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Localized horse racing is more than just a source of entertainment. It’s a major economic boost. A healthy track can create millions of dollars in tax revenue. It will also create hundreds of jobs.
Currently, the state of Mississippi has none.

That’s a real problem for a state that is consistently ranked the poorest in the country. There, almost 20% of the population lives in poverty. More children live with food insecurity in Mississippi than anywhere else in the country.

Obviously, a few tracks won’t fix that problem. They can serve as one potent component of the solution. Is there a chance to bring horse racing back to the Magnolia state?

Mississippi Horse Racing Overview

Mississippi does not have much recent history with horse racing. However, back in the day, it was one of the best places to watch races and maybe place a friendly wager. The state once boasted several prominent tracks. Unfortunately, that day happened a long, long time ago. The Pharsalia Race Course was once considered one of the finest racing venues in pre-Civil War America. The venue opened its doors in 1790 (or thereabouts). It attracted wealthy spectators from across the region.

Wagers, at this point, were not systematized through sports books. You didn’t log onto an app and get expert horse racing picks for today pulled up on your phone.

If you wanted to stake a race, you did it through agreements with the people around you.  Handshake bets were the norm at these events. Worse, were the conditions in which it took place. The jockeys were enslaved humans. This exploitative practice was central to early American racing. Participation in the sport would continue to be dominated by black men into the early twentieth century. Actually, the migration to white jockeys was, at least according to Katherine C. Mooney, in her book “Race Horse Men,” a way to keep African Americans from acquiring power and influence in Jim Crow America. The racial history of horse racing reflects broader American struggles.

Pharsalia, with its very mixed history, reverted back to farmland by 1920. Mississippi hasn’t had much in way of thoroughbred championship racing since. The tradition faded as other forms of entertainment emerged.

There is a harness racing park operated in conjunction with Mississippi State University. It’s called the Mississippi Horse Park and it hosts around 600,000 guests per year according to their website. The facility serves multiple agricultural purposes beyond racing.

This venue can be a fun place to view the sport. However, the experience is very different from what many fans will be used to. Alcohol is not allowed on the premises. There is no betting. The focus remains purely on the equestrian competition itself.

Can horse racing return to Mississippi?

The conditions for horse racing to return to Mississippi definitely exist. The absence of tracks owes primarily to the state’s highly prohibitive gambling laws. These restrictions have limited investment in racing facilities for decades. Gambling was completely illegal in Mississippi until 1990. It was then that the state legalized “dockside” gambling. In other words, riverboat casinos.

The weird compromise many states have made to appease those most strictly opposed to gambling. “It’s not happening in your community. It’s happening on a river that’s….in your community.” These floating casinos created a legal precedent for regulated gambling.

Regardless, this law has slowly allowed Mississippi to get more and more permissive with gambling. The regulatory environment has gradually relaxed over time. In 2018, the state legalized sports betting.

The rules are still fairly restrictive compared to other states. You need to be physically at a licensed gambling venue to make a bet. The state also allows for parimutuel betting.

Parimutuel betting is the standard wagering system used at racetracks worldwide where bets are pooled together and payouts are calculated after the house takes its percentage. This specific form of betting is essential for horse racing’s financial viability as it creates the funding mechanism that supports purses, track operations, and the industry as a whole.

The Odds: Will Mississippi Get Horse Racing?

The public will is definitely there. The general trend nationwide has been implementing less restrictive gambling laws. Allowing horse betting isn’t even a dramatic or exceptional move. Historically speaking, it has been the only legal gambling in many communities.

With a healthy track system already in existence thanks to the Mississippi Horse Park, there is even social proof. People in Mississippi like horse racing. Build it, they will come.

For now, Mississippians are taking their money elsewhere, most probably Louisianna, where there are more accessible ways to bet on horse racing.

That’s really a shame. Horse racing is big business. It gives people jobs. It brings in tax revenue that could very well be used to support Mississippi’s struggling public school system.

It would be unsupportable, of course, to say that ample gambling is all it will take to help struggling states. Mississippi has a lot of problems it needs to fix. Still, who doesn’t love a nice easy layup? A little horse racing accessibility could go a long way in supporting Mississippi’s economy.

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