Southland Casino Racing
Sports betting opened at Southland Casino Racing on Tuesday.
The Kansas City Chiefs will win Super Bowl 54 on Sunday.
That’s the prediction of Le Le, one of the Memphis Zoo’s giant pandas, anyway. Think you know better? Wanna bet? Put some money on it? Now you can, right across the river.
Southland Casino Racing opened its book for sports betting on Tuesday. There, you can make wagers on Sunday’s game, the NBA, college basketball, NASCAR, PGA tournaments, and more.
You can place your bets at teller windows or one of the many kiosks inside the Sports Bar & Grill and other spots inside the casino.
Sports betting arrived in the Tunica, Mississippi casinos in 2018. In December 2019, more than $12.4 million in bets were placed in the northern region of the state in basketball, football, and cards. Sports bets across the state were more than $49 million in December, according to the Mississippi Gaming Commission.
Memphis and Shelby county leaders supported sports betting here last year.
State legislators approved sports betting across the state with a new law. That law will allow sports betting in areas only if it is approved by local election. The law also created a Tennessee Gaming Commission and levied a 20-percent tax on gross revenues. The tax is expected to yield nearly $6 million for the state’s general fund in the next fiscal year.
However, no sports betting is happening yet in Tennessee (legally, at least). The commission has not yet been fully organized and no licenses have yet been issued.
Over at Southland in West Memphis, the casino is getting a $250 million expansion and facelift. The project includes a new casino complex and a high-rise hotel.
The casino announced last year that it changed its name to Southland Casino Racing in April. It announced in October that it would phase out live greyhound racing by 2022.
