Some of the most popular games include slots, competitive and tri-card poker, baccarat, craps, roulette, Let it Ride, and blackjack. Today, there are 26 casinos and three tribal casinos in the state. Mississippi later changed its laws to allow casinos on dry land. On August 1, 1992, the Isle of Capri in Biloxi became the first legal commercial riverboat casino in the state.
The Gaming Control Act authorized dockside gambling, provided a majority of county voters opted in. This allowed the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to open the Silver Star Casino in Neshoba County, which prompted Gulf Coast interests to lobby for casino gaming. Two years earlier, the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act codified gaming rights for Native American tribes on their sovereign reservations.
Nevertheless, most forms of gambling were illegal until 1990 when the state legislature passed the Mississippi Gaming Control Act. Back-room gambling was prevalent in clubs and hotels on the Gulf Coast and in Mississippi River towns in the first half of the 20th century.
The state’s settlers engaged in horse race betting under Spanish rule, and the modern game of five-card poker probably originated on the riverboats that sailed the Mississippi River in the late 1700s. Gambling in Mississippi predates its statehood.
