Review Of The Harrah’s Gulf Coast Sportsbook
No discussion of the casino gambling scene – and the outlook for Mississippi’s newly minted sports betting market segment – would be complete without a review of the Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook. Frankly, there could hardly be a better location for a sports betting outlet than Harrah’s Biloxi location, as the combination casino and resort is one of the biggest and best in the so-called “Riviera of the Southland.”
Having recently opened after the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May 2018, Harrah’s sportsbook – simply called “The Book” – has been turning a big handle ever since it first opened its doors to the eager gambling public. If you’re looking for the height of Biloxi sports betting, you needn’t look any further than The Book at Harrah’s Gulf Coast.
Our review of the Harrah’s sportsbook will go over several important topics related to betting at what has quickly become one of the top-grossing sports betting facilities in the entire Magnolia State. We will take a closer look at details pertaining to the opening and operations of the Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook. That includes the types of bets you can place there (including the sports you can bet on), a brief discussion of whether you can use your smartphone to place bets via a mobile wagering app and if proxy betting is allowed or not. Read on for that information and more in our quick but comprehensive review of the Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook.
We are pleased to say that yes, Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook is finally open for business. Dubbed “The Book,” which is going to be branded across all Harrah’s locations in the US as sports betting is legalized in more and more states, the Harrah’s sports betting service is open every day of the week and keeps hours commensurate with the schedules of West Coast contests. Currently, The Book at Harrah’s has the following hours:
- Monday: 10:00 AM – Midnight
- Tuesday: 10:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Wednesday: 10:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Thursday: 10:00 AM – Midnight
- Friday: 10:00 AM – Midnight
- Saturday: 8:00 AM – Midnight
- Sunday: 8:00 AM – Midnight
It’s important to understand one thing about sports betting, especially destination sports betting at venues like Harrah’s Gulf Coast: the full expense. Remember, when you’re traveling to a casino specifically to place sports bets, you need to factor in more than just the moneyline of the wagers you’re placing. Instead, you need to consider how much the whole trip will cost. For an average weekend sports betting getaway for yourself and a loved one, you’re going to spend around $400-$500 for two nights in the Harrah’s Gulf Coast hotel. Factor in food and drinks (when not comped, of course), travel, and so on, and you’re looking at about $1000. Naturally, these are weekend rates, which are higher. If you can get out to Harrah’s for a few nights in the middle of the week, you’re looking at room rates of less than $80 per night on average. This is a spectacular deal, as any old Days Inn on the side of the highway will cost nearly as much. Plan your trip right, and you can enjoy betting in Biloxi on a bargain budget!
Still, if you’re just interested in placing a few sports bets and don’t care to enjoy other aspects of the casino or Biloxi itself, it’s probably better (and much, much less expensive) to simply stay home and use a legal online sportsbook (Bovada, SportsBetting, et al.) instead. Until Mississippi rolls out full online sports betting across the state, you always need to consider the cost of sports betting at the area’s land-based casino venues.
Are There Any Loyalty Rewards Or Promos For Harrah’s Sports Betting In Biloxi
Another financial consideration you need to have when sports betting at a land-based casino is whether or not the book offers any loyalty rewards or promos. Currently, there are no substantial promotions being offered by most MS sportsbooks, primarily because the draw of sports betting itself – while it’s still fresh and new in the region – is enough of an enticement for curious gamblers and new sports bettors alike.
While you can definitely expect a host of bonuses and perks for sports bettors at Harrah’s Gulf Coast in the future, for now, if you’re interested in such things, online offshore betting sites are again your best and only viable option. Sites like Bovada and SportsBetting offer new member bonuses of between $250 and $1000, and most of the best Internet sportsbooks follow a similar pattern of padding their members’ accounts with valuable free-plays and other prizes. It will take quite some time for local MS sportsbooks to match the existing online options when it comes to perks and bonuses.
Yes! One of the most pressing issues in the build-up to legalized sports betting in Mississippi has been one of logistics, with each sportsbook locale needing to be laid out and either refurbished, remodeled, updated, or constructed from scratch. In the case of Harrah’s, they merely had to pick a section of their gambling floor and renovate it with a suitable series of sports betting-specific accoutrements.
And they certainly did that! The Book at Harrah’s Gulf Coast offers a full-service bar, has 10 HDTVs and 12 projected screens of action, and is appointed with plush couches and comfortable lounge chairs. Cocktail service is attentive and timely, as well, so you’ll never be thirsty when watching your favorite teams cover the spread or clear that over/under. Harrah’s also has live betting services, so you can wager on all the day’s games as they unfold.
