Next step is imminent for new $750 million casino resort plan in South MS
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- Biloxi Council will vote on a 40-year pier lease with Biloxi Capital LLC.
- Tivoli Casino proposes a $750M, 1,300-room resort with 100,000 sq ft casino.
- Developers pledge pier construction and $600K annual tidelands payment to state.
Developers of another proposed casino are seeking a lease with Biloxi to build a pier that will connect their site to the water’s edge.
On Tuesday’s Biloxi Council agenda is a planned vote on approval of a 40-year lease with Biloxi Capital LLC, the company that wants to build a casino resort on the former Tivoli Hotel property in east Biloxi.
Harrison County already approved the lease and Biloxi and the county have a similar lease with RW Development, a company working to build a casino and pier at Veterans Avenue.
With Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich and the council looking for more tax money to balance the budget, a casino that provides millions of dollars in revenue is likely to get approval. The developers estimate it will bring 2,000 permanent jobs as well as construction jobs, plus an increase in property and sales tax for the city and county.
Tivoli Casino would be built north of U.S. 90 and west of Harrah’s Gulf Coast on land that has been vacant 20 years since a casino barge landed on the hotel during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The 32-acre Tivoli property was purchased for $40 million after Katrina.
The cost of the casino has increased to $750 million and is proposed as a 1,300 room hotel — well over the 300-rooms required by the Mississippi Gaming Commission. It also will have a 100,000-square-foot casino and sports book, restaurants, entertainment and recreation.
What the lease says
The lease requires the casino developers to “construct, maintain, insure and operate” the new public pier at no cost to the city, county or taxpayers.
To alleviate concerns from the state and certain coastal cities that this development would not make payments to the State Tidelands Fund, the Tivoli developers agree to pay the “in lieu” payment of $600,000 each year to Tidelands, the lease agreement says.
The effective date of the city’s lease with Biloxi Capital will be Aug. 7, 2024, to make it the same as the lease with the county.
Three proposed Biloxi casinos
In July, the Gaming Commission granted site approval to the Tivoli Casino after nearly two decades of persistence by Danny Conwill to build a casino resort.
Tullis Gardens casino received site approval in December 2024 but faces litigation over tidelands issues.
The next step will be to get the commission’s permission to proceed, once the developers show they can meet the state requirements and have financing to build and finish the resort.
If these two casinos in east Biloxi and the RW Casino on the Biloxi Strip are all built, Biloxi will have 11 casinos and South Mississippi will have 15.
