Mississippi has been the home of many great baseball players, from Roy Oswalt’s 12-year career in the 90s and 2000s to Dave Ferriss in the post-WWIII era. Mississippi is also home to the Mississippi Braves, a popular Minor League Baseball team in Pearl and a Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
There are also other Minor League Baseball teams, including the Biloxi Shuckers, the Corinth Corinthians and the Tupelo Wolves. Despite having no MLB teams, the sport is very popular in the state.
Is sports betting legal in Mississippi?
Sports betting is legal in the Magnolia state but exactly where you can bet is strictly controlled. Compared to some US states where sports betting is allowed online from anywhere within the state, Mississippi is more prescriptive.
For example, although you can visit retail locations and use online sports books while there, you can’t use the most popular MLB betting sites from the comfort of your couch. Many hope that things will start to relax soon, and there are frequent proposals to change the law to allow bettors to have more freedom in their betting options.
One great aspect of betting on sports in Mississippi is that you can bet on college sports too. Some states do not allow this – for instance, in New Jersey, you are not allowed to wager on in-state college sports events.
Can I bet online in Mississippi?
Betting online in Mississippi is possible but in a very limited way. To bet on an online sportsbook, you need to be physically located within a retail sportsbook or casino. For example, at the Gold Strike Resort in Tunica, there’s a BetMGM retail sportsbook. Here, you can also download and use the BetMGM sportsbook app.
However, as soon as you leave the premises, betting is no longer allowed. Do not bother trying it, either – your phone’s geolocation chip will not permit it.
So, although you can bet online in Mississippi, it is essentially the same as visiting a retail sportsbook and placing a bet.
Betting on baseball in Mississippi
To bet on baseball in Mississippi, you’ll need to visit one of the 29 locations within the state where this is permitted. These are licensed casinos and sportsbook facilities. You can bet with cash or with an online account within the premises.
In Mississippi, you must be 21 years of age or older to place a bet. As such, expect to show some ID to prove your age as well as your address when you visit a casino sportsbook.
The good news is that once you are there and registered, you have lots of betting options available to you. For baseball, there is usually a good range of markets because it’s such a popular sport in the state. Mississippi-born Theo Epstein, who was responsible for ending the Chicago Cubs’ 106-year-long drought, made the sport even more popular among Magnolia state bettors.
During the MLB seasons, it’s possible to wager on all games – that is 2,430! Within that, you’ve got a good variety of markets too, which means there are thousands of baseball betting options. Even though the nearest MLB teams are two states away (the St. Louis Cardinals, the Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers and the Atlanta Braves), you’ll find lots of their fans in this state too.
In terms of available markets, here are some of the most popular ones you will find:
- Moneyline – great for newbies, as you choose either “win” or “lose”.
- Parlay – when you put multiple bets together to make a larger bet, it is called a parlay. It is hard to get your guesses right but if you do, it’s more financially rewarding.
- Over/under – these are also known as totals. With these bets, you wager on numbers of points, passes, runs, corners, goals, bookings etc. You will bet whether you think the total points/passes/runs etc will be over or under a specified amount.
- Against the spread – ATS bets mean you do not bet on the outcome per se, but how many points a team will lose or win by.
What are the best betting apps in Mississippi?
There really is only one well-known betting app available in Mississippi and this is BetMGM. It is available to use when you visit Gold Strike Resort in Tunica or Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi.
When onsite, you can do everything you would like to do on the BetMGM app. You can place bets on a huge range of sports and markets, take part in tournaments and make use of promotional offers.
Other destinations have their own sportsbook apps. These are in-house apps and websites but work in the same manner. Like the BetMGM app, you have to be physically present at the resort to be able to use these. Though they are great for residents of Mississippi or visitors to the region, these in-house apps aren’t as good as some of the international sportsbook brands that other states have access to.
An example of an in-house sportsbook app is Pearl River Resort Sports (PRRSports). You can download this app to your phone for free while you are there. It is available for both Android and iOS devices. Like all retail sportsbooks, you will have to show photo ID before you can create your online account and download the app.
What are the most popular sports to bet on in Mississippi?
Besides baseball, Mississippians enjoy a flutter on NFL and NBA games. Though no top NFL teams have come from Mississippi, fans tend to support teams from neighboring states. There are some Division I colleges that are popular to bet on in MS, however. When you’re at a BetMGM resort, you can bet on the Saints, Texans, Cowboys, Titans and Falcons, all of whom are local. You can also go national and bet on who you think might win the Super Bowl.
Like NFL, there are no Mississippi NBA teams, but many Mississippi residents are fans of the Memphis Grizzlies as this team is just on the border with Tennessee. Also, the New Orleans Pelicans play over the Louisiana border.
