Mississippi has seen revenue from its legal sports market plummet in April, with basketball remaining the most popular sport for wagering.
Amounts wagered across all sports were down 40.8% month-on-month to $19.2m (£15.1m/€17.2m) in April, with $12.1m (63.0%) of this total staked on basketball.
The final stages of the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA) March Madness tournament were held during the month, with the National Basketball Association’s postseason tournament then beginning on April 13.
Despite basketball’s strong performance, it was significantly lower than the high level of activity seen in March, when the majority of the NCAA tournament took place.
As a result of the decline in activity, revenue declined 58.0% to $2.1m, a total hold of 10.72%, down 4.39 percentage points on March’s 15.11% win percentage.
Looking at the market by region, casinos on the Mississippi coast generated the majority of revenue and stakes. Punters at the coastal casinos wagered $11.9m, or 61.8% of total stakes, with the venues generating revenue of $1.1m, a 56.0% decline from March.
The coastal casinos also generated stakes of $3.8m on baseball, which resulted in revenue of $357,404.05.
Parlay cards accounted for an additional $1.1m in stakes, and revenue of $195,328.67, while customers wagered $1.4m on other sports, from which the venues’ win percentage of 22.92% amounted to $316,571.62 in revenue.
Customers also staked $2,475.00 on football in the coastal region, which resulted in a $13,776.42 loss for the casinos.
In the northern region, amounts wagered fell 50.8% to $4.5m. Basketball again generated the majority of this total (46.2%), with revenue for the region falling 58.6% to $553,447.92.
Casinos in the centre of Mississippi, meanwhile, saw stakes decline 40.5% to $2.8m, with revenue down 62.3% month-on-month to $381,975.35.