Regional casino giant Penn National Gaming said it will launch its first Mississippi sports betting operations on Friday with other to follow next week.
The company’s Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast in Bay St. Louis and Boomtown Casino Biloxi will be the first out of the box on Friday. On Aug. 24, Hollywood Casino Tunica, 1st Jackpot Casino Tunica, and Resorts Casino Tunica will launch their sports wagering activities.
“Every time I step on the gaming floor a customer approaches me about sports betting,” Justin Carter, general manager for Penn National’s properties in Tunica said in a statement. “With the extreme passion in the region around sports, and college athletics in particular, we look forward to becoming a destination for fans in northern Mississippi, Memphis, and Arkansas.”
Penn National plans to offer full-scale sports books on the Gulf Coast at Hollywood Casino and Boomtown Casino, and in the Mississippi River community of Tunica at 1st Jackpot and Hollywood Casino. In the future, guests will also be able to place wagers on sports at Resorts Casino in Tunica using kiosks.
Penn National CEO Tim Wilmott said in a statement the company immediately began making plans for launching sports betting in Mississippi as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on single game wagering in May.
Mike Galle, general manager at Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast, said the area’s love of SEC college football games on Saturday and New Orleans Saints NFL games will make the property’s sports books “a great venue for customers to enjoy betting on sports.”
Mississippi was the third state to launch sports betting, following Delaware and New Jersey, Beau Rivage Resort & Casino opened on Aug. 1 and IP Casino Resort followed on Aug. 3. Three sports books opened in Tunica.
