30 years after launch of ‘Mississippi Miracle,’ the Coast eyes a ‘lucky 13’ casino
What a journey it’s been since the first casino in Biloxi debuted 30 years ago on a riverboat to now the prospect of cashless casinos and virtual reality becoming part of the experience when a “lucky 13” Coast casino joins the market.
Nobody knew what to expect as people stood in long lines for hours in 90 degree heat to be among the first aboard the Isle of Capri riverboats in East Biloxi, the first casino in the South.
“Aug. 1, 1992, was marked with great fanfare,” the Sun Herald reported on the 10th anniversary in 2002. Pete Halat, Biloxi’s mayor at the time, snipped the ribbon and declared, “Laissez Les Bon Temp Rouler!”
“And the good times did, indeed, begin to roll,” the report said.
Those first five months, from August through December 1992, Mississippi casinos combined for $122 million in gross gaming revenue before taxes, payroll and other expenses.
“And we thought that was huge,” said Larry Gregory, executive director of Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association.
One by one more casinos opened, bringing thousands more jobs, new restaurants, headline entertainment, golf courses and spas to South Mississippi.
Mississippi Miracle brings cash
“Back then nobody mentioned the ‘Mississippi Miracle,’ but that was what it was,” Gregory said.
A.J. Holloway, the late mayor of Biloxi, frequently recounted how the city coffers were so low in 1992, there wasn’t money to fill a pothole.
So much money so fast overwhelmed the casinos, which had to shut down every couple of weeks to count the dollars and change, according to reports in the Sun Herald.
The second year revenue was six times higher at $790 million. By the third year, when the state started reporting revenue by region, Coast casino revenue alone reached $727 million. The Coast surpassed $1 billion in 1999, the year Beau Rivage Resort & Casino opened.
The Coast hit a record $1.6 billion in casino revenue in 2021, said Jay McDaniel, executive director of Mississippi Gaming Association. Even with no COVID checks arriving in the mail and with gas prices soaring, Coast casino revenue is ahead of its record pace for 2022.
The state estimates 500 million visitors have come through the doors at Mississippi casinos since Day 1. The casinos totaled $65 billion in casino revenue, with $31 billion in Coast casino revenue, Gregory said, and Mississippi casinos paid $7.7 billion in state and local taxes just from casino revenue.
Still looking for 13th casino
The American Gaming Association ranks the 12 Biloxi and Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos as the fifth largest market in the country.
“Not many have 12 properties in that proximity outside the Las Vegas Strip,” McDaniel said, along with the beach and a different look and experience at each casino that combined no other destination can match.
The question now — as it was on the 10th anniversary of casinos in 2002 — is what will become the 13th casino on the Coast?
Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort was the last to open in South Mississippi seven years ago, and the only one built since minimum regulations were adopted by Mississippi Gaming Commission.
Those regulations require any new casino to have at least a 300-room, three star hotel, a 40,000 square foot casino, a restaurant that can seat at least 200 people, a fine dining restaurant and parking for 500 cars. To ensure a new casino will not just take revenue from existing casinos, Mississippi also requires something extra to grow rather than cannibalize the market.
“The project will also have or support an amenity that will be unique to the market and will encourage economic development and promote tourism.,” the regulations say.
Hearing music?
The Gaming Commission has granted more than 20 site approvals for South Mississippi casinos that never were built.
It’s possible the 13th casino could come in D’Iberville, where the Poarch Creek Band of Creek Indians own an approved site, or in Long Beach or Diamondhead.
Two of the most likely projects to become the elusive 13th casino on the Coast could be built on the former Broadwater property on the Biloxi Strip or at the former Margaritaville Casino in East Biloxi.
Universal Music Group, the company which represents some of the biggest names in music, announced in 2020 it would partner to build a casino resort at the sprawling Broadwater site.
The company and developers haven’t provided an update since then, but city officials say plans for a casino are still progressing.
The rock band KISS had announced plans to turn the former Margaritaville Casino into Rock & Brews Casino Resort before the coronavirus shutdown hit. Since then, the owner of the building has listed it for sale since no progress has been made.
Gregory said this next generation of casinos will bring “Entertainment at a level we’ve never seen on the Coast.”
Universal Music has the rights to the music of The Beatles and Michael Jackson, making it possible to bring them to South Mississippi posthumously in a virtual reality experience. The company also represents top artists like Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey and Luke Bryan.
Rock & Brews was proposed as an interactive resort that could change when a band comes to town or to pay tribute when a rock legend dies.
Interest in No. 13
Mississippi casinos reopened just two months after the coronavirus shutdown in March 2020, as opposed to many months of closures in other states. That and the increase in revenue numbers has brought interest from casino developers considering Biloxi and other locations in the state, McDaniel said.
“I have had more of those calls,” he said.
Mississippi passed very good casino legislation from the start and hasn’t changed it that much, said Anthony Del Vescovo, vice president and general counsel at the Beau Rivage and the current chairman of the Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association.
“It’s all about making Mississippi attractive to that investor,” he said, and the consistency is why casino companies have stayed in Mississippi and continue to reinvest, he said.
All about the tech and bling
If the 13th casino doesn’t come along for awhile, the 12 casinos operating in South Mississippi continue to update and improve their properties,
Just this year MGM Resorts International invested more than $100 million in Biloxi, Del Vescovo said.
“Every single hotel room at the Beau Rivage will be brand spanking new,” he said, and the more than 1,700 guest rooms will feature new technology.
Del Vescovo said he believes the Mississippi Legislature will allow mobile sports betting to keep up with other states.
Some casino operators are starting to push for cashless casinos, where customers can use a bank card directly in a slot machine.
If Mississippi wants to stay at the forefront, these kinds of technologies will be important for the next 30 years, he said, along with how to attract new and younger customers, “To make sure the next generation of guests wants to come to Mississippi,” he said.
Destination: Mississippi Gulf Coast
In the 30 years since the first casino opened in Biloxi, the focus has been to create a quality product that surpasses people might expect to find in Mississippi.
What started as a few casinos on riverboats quickly grew as the operators added restaurants, hotels and amenities.
“Early on,” Gregory said, “we turned it into a resort destination.” That is the catalyst to what the Biloxi and Mississippi market is today, he said.
The minimum investment requirements have kept the focus on quality, even if they require a high level of investment that can be hard to finance and bring to the Gaming Commission for approval.
“I have not had anyone come in and say ‘We would build this except you require too much,”’ McDaniel said.
“I think there’s room for growth if people bring in a good product,” he said.
The fun’s still here
Gregory started working in the industry in Mississippi in 1996, four years into the evolution.
“I still have my bucket of sand from the Beau Rivage for that ground breaking,” he said.
Along with the free cars, poker tournaments and hot seats, there were multi-million dollar jackpots, a robo bar at Hard Rock Biloxi pouring drinks, the $1 million on display at Silver Slipper and Mattress Mack parading through Scarlet Pearl with a briefcase of money to bet $3.5 million on his Houston Astros.
The Coast has seen celebrities bring venues and attention to the market, operators outdo themselves with elaborate bathrooms and amenities and elaborate buffets open.
He recalls being at the IP Casino in Biloxi, the first to reopen after Hurricane Katrina.
“They were lining up,” he said, as they did for the opening of Scarlet Pearl seven years ago and the reopening of the casinos after COVID in 2020.
“It was spectacular days,” he said, “and it still is.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