However, you should still consider The Book at Harrah’s Gulf Coast to be a work in progress. All the laws regarding legalizing sports betting in the Hospitality State and all the necessary regulatory measures needed to govern the activity are in place and approved by lawmakers, and though brands like Harrah’s Entertainment are certainly no stranger to hosting sports betting outlets, there are still plenty of intangibles regarding Mississippi sportsbooks specifically, so there are still issues that need to be taken care of, despite the sportsbook’s successful launch. Remember, the most successful sports betting venues are ones that cater to their local clientele’s specific tastes, and that’s a long-term endeavor. That said, of course, you can count on The Book to offer a top-quality betting experience no matter which team or teams you’re pulling for.
One of the first questions that we are often asked is some variation of “Does the Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook offer full-service betting?” We are happy to report that yes, full-service sports betting is offered by the good folks at Harrah’s Golf Coast. For those of you not in the know, a full-service sportsbook like the one offered by Harrah’s Gulf Coast in Biloxi refers to a sports betting outlet that accepts single-game and multi-game wagers across a variety of different sports and offers a variety of different wager types on those sporting events.
In the case of The Book at Harrah’s Gulf Coast, guests are able to wager on all the major US professional sports leagues (that includes all NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL games), along with other popular sports ranging from NASCAR to Major League Soccer to the US PGA Tour. Additionally, bettors at the Harrah’s Gulf Coast will be able to enjoy a shot at picking the winner in all collegiate sports – that’s a big deal in football-crazy Mississippi every fall, to be sure, with teams like Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and others always being in the top-ranked national mix. Finally, you will always find plenty of betting lines on the summer and winter iterations of the Olympic Games, the World Cup, and other international events. International professional league play for sports like soccer, rugby, cricket, and so on are also covered by The Book.
As for the kinds of bets you will be able to place on those sporting events, you can expect to find all the normal single game or season-long odds from moneylines to against the spread (ATS) odds, to totals betting lines (also known as over/unders). Then there are of course such betting types as futures, team and player props, special betting lines when an especially significant contest is set to begin, parlays of your own creation, and more. One of the best parts of our review of the Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook is that there nearly limitless ways for savvy bettors and newcomers to the hobby alike to win big when they pick winners in the sports they love.
If there has to be a downside to the current Mississippi sports betting law that was passed during the 2017 legislative session, it would have to be that there simply is not very much of a provision for using your smartphone or other mobile device to place wagers on sports. That is not just true at the Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook, either, but rather the ban sticks no matter what Mississippi sportsbook you are betting at.
Now, this is not to say by any means that you cannot use your smartphone or other mobile device to bet on sports, it is just that you will need to be physically located inside the casino where the sports betting outlet of your choice is hosted, which means that you cannot even be outside in one of the Harrah’s Gulf Coast parking lots or in their giant parking garage. Once you’re on the premises, however, mobile betting is possible. While this is convenient to be sure, it is not particularly useful as a tool to reach more customers.
All that said, there is nothing in the state law that would prevent the legislature from revisiting this issue at a later date, and, honestly, we cannot say that we don’t expect the Magnolia State’s lawmakers to do just that whenever they get a chance. We look at the ban on expansive mobile sports betting more as an expedient measure to get sports wagering passed as quickly as possible and with minimal fuss, which was probably a really smart move if you think about it, considering the nasty fights that took place in other states. For the purposes of our review of the Harrah’s Gulf Coast sportsbook, we will advise you to hold tight but don’t give up on the possibility that the casino could offer statewide mobile sports betting sooner rather than later if the lawmakers in Jackson have the political will to make an amendment to the law. Indeed, online sports betting is the wave of the future, and MS gambling destinations – particularly those seasoned locales like Harrah’s – know that.
Online Sports Betting At Offshore Sites
Even though you can’t yet bet on sports at Harrah’s using your iPhone or Android phone from the comfort of your own home, you can certainly participate in legal online sports betting at offshore sites. So if you wish to wager on your favorite MS-area teams but can’t regularly make it to Harrah’s or another Biloxi casino, you can still place those wagers – and often find better deals – at legal offshore sportsbooks. Sites like Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, and 5Dimes (among a select few others) have been serving Mississippi residents for decades, and they have all the local, national, and international action you expect out of a world-class book. In many ways, to truly stand out against the online options available to you, The Book at Harrah’s Gulf Coast will really have to step up their game.
Proxy betting services are, in essence, businesses that exist to provide bettors with a way of skirting around the ban on interstate sports betting put in place by the Federal Wire Act of 1961. Las Vegas casinos do not prohibit their players, even out of state players, from using them – technically speaking – but we would not advise players at Mississippi sportsbooks to use a proxy betting service until the state government issues a clearer ruling on the matter. With legal sportsbooks opening all over the Hospitality State, there is no use in courting trouble with the law over something silly when it can be avoided by simply using a legal offshore sports betting site like Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, BetDSI or 5Dimes.