The first riverboat casino to open in the United States and Biloxi now sits in the mud in Memphis as the waters of the Mississippi River recede.
To see the fate of the Diamond Lady on Facebook — covered in muck as she emerged from where she sank a year ago — is a sad end to her story.
“It made my heart sink. I didn’t really know what happened to it,” said Rich Westfall, who followed the Diamond Lady and her sister boat, the Emerald Lady, from Bettendorf, Iowa to Biloxi 30 years ago.
He was the marketing director for the company and among the staff who opened the pair of boats as the Isle of Capri casino on Aug. 1, 1992 — the first casino in Biloxi and the Southeast.
The Diamond Lady reportedly was stored in Lake McKellar, off the Mississippi River in Tennessee, in 2008 and sank in 2021 during a freeze.
The riverboat is now fully visible as the Mississippi River falls to historic low levels. Pictures show that although her decks are still somewhat intact and her name can still be seen on the hull, the double smokestacks no longer stand tall and she’s lost her sparkle.
Vanna White helped christen Diamond Lady
Westfall remembers when she was indeed a Diamond Lady.
“It’s such a beautifully built riverboat, sturdy and fast.”
Bernie Goldstein, who became known as the “father of riverboat gambling,” built the boats in 1990 in Iowa as replicas of the 1880s paddlewheelers that had run the Mississippi River.
“Vanna White was there on opening day,” Westfall said, and cut the ribbon April 1, 1991, the year before they found a home on the Mississippi Coast.
“They were identically built,” he said of Diamond Lady and Emerald Lady, just decorated with different furnishings and colors and appointed with luxury Abenson carpet, crystal glass and beautiful finishes.
On the top of both boats was the Texas deck, which he said was an open place to go and relax.
This picture taken August 1, 1992, shows Tommy Gollott prepares for the first legal “roll of the dice” in Mississippi and the Isle of Capri Biloxi. On the left you can barely see Bruce Nourse who was an agent with the Gaming Commission, Ed Ernst, president of the Isle, Bernie Goldstein, chairman and CEO of the Isle, Tommy Gollott, Mayor Pete Halet and various Isle executives in the back. Sun Herald file
From Iowa to Mississippi
Regulations in Iowa restricted the casino space in the riverboats to just 30%, Westfall said.
Goldstein decided to move his boats to where he could turn a profit and on July 5, 1992, the ladies left Iowa for Biloxi, where a welcome parade of boats was answered with the blare of the boats’ calliopes.
The interiors of the boats were filled with all the slot machines and table games allowed under Mississippi regulations, he said,
Lucky 7 Pavilion that came from Iowa with the boats linked them and provided space for the poker room and restaurant space, he said.
The Isle of Capri and the other casinos that quickly opened in south Mississippi were met with such enthusiasm they soon needed more space.
“We replaced the two riverboats with a two-level barge,” Westfall said.
In 1994, the $18 million barge, featuring tall windows and tropical colors, replaced the Isle’s 1800s-style Diamond Lady riverboat and Lucky 7 Pavilion, according to an account in the Sun Herald.
“The casino is a floating building that complements the Isle’s land-side offices and restaurant,” the article said. It featured 716 slot machines — 76 more than The Diamond Lady— and table games.
The next year the hotel opened, Westfall said.
The Isle of Capri Casino at Point Cadet in Biloxi in 1994 had one of it’s two original river boats and one barge. Herb Welch Sun Herald File
Where’s the Emerald Lady?
Westfall said he had heard the Emerald Lady was in Ohio and turned into a dinner riverboat.
Captain Don Sanders, who wrote a series of articles about his time on the Mississippi River for the North Kentucky Tribune, reported in 2016 that BB Riverboats bought the Emerald Lady and converted her into the excursion boat.
The website shows the Belle of Cincinnati, as the Emerald Lady is now known, is still being used for sightseeing cruises and summer dinner tours along the river in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
“It was built to last and it was a beautiful boat,” Westfall said of the Diamond Lady — and her emerald twin.
Bernie Goldsteins’ riverboats Diamond Lady and Emerald Lady took a week to come down the Mississippi River from Iowa to Biloxi and were the first casinos to open in the state and the Southeast. The Diamond Lady has resurfaced after sinking in a Mississippi River tributary. Sun Herald Sun Herald File 1992
The twin casino riverboats were the entire Isle of Capri Casino 30 years ago. The hotel, spa, restaurants and infinity pool came later. The riverboats came down from Iowa and the Isle of Capri was the first casino to open in Mississippi on Aug. 1, 1992. Sun Herald File
This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 11:37 AM.
Mary has won numerous awards for her business and casino articles for the Sun Herald. She also writes about Biloxi, jobs and the new restaurants and development coming to the Coast. She is a fourth-generation journalist.
