Sportsbooks In Biloxi

The casinos in Biloxi are some of the most profitable and prestigious in the entire country, so it should come as no surprise that this Gulf Coast mecca for all things gaming related would be a natural fit for the state’s newly legalized sports betting expansion. Talk of offering sportsbooks in Biloxi started almost immediately upon the revelation that the US Supreme Court had voted in May of 2018 to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PAPSA), which had for more than a quarter of a century limited legal sportsbooks to Nevada and three other states. Indeed, the Hospitality state was one of the first states in the US to formally legalize sports betting in advance of a favorable SCOTUS decision on PASPA, paving the way for an easy transition for its casinos to start offering sportsbooks for their customers.

With sportsbooks starting to pop up at internationally famous casinos like the Beau Rivage and the Hard Rock, there is no doubt that this will prove to make Biloxi an even bigger draw, attracting ever larger crowds of serious bettors and vacationers from surrounding states. However, not every visitor to this Gulf of Mexico mecca for gaming is aware of all the possibilities for a great vacation afforded by the casinos with sportsbooks in Biloxi, which is why we decided to put together this quick but comprehensive guide on the subject. We will take a look at how the history of Biloxi makes the city the ideal location for Mississippi sportsbooks, which Gulf Coast facilities are the Biloxi casinos with legal sportsbooks, things to do at Biloxi casinos with sportsbooks besides sports betting, and, finally, give directions to Biloxi.

We aim to give you all the information you need to make the most of your trip to Biloxi to enjoy all the amenities and gambling action, and of course that now includes betting at Biloxi sportsbooks, so read on for all the details.

Located in Harrison County, Mississippi, Biloxi lies smack dab in the middle of the Gulf Coast region of the US, and the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area accounts for the majority of the Magnolia State’s coastal land area. Biloxi, along with a few other, smaller towns located nearby, also constitutes one of Mississippi’s most important hubs for casino gambling, and, indeed, one of the nation’s most important gaming markets. But it was not always that way, as we will soon see.

Biloxi, first founded by colonists from France (mostly traders and explorers) in the late 17th century, the city takes its name from the French attempt to transliterate the Choctaw word for this area of the Mississippi river mouth. Almost from the onset of its founding, Biloxi was an important center for trade due to its proximity to New Orleans and its midway spot along the coast between French Louisiana and Spanish Florida – Biloxi was so important, in fact, that it was one of the primary spoils gained by the British in their victory over France in the Seven Years’ War. Following the war, the city of Biloxi passed into and out of the hands of the three main colonial powers in North America all the way up until the early 1800s when it, along with the territorial boundaries of Mississippi itself, became a part of the rapidly expanded United States.

Once Mississippi was inducted into the United States it began to experience a period of prosperity that made the colonial days look tame by comparison. Biloxi came to be one of the primary summer resort destinations for the antebellum era’s elites and wealthy plantation owners, who favored the city’s beachside vistas (though the word is still out on the characteristically languid temperatures endemic to Mississippi). Making matters even better where its future growth was concerned, Biloxi proper suffered no real damage as a result of the Civil War in spite of the fierce fighting going on seemingly all around it, which only aided in the city becoming an even bigger tourist and vacation destination in the years after that disastrously destructive conflict.

Fast forward though the hard times of the Reconstruction period and into the early 20th century, and, while the rest of Mississippi and the greater South was under the yoke of woeful economic downturns, crippling poverty and cultural dispossession, Biloxi remained relatively unscathed. Still attracting wealthy Northern visitors well through the even harder times of the Great Depression. This led, as is often the case, to the opening of the state of Mississippi’s first casino, and though there would not be any sportsbooks in Biloxi for the better part of the next 80 years, the foundations were nevertheless laid for this beachside town to flourish anew in the coming decades. Even though gambling was, strictly speaking, still an illegal activity in the Hospitality State for the next 40 years or so, casinos continued to be a successful underground activity that entire time, stoking the tradition of gambling that led to the major economic boom of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

Once the state of Mississippi formally legalized casino gambling, it was not long until major entertainment companies, casino property developers and the like descended on Biloxi to begin construction on various projects valued in the tens of millions of dollars. Soon, the entire Gulf Front from Bay St. Louis through Biloxi was dotted with massive casinos, hotels, resorts and sometimes (oftentimes, actually) complexes that were a combination of all three. Properties with names like Harrah’s, the Hard Rock and the Beau Rivage became internationally known and extremely profitable gaming destinations in their own right, with a prominence that rivaled Las Vegas and eclipsed a somewhat fading Atlantic City after the passage of enough time. Biloxi enjoyed a period of unparalleled economic growth and prosperity that lasted roughly 15 years until the awful hurricane season of 2005 changed all that.

