Mississippi Online Gambling

1. Biloxi Mississippi Gambling
2. Gambling In Mississippi Boats
3. Online Gambling Michigan

Mississippi has an exceptionally long and storied history in gambling. The modern form of poker was born along the shores of its namesake river. Its most-famous writer took his pen name from a riverboat expression.

As it stands today, Mississippi hosts two of the more prominent locations for gambling in the South, Biloxi and Tunica, and Vicksburg is a destination in its own right as well.

Mississippi gambling law as it stands today does not address the issue of online poker or online gambling. However since playing any game for money or any other valuable thing is a crime in Mississippi unless the game is specifically legal, playing online poker or casino games can run afoul of Mississippi gambling law.

It is also one of the states that pre-emptively passed legislation to allow Mississippi sports betting should the federal ban against it be overturned. Sports betting launched in the state on Aug. 1. There are brick and mortar betting facilities and plans to offer on-site mobile betting. There are no plans for statewide mobile wagering.

Sweepstakes casinos in Mississippi

Social casino options

• Mississippi Gambling Statutes. Section 97-33-1. Betting, gaming or wagering; exception from prohibition; penalty - If any person shall encourage, promote or play at any game, play or amusement, other than a fight or fighting match between dogs, for money or other valuable thing, or shall wager or bet, promote or encourage the wagering or betting of any money or other valuable things, upon any.
• Online/Web-Based: If a resident wants all the pleasures of gambling with none of the hassles of visiting a casino (like long distance driving or serious crowds) than they may turn to a number of legal online gambling networks for Mississippi residents. The question surely plaguing some readers at this point is how these websites can possibly be.

With such a large number of casinos in the state, it is not surprising to find several casinos with their own social casinos. In fact, nine of Mississippi’s properties have their own social casino component. They are:

• Three Caesars properties
  • Harrah’s Gulf Coast
  • Horseshoe Tunica
  • Tunica Roadhouse
• Three Penn National Gaming properties
  • Hollywood Gulf Coast
  • Hollywood Tunica
  • Boomtown Biloxi
• Two Eldorado Resorts properties
  • Isle of Capri Lula
  • Lady Luck Vicksburg
• Riverwalk Casino Hotel

At any rate, these branded social outlets allow customers and potential customers to try some of the games they will see at the resident properties. All the typical social casino sites, such as Double Down, Zynga, and Slotomania, are available to Mississippi residents.

Mississippi residents also have an excellent opportunity with regard to MyVegas, the MGM Resorts site that provides real-world comps for social play. Gold Strike in Tunica and Beau Rivage in Biloxi are both partners with MyVegas, meaning Mississippi residents and visitors can redeem their loyalty points at both.

Sportsbooks at land-based casinos

Currently, there are 23 operational sportsbooks at commercial casinos in Mississippi:

Biloxi Mississippi Gambling

• 1st Jackpot Casino Tunica
• Ameristar Casino Hotel
• Beau Rivage
• Boomtown Casino Biloxi
• Fitzgerald’s Tunica
• Gold Strike Tunica
• Golden Nugget Biloxi
• Hard Rock Casino Biloxi
• Harlow’s Casino Resort
• Harrah’s Gulf Coast
• Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast
• Hollywood Casino Tunica
• IP Casino Biloxi
• Island View Casino
• Isle of Capri
• Magnolia Bluffs Casino
• Palace Casino
• Riverwalk Casino Hotel
• Sam’s Town Tunica
• Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort
• Silver Slipper Casino
• Treasure Bay Casino
• WaterView Casino and Hotel

Additionally, the Choctaw Tribe of Mississippi launched the first-ever tribal sportsbook outside of Nevada. The tribe launched sports betting at Pearl River Resort in central Mississippi. There is currently a book on the property. Additionally, they plan to introduce mobile betting on property.

Online gambling

Online gambling in Mississippi falls into the gray area in which many states find themselves. There are no specific laws for or against online gambling in Mississippi. However, players are advised to err on the side of caution and not play online in Mississippi. Relying on correct interpretations of law from law enforcement and juries is not a risk worth taking.

Mississippi state lottery

In a special session on Aug. 28, the Mississippi House finally passed a bill to create a state lottery by a vote of 58 to 54. The lottery should be operational within about a year. Prior to this law, Mississippi was one of six states without a lottery.

Gov. Phil Bryant had been pushing lawmakers for a state lottery, noting the revenue generated would help repair the state’s deteriorating highways and bridges. Additionally, Mississippi residents are currently playing the lottery in neighboring states. Bringing the lottery in-state could capture that audience and generate an estimated tens of millions of dollars annually for Mississippi.

