Mississippi Gambling Revenue Increases In March

The Gulf Coast has had some bad luck the past few years when it comes to casino gambling revenue. First, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area, and then the economic recession caused a decrease in revenue for several years.

Now, Gulf Coast casinos are starting to rebound. Mississippi became the latest Gulf Coast state to announce that revenue at their casinos rose in the month of March. For Mississippi, revenue was up 3.9% in the month, compared to the same period in 2011.

Mississippi casinos brought in $220.4 million in March. That was up from the $212.1 million in the same month back in 2011. The revenue increase was modest, but it did represent a turning point for Mississippi casinos after a long drought of record revenue decreases.

"The gaming industry on a whole is getting healthy in the past few months," said Gaming Analyst Brad Dawkins. "There is little reason to believe that the trend will not continue, especially in areas where casino gambling has been prevalent before, and Mississippi certainly fits into that group of states."

There is a gambling revolution taking place across the US, and it has divided states that have long been casino havens, with up and coming states in the industry. Nevada, New Jersey, Connecticut, Louisiana, and Mississippi are trying to hold on to the customers that Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, and a host of other Northeastern states are trying to steal.

"The battle for gamblers has become intense over the past decade," says Dawkins. "With gamblers now having choices all over the country, casinos are having to break out big promotions and amenities to bring the gamblers in, and it is creating a nice rivalry."

History shows that March has been kind over the years to Mississippi casinos. Heading into the summer months, Mississippi has shown the ability to continue their recent success throughout the summer, and gamblers are noticing a difference in the amount of people at the casinos.

"I have been coming here for five years," said Ryan Baxter. "And the past couple of months, I'm starting to see more people, faces I haven't seen in a couple of years. I think the economy has a lot to do with that, and with things looking up, people have extra money again to come back to the casinos."

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