Yahoo Local  

South Mississippi's determination to become a top-tier destination is on display at gaming summit

Nearly three years ago, Hurricane Katrina appeared to have blown away South Mississippi's opportunity to become a top-tier destination for tourists.

While gambling alone was never expected to elevate the Coast to top-notch status, casinos were expected to be the driving force.

Then hurricane force winds and an unprecedented storm surge demolished or heavily damaged every casino along the shoreline.

Because state law required that casinos in South Mississippi literally float on the waters of the Mississippi Sound or the neighboring bays, there was every reason to question the chances of recovery. How many, if any, of the gaming companies would reinvest hundreds of millions to put back what Katrina took away?

Fortunately, that question never had to be answered.

Level-headed legislators were called into special session by Gov. Haley Barbour and granted casinos permission to move their gaming operations onshore.

With this firm foundation, the gaming industry gave the Coast economy the jump start it so desperately needed early in the recovery process.

As spectacular as that was, it was then; what about now?

Now institutions and individuals across South Mississippi have set their sights on "Building a Destination," as the general session of this week's 15th Southern Gaming Summit is titled.

"Building a Destination" involves taking full advantage of an unforeseen opportunity to reshape and refine the Coast's tourist attractions and amenities. To accomplish this, a more unified approach is being taken to tourism, hotel development and the convention business.

All this will be on display this week at the Mississippi Coast Convention Center.

We welcome the participants of the gaming summit to Biloxi and congratulate the Mississippi Casino Operators Association and BNP Media Gaming Group for producing the largest gaming trade show held outside of Las Vegas.

We are confident that it will be the best yet.

Mississippi has recovered enough from Hurricane Katrina to once again be the third largest commercial casino jurisdiction in the United States based on gaming revenue, behind only Nevada and Atlantic City. Louisiana still ranks fifth.

Monthly gaming revenue for the Mississippi Gulf Coast counties is now running ahead of revenues produced pre-Katrina.