State casino operator history

Mississippi’s history with gambling stretches back hundreds of years. Native Americans engaged in sports betting prior to the arrival of European settlers. Under Spanish rule, the first horse racing track in Mississippi, the Fleetfield Race Track, was established in 1795 in Natchez.

Gambling came easy to the state, at least in the early days, due to its geographic advantages. The Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River meant people and money from many parts of the world were in transit in the area. Unlike gambling destinations like Las Vegas or Atlantic City, where people travel explicitly to gamble, patrons of gambling venues in Mississippi were usually just passing through.

Legal gambling in Mississippi persisted into statehood. The area along the coast became known as The Strip. Along with the gambling, it brought headlining acts like Elvis Presley and HankWilliams to the region. The road along the waterline, US 90, was one of the first roads widened to four lanes in the country, due to the traffic concerns.

However, in 1950, things changed drastically. A group of ministers from the Gulf Coast region, calling themselves the Biloxi Protestant Ministerial Association, began meeting with their congregants and others about the dangers of gambling and its ill effects on the home lives of the people in Mississippi. Citing the Mississippi Law Code of 1942, the group began running advertisements in local papers to outline how the operation of gambling machines was in violation of the law.

Concurrently, the US Senate’s Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce was investigating casinos around the country as sources of criminal business. This committee was led by Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, and would eventually be known as the Kefauver Committee. Its effects on organized crime in the country were far-reaching, but locally, the minister group used the proceedings to draw greater attention to the unsavory aspects of gambling.

As a result, most of the slot machines were confiscated, and gambling was forced underground. There were clubs that continued to operate for the next 19 years, but the devastation of Hurricane Camille in 1969 was the coup de grace for both the gambling and tourist industries along the coast. Both the region’s and the state’s economies wasted away.

After 21 years of decline, the state legislature had enough. In 1990, the governing body passed the Mississippi Gaming Control Act, which allowed casino gambling in Mississippi counties along the Gulf Coast or the Mississippi River. The legal situation was also buoyed by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, which allowed federally recognized Native American tribes to construct and operate casinos on tribal lands.

As a result, there are 29 casinos operating in seven Mississippi counties. The highest concentrations of these properties are in and around the cities of Biloxi, Tunica, and Vicksburg. Two of the leading gaming companies in the world – MGM Resorts and Caesars – have multiple operations in Mississippi. Until Florida allowed casinos to open, the only real competition in the region was in New Orleans.

The bottom line is that Mississippi is a major gambling locale in the US and will likely continue to be so, even with more states getting into the gambling market.

Prominent land-based casinos

Gambling In Mississippi Boats

*Slots (S), Craps (C), Blackjack (BJ), Roulette (R), Baccarat (B), Poker (P), Mini-Baccarat (MBac), Pai Gow Poker (PGP), Pai Gow Tiles (PGT), Let It Ride (LR), Caribbean Stud Poker (CS), Crazy 4 Poker (C4), 3 Card Poker (3C), 4 Card Poker (4C), Ultimate Texas Hold’em (UTH), High Card Flush (HCF), Mississippi Stud (MS), Texas Hold’em Bonus (THB), Big Six Wheel (B6), Bingo (BI), Keno (K), Off-track Betting (OTB), Casino War (CW), Money Wheel (MW), Spanish 21 (S21), Sic Bo (SB), Wheel of Fortune (WF)

State legal environment

From classic stories of the riverboat to the romantic image of the “high roller,” it’s no secret that the United States has a serious and mystifying love affair with gambling. Of course, no one needs to tell residents of Mississippi that. Ever since Mississippi gambling laws allowed Biloxi to turn their little town on the Gulf Coast into the Las Vegas of the south, Mississippi has seen tourists flock across their state lines in droves for hopes of scoring a little extra cash on their vacation.

Although most residents near Biloxi are well aware that they may visit the little beach town whenever they like to gamble legally, a lot are unaware as to what their rights are when they are not in Biloxi. Many who wish to participate in gambling do not do so because they fear legal repercussions, or have otherwise come across false information in relation to their legal rights and the restrictions in their home state when it comes to gambling. This page was written with the express intention of not only helping to clear up some of the legal landscape for average residents of the state, but to help guide them towards the safest and most legal means of gambling available.

