Page 9 - Mississippi/Louisiana Gaming News - Winter, 2022

numbers, one finds that the number
of visitors at Mississippi casinos increased substantially last year. Overall, in fiscal year 2021, Mississippi experienced a 35% increase in visitation compared to 2020, going from about 15.3 million visitors to a little over 20 million. More than half of the 20 million-plus visitors were from out of state.
Of about 11.3 million out-of-state casino visitors, about 7.9 million
were from four surrounding states
— Louisiana (3.2 million), Alabama (2.2 million), Tennessee (1.4 million) and Florida (1.1 million). Two other southeastern states ranked fifth and sixth in visitor origination. Last year,
a little more than 1 million people combined traveled to Mississippi casinos from Georgia and Arkansas (approximately half-a-million from each state).
With these statistics, it should be of no surprise that gaming and hospitality ranks as the fourth largest industry in Mississippi. Attracting people from out- of-state in big numbers, casinos are unquestionably of critical importance to the state’s economy.
Though one can bet the industry that never sleeps won’t spend much time looking back at rosy 2021 revenues and visitation numbers, they are something to celebrate. The eyes of industry leaders will no doubt be focused on the future. History tells us they will be ever vigilant.
Gregory echoed this sentiment, “Most likely we will see increased competition from surrounding states with mobile sports betting. However, we are coming off a record-breaking year with our brick- and-mortar casinos and we anticipate this momentum to continue. With our seasoned operators, we expect to see
another great year to follow, even with competition
from our surrounding states.”
Competition from the surrounding
states where many Mississippi casino customers originate is something that
is reported on in detail in the MGHA’s
Annual State of the
Industry Report. This important
section includes an examination by Jones Walker LLP’s
gaming law practice of developments that could impact casinos in the Magnolia State. The section focuses
on the moves being made in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee. The article will serve
to inform elected leaders of future challenges to the state’s gaming industry and re-enforce the need to adapt to
any and all changes in the competitive landscape.
— Lori Beth Susman contributed to this story
WINTER 2022 MISSISSPPI GAMING NEWS 9