Annual AGA 2026 Report: A Look at The Deep South's Gambling Revenue
There are 10 states that are traditionally defined as the "Deep South", and most of them have taken a unique approach to legalized casino and sports betting. Of the 10, there are three states left out of this analysis: Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Neither of the three have any casinos nor have legalized sports betting.
Here’s what the figures in the latest gaming revenue report by the American Gaming Association has to say about the rest of this southern region's state players.
- Louisiana’s gaming industry leads the way
- Mississippi’s casinos and retail sports betting come in second
- North Carolina’s sports betting industry brought in $132 million
- Florida has carved out its own gaming path
- Tennessee – mobile sports betting only
- Arkansas only has 3 gaming properties
- Kentucky horse racing shines in its sports betting landscape
Louisiana’s gaming industry leads the way
Regional leader Louisiana has a robust gaming industry - with 10 riverboat casinos, six land-based casinos, four racinos, and a sports betting industry with eight operators that, collectively, took in $3 billion in revenue in 2025. That was a double-digit increase on the 2024 figure.
Of that total, $557.4 million was credited to the sportsbooks, up almost 20% from the previous year.
The state took in a total of $668.7 million in tax revenue, as gambling continues to be a source of significant funding for the state budget.
There also are five tribal casinos in the state, and more than 12,000 electronic gaming devices at more than 1,000 bars, restaurants, off-track betting parlors, and truck stops.
Louisiana lawmakers voted in mid-2025 to raise the tax rate on mobile sports betting from 15% to 21.5%.
The first riverboat casinos were authorized back in 1991, giving Louisiana a leg up on gambling in the Deep South that it has never relinquished. It fits the classic historical cultural vibe of a state – and a city of New Orleans in particular – as having a “riverboat gambler” vibe.
Mississippi’s casinos and retail sports betting come in second
Mississippi is another Southern pioneer, with 25 total casinos on the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, and combined with sports betting, took in $2.4 billion in revenue in 2025. The tax revenue was $287.9 million.
The year 2021 marked the peak of the industry at $2.7 billion, with tiny declines in subsequent years. There is in-state competition with four tribal casinos, all located in the region surrounding Jackson, the state's largest city.
The sportsbooks are limited to on-site retail casinos, severely limiting the potential state tax revenue from mobile sports betting on the concept of maximizing visitation to those casinos.
However, mobile sports betting is operating in the neighboring states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. This issue has been a continuing topic among lawmakers in the Mississippi statehouse.
North Carolina’s sports betting industry brought in $132 million
North Carolina has no commercial casinos, but it registered $734.6 million in sports betting revenue in 2025. That produced $132.2 million in tax revenue for The Tarheel State.
The state took an unusual approach in 2019 in only authorizing sports betting at the state's three tribal casinos in western North Carolina - none of which are located fewer than two hours away from any of the state's large cities.
Four years later, lawmakers decided to bring mobile sports betting to the state as well. There were seven mobile sportsbooks in North Carolina by the end of 2025, which was the first full year of such sports betting activity.
The state splits the sports betting revenue in several ways. First, $2 million annually goes to the North Carolina Department of Health to support gambling addiction education and treatment initiatives, and another $2.3 million is used to support specific collegiate and amateur sports programs.
Of the rest, half is distributed to North Carolina’s General Fund and - in a unique twist - 30% goes into a special state fund to attract major sporting or entertainment events to the state. The remaining 20% is split equally among the collegiate athletic departments of each of the 13 major universities in the state.
The state senate last year sought to double the mobile sportsbook tax rate from a nationally typical rate of 18% to a relatively high 36%. The effort failed, however. By spring 2026, legislators were in discussions about a compromise tax hike somewhere from 20% to 30%.
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Florida has carved out its own gaming path
Florida is the most populated state in the region - and the one with the most unusual sports betting industry.
A 2021 compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe clearly authorized retail sports betting at the tribe's casino properties on their sovereign land. But did that partnership extend to the Seminoles' sports betting app as well?
After some legal battling, courts determined that the betting app servers being located on the tribe's property was a sufficient factor to allow the mobile wagering.
The state receives a minimum of $500 million from the Seminoles annually as part of the five-year-old compact, though the tribe does not release what undoubtedly are massive annual betting handle and revenue numbers.
There are eight commercial casinos and racinos in the state, and those locations combined for $708.1 million in revenue in 2025 along with $247.8 million in taxes.
The revenue number was up a modest 3% versus 2024 after declines in 2023 and 2024.
Those sites only are authorized for slot machines, and any changes to the state's gaming regulations must first be approved by voters across the state.
The Seminoles have eight casinos of their own, and they have the advantage of having popular table games such as blackjack, craps, and baccarat.
Tennessee – mobile sports betting only
Tennessee's gaming revenue total of $700.1 million in 2025 was generated entirely from mobile sports betting, as the state has no casinos and no retail wagering sites.
Another unusual aspect is that mobile sportsbooks are taxed at a rate of 1.85% of the betting handle - the amount wagered - rather than the standard betting tax revenue model.
Whether this model is more advantageous to the operators is dependent on what the size of the "hold" - the amount retained by the sportsbooks after paying out winning wagers - turns out to be in a given year.
The format produced $107.6 million in tax revenue last year, though two of what had been the state's 12 mobile sports betting operators left the state in 2025.
Arkansas only has 3 gaming properties
Arkansas, meanwhile, has two casinos - Southland Casino in West Memphis near the Mississippi border and Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff and - plus a racino in Hot Springs racetrack called the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort that competes with Oklahoma tribal casinos to the west.
A fourth gaming property site in Pope County was approved in a statewide referendum in 2018, but then repealed in a second referendum in 2024. The conflicting votes not surprisingly have led to legal efforts to settle the matter for good.
The three properties reported $681 million in total revenue in 2025, a figure virtually unchanged from the previous year. Sports betting revenue fared better, with the $61.5 million in combined revenue a rise of more than 25% compared to 2024.
Both forms of gambling have a tax rate of 13% on the first $150 million in revenue and then 20% on any revenue after that threshold is reached. That left Arkansas collecting $115 million in gaming revenue.
Kentucky horse racing shines in its sports betting landscape
There are no casinos in Kentucky, but the state's retail and mobile sportsbooks collectively produced $337.4 million in revenue and $46.5 million in tax dollars in the second full year of sports wagering in the state.
All of the state's sportsbooks have partnerships with Kentucky racetracks and simulcast facilities, reflecting The Bluegrass State's passion for that sport.
As a result of that, Kentucky lawmakers also authorize slot machine-like devices called historical horse racing devices at racing facilities. Those devices generated a nationwide high of $1 billion in revenue in 2025, up 12% over 2024.
In November, 2025, the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation voted to authorize an electronic roulette game that uses the mechanics of historical horse racing.
