RW Development tries to build Biloxi casino again. Could 4th time be the charm?
Ray Wooldridge has been trying for 15 years to get the Mississippi Gaming Commission to give him site approval to build a casino in Biloxi.
He’ll try again on Thursday.
A special call meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. that day, following the regular monthly meeting at the Gaming Commission offices in Jackson.
Three times before the commission denied his application, saying he didn’t have control of the property at Beach Boulevard and Veterans Avenue all the way to the water’s edge, as required.
When he goes to the Gaming Commission on Thursday, he will bring something new — a lease with the city for the waterfront and a Supreme Court ruling from March that upheld a local court ruling that a state Tidelands lease isn’t required from the state to build the pier.
RW Development made an application for site approval to be on the agenda for the November meeting, said Jay McDaniel, executive director of the Gaming Commission.
At that meeting, the commissioners decided to set a special meeting to have more time to consider the matter, he said.
“Now they have that lease they did not have before,” McDaniel said,
Now the commissioners — with these new developments — will determine if these new developments make the property a legal and suitable casino site for Biloxi’s ninth casino.
The pier
Wooldridge signed a lease with the City of Biloxi in 2021 to build a pier in hopes of establishing that control to the water’s edge.
Under the terms of the five-year lease, RW Development will pay a base rent of $1,000 per month once the pier is built or two years from the agreement. The company, rather thatn the city, would build and maintain the pier.
RW Development will have non-exclusive use of the pier, which would be built on the beach and near the boardwalk, which are both open to the public.
The original plans are for a 300-foot long concrete pier about 20 feet above the water and handicap-accessible.
The pier itself can’t be used for a casino, according to the lease agreement.
“No gaming shall be allowed on the municipal pier, nor on any vessels docked or berthed at the pier, nor on any other area of the leased premises,” it says.
The fight
Over the last 15 years, Wooldridge has developed the property where he wants to build the casino into Big Play Entertainment Center, complete with a bowling alley, arcade, bumper boats, laser tag, roller coaster, go-kart track and other family attractions.
But he never stopped fighting for a casino.
The timeline shows:
▪ The first application was denied on July 17, 2008, after a day-long hearing in Biloxi.
▪ In January 2017, with new commissioners sitting on the gaming commission, RW applied again for site approval. A public hearing was held in February 2017, and the decision again was against the site.
▪ RW Development again filed for site approval in June 2017, and In July the Gaming Commission again denied the application.
After an appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the denial, saying the site didn’t meet the requirements.
This story was originally published December 19, 2023 at 3:35 PM.
