Mississippi casinos are reporting a nearly 21% increase in gross gaming revenue so far this year compared to the same period in 2019, according to data from the state Gaming Commission.

From January through May, the latest data available, the state’s casinos reported a gross gaming revenue totaling $1.1 billion. The Gulf Coast’s casinos gross revenue for the months of March, April and May have never been higher, according to Gaming Commission records.

“There was less competition for people’s discretionary dollars when you consider the number of businesses that had to close,” said Keith Crosby, the general manager of Biloxi’s Palace Casino.

“On the flip side of that effect, the casino industry got ahead of it with some significant safety measures in place to deal with COVID.”

Coast casinos aren’t just breaking their collective revenue record, they’re smashing it. In April of this year, the Gulf Coast casinos reported a gross gaming revenue increase of about $46 million and $34 million in May.

Gross gaming revenue — the amount of money players wager minus what they win — is similar to traditional businesses’ sales figures. The gaming revenue numbers do not account for the cost of doing business.
Mississippi casinos reported nearly $1.8 billion in gross revenue for all of 2020, which included the roughly two months they had to shut down because of the pandemic. In 2019, that figure was $2.2 billion. With half of the year still left, the casinos are on pace to have the highest total gross gaming revenue since they began operating in the 1990s.

The casinos’ recent spike is matched with an increase in tourists visiting the Gulf Coast. Karen Conner, the director of marketing for tourism bureau Coastal Mississippi, said the region’s number of tourists is higher now than it has been in the last several years.