Having gambling centers like Biloxi and Tunica in one’s home state can be both a blessing and a disguise. While it’s great to have one of the busiest gambling cities in the world nearby, a lot of state policy was written with the intent of protecting these businesses. Federal law states that while there are no laws against placing bets or wagers on future events or games of chance, the facilitation of illicit gambling is a serious crime. Mississippi takes this cue and runs with it, all for the purpose of protecting state sanctioned facilities in Biloxi.

The Legality of Gambling in Mississippi - Is It Legal?

The first thing that bears mention when it comes to Mississippi gambling laws is that gambling in the state is perfectly legal. Mississippi has a great deal of licensed facilities and riverboats in the state where all manner of table games and slot machines are perfectly legal. Whenever the state of Mississippi cracks down it should be assumed that they are cracking down on gambling that goes on outside these sanctioned facilities.

Outside these great exceptions to the law, Mississippi does define the act of “betting, gaming or wagering” in section 97-33-1 of state legislation as when one shall “encourage, promote or play at any game, play or amusement… or shall wager or bet, promote or encourage the wagering or betting of any money or other valuable things, upon any game, play, amusement…” this broad sweep of legal-ese effectively bans any betting on future events or games of chance in the state of Mississippi outside of state sanctioned facilities.

Violation of this act can result in a fine of up to $500 and 90 days in jail. However, there is good news for those who want to gamble without making the long drive to Biloxi. The only time this law is enforced is when law enforcement agencies are explicitly breaking up illicit gambling operations that take place within the state. In these cases, it’s incredibly likely that all participants in the illegal affair will be brought in. When enforcing this law, it is not as though Mississippi believes they are truly removing a criminal element from their streets, rather they are protecting their valuable legal gambling industry.

As a result, even if a Mississippi resident does not want to travel to a crowded casino to only spend an hour or so gambling, they may utilize legal gambling websites aimed at Mississippi residents. These websites operate incredibly discretely, and have never attracted the attention of any law enforcement in Mississippi.

These are really the only safe means of gambling in the Magnolia State. Whereas most states will include legislation that protects private home games played among friends, Mississippi does not even go that far. While it is highly unlikely that a discrete, private, and social game played among friends will be prosecuted, there is no legislation in the state that protects any forms of gambling outside of established, legal businesses.

“Keeping Gaming Tables”

Another facet in which Mississippi is unique is in their attitude towards those who facilitate illicit gambling for profit, or, in the phrasing that Mississippi uses, those who “keep gaming tables.” Whereas most states not only punish this crime more severely but are much more active in punishing it, in Mississippi, the legal penalty is identical to those who are convicted of merely participating in gambling.

If there is a message to take away from this it is not that facilitating illicit gambling operations in Mississippi is safer than it is anywhere else – it’s that Mississippi is so good at sniffing out and busting up illegal gambling games that scare tactics written into the law are not necessary. Indeed, Mississippi seems to show a rare gift for seeking out land based operations that “keep gaming tables” and then bust in and seize all funds associated with the game with extreme prejudice.

It’s all well and good to threaten offenders with extreme jail sentences and felony charges, but the thought in the lawmaking and enforcement branches is that if all the money from these operations is seized, it’s probably going to do enough damage to the operation to keep it from ever resurfacing. Mississippi is serious about protecting the revenue from their state-regulated casinos, and they will go to great lengths in law enforcement to do so.

Again, this cannot be stressed enough, if a resident in Mississippi wishes to gamble without visiting a casino, the use of legal online gambling networks is really the only viable option that will keep players safe from legal interference.

Gambling Laws In Mississippi

Sports wagering is the only form of gambling specifically regulated by the federal government in all but four states. In 1992, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was passed, which made it illegal for any states to sanction sports betting within their own borders. Although four states were exempt from this law, Mississippi was not one of them. This means that even in Biloxi, the gambling capitol of the south, no brick and mortar gambling facilities may offer the use of sportsbooks for the purpose of betting in sports.

It’s for this reason that most of those kin the Magnolia State who have an interest in regular sports betting turn to legal online sportsbooks that accept Mississippi players and do not run a risk of shut down or seizure from any government agencies by virtue of being located overseas. Through the use of these sites, residents are free to throw a couple dollars on the egg bowl, or who they believe will win the national championship.

It’s been well established that the city of Biloxi offers several casinos, all of which feature legal slot machines, table games, and any other variation on traditional casino games that one can think of, but Mississippi is a big state. What happens if someone lives too far from Biloxi to make the drive worthwhile? Luckily, there are still several sanctioned casinos spread throughout Mississippi. Any of the three southernmost counties in the state may carry legal gambling, and since a river runs through the state, many business owners have made a killing via riverboat gambling.

