Gaming commission responds after MS secretary of state files suit against Tullis casino
A day before Tullis Garden Hotel and Casino went to the Mississippi Gaming Commission for site approval, Secretary of State Michael Watson on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Harrison County Chancery Court asserting the land in east Biloxi isn’t a legal site.
Because the lawsuit was field so close to the gaming commission meeting, and other information that came up during the meeting, McDaniel said the commission wasn’t ready to make a determination on site approval.
The gaming commission met Thursday in Jackson to decide whether the Tullis property, just west of Harrah’s Gulf Coast casino, should get site approval. That means the property meets the qualifications of size, location and other regulations that determine where casinos can be built in South Mississippi.
The commission heard from the developers, and also objections from the operators of other Coast casinos, through Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association, said Jay McDaniel, executive director of the Gaming Commission.
“The commission just instructed me to review all the materials,” he said.
Proposed is a 300-room casino resort with a replica of the Tullis Manor that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Watson says in the lawsuit that Tullis Garden developers wrongfully entered into an agreement with the City of Biloxi for the waterfront property without entering into a public tidelands lease.. The primary purpose of the lease with the city will not serve a higher public purpose of promoting the conservation, reclamation or preservation of the tidelands as required by law, the filing says.
The lawsuit asks the court to file file a temporary restraining order preventing Tullis Gardens from leasing the property until it enters into a tidelands lease, or as an alternative, require the fair market rental value be obtained for any lease and funds from that lease be paid into the tidelands fund.
Another casino developer, Biloxi Capital, is advertising its intent to also seek Gaming Commission site approval for the proposed Tivoli resort just blocks away.
This story was originally published October 17, 2024 at 7:16 AM.
