, Carney proceeded to bet using the team name, rather than the assigned wager number for the bet type!

An important one to remember then: once you’ve decided on your bet, you’ll need to look up the number attached to the bet. This can be found via the video screens on display in the casino or by looking up in the daily bet schedule available.

When you’re ready to make your bet, you must do using cash or chips; you cannot use a card so bear this in mind.

A further point to highlight for newbies is wagers can be made without having to hang around on the casino premises! It come to light that many first-time bettors were put off the idea of wagering because they believed they had to be on-site to cash in winnings, should they succeed.

Should your wager win and you’re not present, it’s not an issue. Just keep your ticket and either post it to the respective casino or make a return visit during the allotted hours.

The legalization of sports betting in Mississippi is far from a conventional one. Only when new legislation for Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) was introduced, did we see changes made to the Gaming Control Act of 1972, that had provision in place prevented from sports betting taking hold in the state.

Without legalizing it as such, the previous restrictions placed upon sports betting have been lifted to allow for it. Whichever way you look at it, sports betting is now legal.

Where are we with online sports betting in Mississippi?

Unfortunately, the law does not allow for off-site mobile wagering in the true sense of the term, i.e. wager from where and when you like in the state.

You are able to place bets via a mobile device on the premises of a land/water based casino however.

This is not unusual for Mississippians, online poker and horse racing are also out of bounds. Thus, don’t be fooled by an online site claiming to be “legal”. Yes, they may be legal or licensed to operate from where they’re based but state laws make it clear that even if a gambling site is legal in another jurisdiction, placing a bet online within the borders of Mississippi is prohibited so you would in fact be breaking the law.

As yet, plans to allow mobile sports wagering statewide are not in motion. Although, this is unlikely to be changing in the short-term, a quick glance over to how mobile wagering is gaining momentum in New Jersey - the only state along with Nevada to be offering sports betting in its entirety, suggests the introduction of online betting is only a matter of time.

This claim is supported further given the heavy investment made by MGM Resorts, Caesars and Boyd Gaming, all of whom operate successful mobile apps in Nevada and NJ and already invested heavily in Mississippi sports betting. Rolling out the same app in Mississippi could occur fairly quickly once the green light is eventually given.

The need to keep ahead of neighbouring states Arkansas and Louisiana, both set to join the sports betting party next year, may prompt state regulators to push through the law that little bit faster.

You’ll find a sportsbook has a multitude of bet types to choose from, all of which apply to certain sports and a specific time of a game i.e before or during. Not knowing when or if you should play a particular wager, can be an overwhelming process so we’ve compiled a list of the most popular bet types for Mississippi.

Straight bet

An individual wager on a football or basketball game which will be determined by a point spread or money line.

Moneyline bet

The wager will be displayed in terms of money on a team winning or losing, regardless of points margin. You will have a favourite and an underdog to choose from with both assigned monetary values; the favourite, a minus, representing how much you need to wager in order to win $100, and the underdog, a positive signaling how much can be won by wagering $100.

Point spread bet

A bet where a team or participant is required to win by a certain number of points to “cover the spread”. The difference in points between the favourite, assigned a negative value and the underdog, assigned a positive value, is set by the sportsbook whose aim is to create more value on both sides.

Totals (Over/Under)

A bet based on the combined number of points or goals scored by both teams at the end of the given match or event.

Parlay

If you want to combine more than one selection in one bet, you can parlay. Often applied across multiple games, all selections must win for the bet to come in. Naturally, the more teams in the parlay, the higher the potential returns.

Future

A wager placed on the outcome of an event or competition, to be determined in the future. Bettors tend to make predictions prior to the season or event getting underway.

In-game wager

A bet placed as a game is ongoing with the odds reflecting in-match occurrences.

Proposition bet

A type of bet doesn’t necessarily affect the outcome of the match. For example, the player to score the first touchdown or even who will the coin toss as was the case in the 2018 Superbowl.

Each of the types of bet mentioned above are usually best applied to certain sports. In Mississippi though, spectator sports are few and far between, at least in terms of having teams playing in the major leagues.

Now, that’s not to belittle the minor sports teams present in Mississippi. Despite smaller crowds, you often find a better atmosphere and action just as competitive at some of the smaller games. Tickets are cheaper also.

But you’ll find on occasions a lack of coverage given to some of the minor leagues, to the extent they may not be covered by certain sportsbooks, while the statistical data made available for the major leagues ad used frequently in betting nowadays, may not be extensive for leagues lower down the pyramid. Something to consider.

The following sports teams will resonate if you’re a Mississippian through and through. Here’s the best wagering options for each:

Mississippi Braves or, “M-Braves” of the minor Southern League, serve as an affiliate to MLB side Atlanta Braves. The likes of James Heyward and Brian McCann have been nurtured in Mississippi and played for the parent club on the big stage.

The most suited wagers for baseball would include Money Line, Run Line and Totals. Money line seeing you bet on the winner of the game, Run line betting carrying the same principles as the point spread and totals relating to the total number of runs scored in a game.

Mississippi RiverKings, formerly known as the Memphis RiverKings, play at the Landers Center and are a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League.

The types of bet we recommend for a hockey game include Money Line and Totals. For the latter you will base your wager on the number of combined goals to be scored in the match. It’s your task to predict whether the total will come in over or under the line determined by the bookmaker. The Money Line is the easiest wager to play though; just simply bet on the team you think will win, no need to worry about points margin.

Mississippi Brilla, the state’s soccer team of 12 years, play in the USL Premier Development League (the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid)

For soccer, your main port of call would see you play be a straight forward money line or totals bet. You may also look at making a parlay.

Consider NASCAR betting?

The gambling picture is now one of health and vigour, just as it was when the state was first discovered. In between though, the landscape has appeared bleak and been in ruins, quite literally…

Sports betting was rife in the region among the Native Americans who saw to the introduction of the first horse racing track in the state - the Fleetfield Race Track in Natchez, in addition to other games they were fond of. Their fondness of games and gambling led to a way of life centered around wagering money.

A version of modern day Lacrosse that would see two teams use long sticks to try and hit the opposition’s goalpost with a ball, is thought to have been the birth of sports betting in the state. ‘Ishtaboli’, or stickball, as its also known, was a momentous event for the area which attracted people from far and wide.

Attracting an audience has never been an issue for Miss however.

Thanks to the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River, the state maintained a healthy footfall even early on with the numbers passing through from many parts of the world.

A combination of opposition to the gambling industry and then the devastation caused to the state to by Hurricane Camille led to the decline of the industry. Whatever wagering occurred, did so underground but even this was rare.

Having allowed for the gambling industry to lay dormant from the late 60’s onwards, state legislators passed the Mississippi Gaming Control Act in 1990 in order to see the industry restored to life. With the new law allowing for the existence of riverboat casinos, the famous Mississippi gambling scene, was once again the focal point of the state.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was also introduced for the Native American tribes to operate casinos on tribal land.

Lightening was to strike once more though when Hurricane Katrina blew through the region in 2005, demolishing all the major casinos. Once more, the gambling industry found itself having to start from scratch.

After a period of rebuilding, the industry is thriving once more and is now home to 29 casinos operating across seven Mississippi states while the industry has come full circle with sports betting now set to become a prominent feature of the gambling landscape again.

Even better for locals, it’s here to stay. The popularity of gambling in general will see sports betting thrive in Miss, despite proposals from nearby states to legalise sports betting also.