Part 3 of 4: Casinos, seawall drama and Ben Taylor — the biggest South MS stories of 2025
Editor’s note: This is the third in a four-part series looking ahead to 12 of the biggest stories of 2025 across South Mississippi.
The pandemic, high interest rates and difficulty borrowing money held up plans for more casinos in South Mississippi, but investors are betting it’s time to start building again.
Developers of Tullis Garden Hotel & Casino got site approval from the Gaming Commission in December and Biloxi Capital’s Tivoli casino developers are hoping to follow with approval in early 2025. Both are in east Biloxi.
In west Biloxi, RW Development faces a deadline of two more years to get started on a casino at Veterans Avenue. With improved lending conditions, 2025 could be the year there’s action on a casino at the Broadwater, as $7 million of work is under way to repair the Hurricane Katrina damages to the Broadwater Marina.
As D’Iberville and Long Beach officials also look for new casinos, competition for South Mississippi casinos continues from outside, as Alabama, Georgia and other states continue to look at legalizing casinos to raise money.
Legislators in Mississippi also are hearing from Capital City Forward Together, a team of five businessmen, led by former Gov. Haley Barbor, who want the state to allow one casino in Jackson to help with the city’s financial woes. The group proposes just one inland casino, built by a current operator in the state who would pay a $10 million “impact fee” annually to support the city.
A Jackson casino would impact the Coast market. Mississippi Gaming Commission reports 340,000 customers at Coast casinos in November came from within the state.
South Mississippi seawall
Debate over a beach wall and walkway has dominated Pass Christian for months, and the idea could spread to other cities.
The plan is for a wider path and short wall along Highway 90. Some say the plan would protect Highway 90 from hurricane storm surge and also stop sand from blowing across it. Others are questioning the touted benefits and condemning the plan to build over the old seawall.
Local leaders have said they hope to construct the path and knee-wall across Harrison County over the next several years. Joe Spraggins, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, said earlier this year that future grants would probably go through the county, which controls the beach. He called the plan a crucial step to preserve the coast and its aging seawall.
Some of the boardwalk is already built in Pass Christian, and one mile exists in Biloxi. Gulfport has also asked the federal government for $1.5 million to install multiple knee walls along the Highway 90 walkway from Anniston Avenue to Debuys Road.
The city had not been awarded money as of December and estimated the construction might not begin until 2026, according to the grant application. But if Gulfport is awarded the money, it could begin developing design and construction documents in 2025 and possibly award a contract near the end of the year.
Spraggins said earlier this year that the wider path and short wall could stretch through much of the county in five years.
Benjaim Taylor
The saga of former federal agent and longtime Mississippi Coast law enforcement officer Benjamin Taylor broke news late in 2024 when he was arrested on felony charges of perjury and two count of forgery.
Taylor, 45, is being held without bond pending further court action. According to the Hancock County jail docket, officials arrested Taylor shortly after 11 p.m. on Dec. 17.
His arrest comes less than a year after Chancery Judge Jennifer Schloegel ruled in January that the former Homeland Security Investigations supervisory agent had “committed fraud” by “creating, procuring, and submitting” a fraudulent DNA test in a child support case to deny fathering his girlfriend’s child.
The lead investigator on the case was Mississippi Bureau of Investigations officer Amanda Schoenewitz, who was assigned to investigate the allegations of wrongdoing after a first independent investigation by a retired FBI agent who had ties to Taylor’s family.
Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, assigned the new MBI agent to investigate after Sun Herald reports about the Chancery judge finding Taylor committed wrongdoing in a child support case.
In her January 2024 judgment, Judge Schloegel had strong words after a two-day trial in the child support case involving Taylor and his longtime girlfriend and mother of the child, Branissa Stroud.
Stories of 2025
Part 1: Buc-ee’s, potholes and our waterways
Part 2: Amtrak, NIL and Katrina
Part 3: Casinos, the seawall and Benjamin Taylor
Part 4: Our changing downtowns, elections and an execution
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
