In a remarkable accomplishment, after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Isle of Capri is set to open its Mississippi Gulf Coast casino before the New Year. The Isle of Capri Casino opens on December 26, and it will be the first land-based casino in Mississippi since the legislature passed a new law allowing land based casinos on the coast. The new Isle of Capri will boast 1,100 new gaming positions, including slots and table games, and a new poker room. The hotel will feature 550 rooms, including 200 suites, and there will also be three restaurants. But of greater importance to Biloxi's economy is the more than 820 jobs that have been preserved.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Palace and the Palace Casinos and hotels will join the Isle of Capri's resurrection - they are located on Biloxi's Back Bay that offered some protection from the storm - as The Isle of Capri leads on the gaming resurrection of the Mississippi Gulf. For the Isle, Hurricane Katrina was a double whammy. Not only did the storm take out their original floating casino barge, but the new one that was set to replace it in November. It was being constructed and near completion on Biloxi's Back Bay, but with the devastation came opportunity.

Now, the new gaming machines that had already been ordered for the new barge will be installed in the Isle's new hotel addition that was near completion, and the property is using its spacious meeting rooms and ballroom to have a new casino in less than four months, and a casino is now based inside the hotel on terra firma, not on a barge. The IP Casino, formerly known as the Imperial Palace, is set to reopen Thursday December 22 at 9:00 a.m. The nearby Palace Casino and Resort is scheduled to reopen Friday, December 30. Both are located on Back Bay in Biloxi. As Christmas comes to Biloxi, the New Year's eve parties promise to start the Gulf's new era. (E-12.16.05)

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