It may have been snowing outside, but it was raining cash inside a Mississippi casino recently.
People don’t usually duck into casinos in Mississippi to avoid a snowstorm, but a visitor at a Coast casino won the first jackpot of 2025 while five inches of snow fell in Biloxi, MS.
The lucky winner wants to remain anonymous, but they are from South Carolina and were playing at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino during the peak of the storm that covered much of the southern United States with up to six inches of snow and bitterly cold temperatures.
This gambler warmed up quickly by hitting it big on a $100 Triple Double Stars slot machine. It took a $200 bet to secure a $270,000 jackpot after just six games.
Online casinos are not legal in Mississippi, so this person took matters into their own hands and braved the storm. It paid off in a big way.
With online casinos still illegal in Mississippi, this individual decided to brave the storm and take a chance at a traditional casino, which paid off significantly.
Storm Closed Many Casinos Last Week
Ironically, the Beau Rivage was one of the few casinos that remained open during the storm.
To give you an idea of just how bad the snow was in Biloxi last week, take a look at this picture that Meteorologist Samantha Roberts posted on her Facebook page. She was tracking the storm in Cleveland, Ohio for television station WOIO.
That’s Biloxi Beach under several inches of snow.
Samantha’s post read: “Check out the snow at Biloxi Beach in Mississippi! Not something you see every day!”
The Associated Press reported that roughly 40 million people, mostly in southern states, faced various weather hazards, with over 21 million under a winter storm warning.
It was so bad, that a state of emergency was declared in Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana.
Not The First Beau Rivage Jackpot Paid Out During a Storm
This also wasn't the first lucky win during a storm at Beau Rivage.
In October, Jason Jensen, known as "Greatness Reinvented" to his thousands of YouTube subscribers, escaped a storm in Florida and found refuge at the casino.
Hurricane Milton was bearing down on him in Florida, so he went to Mississippi to ride it out. He played a high-limit Dragon Link slot machine to pass the time and won a $146,250 jackpot.
Part of the reason Beau Rivage stays open during inclement weather is the fact that it is one of Biloxi's largest employers.
New Year Starts Where 2024 Left Off
What’s hard to believe about the most recent win, is that last year, it took until March for a Coast casino to pay out a jackpot over $100,000. They paid out $6 million overall in 2024 with two of the jackpots topping a million and 18 jackpots topped $100,000 or more.
With the first big jackpot already on record, this could be a record-setting year in Biloxi.
