Facing a nearly 20-year low in gambling tax revenues, Mississippi is selling 0 million in bonds that are backed by gambling taxes, Bloomberg reported.
Local casino closures, increased gaming competition in nearby states, catastrophic weather, and being located in the state with the nation’s poorest economy are among factors Bloomberg cited for declining gambling tax revenues in Mississippi.
Mississippi is among 10 of the nation’s 12 largest gambling states that reported reductions in gaming revenues last year, according to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Mississippi raked in more than $2 billion in gambling tax revenues from 28 casinos last year, ranking it sixth in the nation in gaming revenues, Bloomberg reported.
Nearby states took notice of Mississippi’s relative gaming success and initiated steps to increase their own gaming revenues, which has eroded the market in neighboring Mississippi. About two-thirds of Mississippi’s 23 million gamblers came from other states in 2014, and Bloomberg reports the dependency on gamblers from other states makes Mississippi vulnerable to out-of-state competition.
With gaming revenues declining, several Mississippi casinos closed and plan to close soon, and the state’s gambling tax revenue fell to a 17-year low of $164 million in 2014 from a high of about $230 million in 2008, Bloomberg reported.
