🤑 History of Mississippi Casinos - How Casinos Started in Mississippi

Most Liked Casino Bonuses in the last 7 days 🍒

Filter:

Active

Free bonus

Sort:

Newest

Popular

In contrast, he said, "The hotel structures, while they were damaged, were still standing. The first floor of the casino is completely gutted, most of the windows are blown out, and the hotel's top floor is so damaged that anyone looking from across the street can see clear to the other side. The extensive damage has set off a debate as to whether casino owners should be allowed to rebuild on land. Burkholder and his staff are not wasting time. He runs the hotel, and also the casino barge, that sat beached on the sand across the street as if a wayward whale had run aground. Fahrenkopf declined to speculate on whether there would be land-based casinos in Mississippi. Still other casinos were so badly flooded they will have to be destroyed. The 50 or so employees now working at the Treasure Bay "are having a ball every night," said Susan Varnes, the casino's vice president and general manager. And with the local economy in havoc, some of the casino owners are providing their own safety net to displaced workers. He said he would oppose allowing casinos to build on land because of the damage that would cause to the local economy. Thomas Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, was already following the debate. Burkholder, however, was not just any passer-by. Nelson Rose, an authority on the casino industry and the author of "Gambling and the Law. The first Mississippi casino opened in August , after other states, including Iowa and Illinois, began operating riverboat casinos. Rose said -- and the need in Mississippi is so great right now that state lawmakers are certain to make restoration of the casinos a top priority. Several casinos -- all were built on barges because, under Mississippi law, they must float on water to keep them physically separate from nearby communities -- were lifted by the rising waters and flung to the land, where they were smashed into pieces. Burkholder, a squat man with gray hair and a beard, was among 33 hotel and casino employees who rode out the storm inside the room hotel that sits on land next to where the casino had been. One workman said people at the hotel carry guns and knives to protect themselves. He arrived in Biloxi on Tuesday to set up a service center, survey the damage and help distribute paychecks to some of the 3, employees of the Beau Rivage, one of MGM Grand's casinos. Mississippi's casinos pay a 12 percent tax on their winnings, which is among the lowest in the United States. Linda Bradley, who worked for the last six years in the hotel's spa, carpooled with three other employees to pick up her check. Grey, however, say that while casinos contribute to the tax base, they also increase the cost of government because extra police officers and other services are needed to deal with social problems that, they say, come with gambling. The decision to allow only water-based casinos in Mississippi is in part an artifact of history. Iowa and Illinois have eased water-based regulations, and both states are now home to land-based casinos. Grey said that his organization is likely to push for a sharp increase in that tax rate in exchange for the right to build on land. If we moved inland, it would hurt them," Mr. Several casino owners have made it clear, however, that they expect the state to change the laws that would require them to rebuild on barges rather than on land. For years, casino operators have been seeking that change, but they have never had so dramatic a set of visual aids to make their case that barge-based casinos are far more risky than those built on land. Mainly, though, employees seem to be making the best they can of the situation. When reached at his home in Rockford, Ill. That kind of devastation might persuade other businesses to shut permanently.

Burkholder stood by a badly damaged hotel here in the coastal town of Biloxi, siphoning gas from a barrel into a pair of five-gallon plastic jugs. No matter how fast the Mississippi Legislature moves, it seems few casinos will be able to open their doors anytime soon. Outside the Beau Rivage yesterday, nearly 1, employees stood in line to collect a paycheck for last week, when the casino was closed.

Burkholder can count himself among the lucky ones. The loss of gambling revenue is certain to hurt efforts to rebuild Mississippi's battered communities.

The Why are all casinos on water Casino, for instance, came loose from its mooring, traveled about a half mile and landed on a Holiday Inn roughly why are all casinos on water inland. Yet Mr. All you're hearing is that these casinos must be replaced, that these casinos are needed to revive the coast.

The Gulf Coast economy has come please click for source depend heavily on its casinos, and not just those in Mississippi.

The wreckage could even hold a silver lining. The drawbacks of floating casinos are visible everywhere.

Even one of the industry's most vocal opponents is resigned to seeing dry-land casinos in the near future, but wants to extract a hefty price in return.

Home Page World U.

For Biloxi, the casinos have been a sparkplug for the local economy, drawing tourists and contributing heavily to tax coffers. Burkholder, who lost his home -- "wiped to the slab," he said -- is now living full time at the hotel, as are other employees. Yet gambling has had such a broad impact on Mississippi's coffers -- since the introduction of casinos, the state has enjoyed its first budget surplus in more than years, Mr. Burkholder said. Highway 90, the two-lane road that hugs the coast, is a chewed-up mess, with whole chunks missing as pockets of earth have collapsed. But the gambling industry is not just any business, and no one -- not even gambling's most outspoken foes -- expects the owners of gambling palaces like Treasure Bay, the Beau Rivage or the Isle of Capri to walk away, no matter how staggering the financial losses. The beaches are littered with metal, wood and other debris, as is the water. The wreckage yielded cases of liquor, which the employees have been enjoying every evening at the converted poolside bar they are calling Cafe Katrina. Allowing gambling only on water was also viewed as a way of mollifying gambling's foes, and the idea was put forward by state leaders feeling the financial pinch of the recession of the late 's and early 's. Since the storm, a skeletal crew has been working to scavenge anything that can be found. Critics like Mr. Rose said. Lanni said, because the Biloxi and Gulfport businesses depend on having casinos on the coast. Burkholder, the chief executive of Treasure Bay Casino, one of the dozen or so major casinos that had dotted the coastal highway here. They also employed nearly 29, people in a state with one of the nation's highest unemployment rates. The initial vision for casinos up and down the Mississippi River involved riverboat casinos that invoked quaint memories of Mark Twain and riverboat card games. One surprising voice of opposition to the land plans is J. They have hauled out tons of coins and gambling chips that were locked in a vault, hidden in an undisclosed location. And Mr. Only about a third of the Holiday Inn still stands. Fahrenkopf, chief executive of the American Gaming Association.