Hurricane Katrina may have had the most direct impact on New Orleans, but the Gulf Coast in Mississippi was not spared much of the storm’s wrath. Indeed, Katrina, which featured 17 hours or more of sustained hurricane-force winds, claimed the lives of more than 50 Mississippi residents and either outright destroyed or significantly damaged upward of 90 percent of all structures in the Gulfport-Biloxi metro area, casinos included. Reconstruction of the city’s famous casinos began almost immediately, and a few were reopened for business, better than ever before, within a year of the disaster storm, and nowadays Biloxi is booming like never before, especially now that the US Supreme Court has given all 50 states the go ahead to begin legalizing and regulating sports betting.

In today’s extremely competitive gambling marketplace, the presence of legal sportsbooks in Biloxi will no doubt be the decisive factor which gives the city and edge over its rivals in other eastern states. Only time will tell what the specific economic impacts – particularly in terms of taxes on wagering handle and licensing fees – sports betting in Mississippi will have, but all estimates point toward hundreds of millions of dollars annually. With that kind of new money coming in to the state coffers each year, it is easy to see why lawmakers as much as sports betting enthusiasts and the general public are excited by the prospect of legal sportsbooks in Biloxi, among other locations for sportsbooks in Mississippi.

One of the best parts about visiting Mississippi’s Gulf Coast for the purpose of getting in on the gambling action that abounds in the historic city is the fact that there are so many Biloxi casinos with legal sportsbooks. As of November 2018, there are eight (8) casinos in or near Biloxi with sports betting – and counting. While it is fairly obvious that there were probably some shady unauthorized bookies doing business in town for hundreds of years, the recent US Supreme Court decision to overturn the federal law that made sports betting illegal in almost every state in the country has opened up a world of new possibilities for betting enthusiasts.

Biloxi sportsbooks at casinos with some bona fide international prestige like the Beau Rivage (that’s French for “Beautiful Shore”) and the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino are bound to be a surefire hit once things really get up and running in earnest. Additionally, other casinos like the IP, Harrah’s Gulf Coast and the Island View offer plenty of value for your money and make some class leading sportsbooks available for their guests and customers. Don’t hesitate to put some money on your favorite teams, players and sporting events the next time you come to town to check out the sportsbooks in Biloxi – you will be glad you tried your luck at picking winners at any of the fine establishments listed below.

Let’s just say you are not the world’s biggest fan of betting on sports, or maybe you’ve had all the sports wagering action you can handle for one day. That is certainly understandable, but the good news is that there are plenty of things to do at Biloxi casinos with sportsbooks that do not involve heading down to the ticket window and laying down some money on a prop or a season-long parlay, for instance. Biloxi casinos do double – even triple – duty as resorts and hotels, replete with spas, exercise facilities, world class fine dining experiences, shows and concerts with seating for thousands of people, watersports activities on the beach, and so on. Don’t forget about the poker rooms, thousands of slot machines, table games and other casino staples either, as the casinos in Biloxi that facilitate the newly minted Mississippi sportsbooks are second to none in the South.

There are myriad reasons a person might want to visit sunny Biloxi: there’s the time honored tradition of Southern hospitality, there’s the ever present scrumptious assortment of seafood coming in straight from the Gulf of Mexico on a daily basis, the sights and sounds of the happening Gulf Coast Strip, the nightlife, the betting action and, nowadays, there are plenty of Biloxi sportsbooks as well. Whatever you find yourself headed to Biloxi for, there are several ways to get there, and all of them are fairly easy, no matter what direction you are travelling from, making it incredibly simple to get directions to Biloxi.

If you are planning to make your way into Biloxi by road, you will find several possible routes available to you. The main highway running straight through the middle of town and right up to the parking lot of all the major casinos that offer sports betting is US Highway 90 or Beach Boulevard, as the road is known locally. No matter whether you are on your way from Ocean Springs to the east or Pascagoula to the West, you can easily get to Biloxi simply by hopping on Highway 90 and settling in for a relatively short drive.

Travelers opting to take the interstate (this will be particularly relevant for visitors from New Orleans to the west or from Mobile, Alabama, to the east) are going to find themselves spending a solid chunk of time, but that’s not too bad of a deal, considering that Interstate 10 is usually not overly congested in the first place. At any rate, drivers taking the interstate will eventually pass through the north part of Biloxi before merging onto I-110 once it splits off to continue onto D’Iberville. A few local highways running north to south such as Mississippi State Highway 15 and Mississippi State Highway 67 is all that stands between you and the doorstep to some of Mississippi’s finest sportsbooks and casinos.

Finally, there is the option to fly into town. Unlike some other areas around the state with newly legal Mississippi sportsbooks, Biloxi is served by the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, which, as luck would have it, is located only a few minutes away from the heart of city’s casino district. You can fly in to this airport from just about anywhere in the country and even a few overseas locations via direct flights or connections. Even if driving from far away does not sound like your idea of fun and even if flying for hours on end is a drag, just think: once you arrive at the Gulf Coast you can enjoy sportsbooks in Biloxi and more!