Outside of these venues, with the high likelihood of illicit casinos being busted by law enforcement, the only recommended path one can really take is to join the millions of US citizens who gamble with legal online casinos every day. These legitimate businesses offer all the perks of land based casinos, with none of the crowds, and the convenience of playing right in your own living room, free from fear of legal prosecution for violations of Mississippi gambling laws.

Poker is by far the most popular means of gambling throughout the country, with several popular songs, feature films and novels devoted to the subject. As such, many states authorize poker even if they do not sanction any other forms of gambling. Fortunately, in Mississippi this is not a problem. With the high volume of casinos on the gulf coast and riverboat casinos throughout the state, residents should have no problem finding legal venues to play poker on land.

Although Mississippi law technically does not sanction home games, it is worth mentioning that private games amongst friends, so long as they remain discrete and low stakes, should not attract any legal attention, nor will gambling with legal online poker rooms.

Legal Age To Gamble In Mississippi

Even though Mississippi is one of the friendliest states in the union towards gambling, this does not make gambling underage a good idea. The legal age to gamble in the Magnolia State is 21, and it is strongly advised that all residents wait until they are at least that old to take part in any gambling, lest they further complicate was is already a legally complex situation.

Players who attempt to gamble under the legal age are sure to face penalties from whichever facility catches them, be it online or on land. In addition to serving out lengthy ban from the establishment, all money associated with the underage player will be seized. In addition, they will be reported to the State who will likely fine and possibly even jail the offender. There are things in life worth waiting for, and one of them is legal gambling.

Where Can I Legally Gamble in Mississippi?

On-Land: Luckily, Mississippi is home to the Vegas of the south; as such, there is no limit to legal venues for gambling available to Mississippi residents. Be it along the famed Mississippi gulf coast where casinos line Interstate-10 like weeds or along the river where many cruise ships and boats offer legal gambling on the boat, there are options on top of options all throughout the state. Mississippi gambling laws say in any of these casinos, residents may play slots, and variety of casino games, or take advantage of the South’s most premiere poker rooms. Unfortunately, federal laws being what they are, no facility in Mississippi is able to offer sports betting.

Online/Web-Based: If a resident wants all the pleasures of gambling with none of the hassles of visiting a casino (like long distance driving or serious crowds) than they may turn to a number of legal online gambling networks for Mississippi residents. The question surely plaguing some readers at this point is how these websites can possibly be legal when considering the harsh laws and strict enforcement aimed against taking down illicit operations within the state. The answer is simple: since these websites have been established and are maintained overseas, they are free from prosecution from both Mississippi and federal law enforcement agencies. This means that these websites may operate free from any chance of being shut down or having their assets seized. This is great news for those who like to gamble online!

While the prospect of gambling with a foreign company can make some nervous, there are actually several benefits to gambling with a legally established and maintained website, even if it’s not based in the states. In order to maintain their legal status, these sites must maintain licenses from gaming commissions. This assures fair play for all of their members as well as over the table dealings when it comes to cutting their members checks. Your money is as safe in the sites we recommend as it would be with Amazon, Target, or any online retail giant.

Top Legal Gambling Site For Mississippi Residents

Bovada - All-Inclusive Gambling Site With Sports Betting

When you’re looking for an edge in the online gambling market, we’ll be the first to tell you that not all legal gambling websites are created equal. This is not news to members of Bovada. Any trepidation one may feel about gambling with Canadians should be washed away when they get a good look at the website. On the front page you can tell it’s expertly designed, and the insignias of reputable companies like CBS and the USA Today don’t hurt, either. If legal online gambling is an art form, than the folks at Bovada are Michelangelo.

Bovada’s best quality is its adaptability. Never one to be left in the dust, they were one of the first Mississippi gambling sites to embrace mobile web site development, and the current state of their mobile site shows a company comfortable sitting on the edge of innovation. With this app, you can take your sportsbook or poker room anywhere you go, making layovers in the airport or long waits in the doctor’s office blow by in a flash!

More Recommended Betting Sites For Mississippi Players

Online Gambling Michigan

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While we are confident in the information presented on this page, it must be noted that no one here at MississippiGamblingLaws.com is licensed or qualified to practice law in Mississippi, and that therefore, the information presented within this website should not be considered a legal consultation. Any further questions should be directed to Mississippi certified lawyer, or to the state legislature's website at www.legislature.ms.gov where the exact language for Mississippi gambling laws can be found in its entirety - reading the law for yourself is often the best way to determine whether or not the state is on-board with the activity.