Since Katrina closed down the casino industry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, eleven casinos have reopened bigger and better than before. Three of these have additional phases under construction and eight more casino projects have been proposed. Before Katrina it was the ‘soft sugar-white sand’ on 26 miles of ‘breathtaking’ beaches as well as casinos that brought the tourists, but so far that part of the tourism industry has yet to regain its former footing and the businesses catering for the beach crowds are slow to rebuild.

Affordable housing may remain a priority for some years to come but the casino industry has already reached pre-hurricane gaming revenue and visitor numbers. Hotel accommodation and restaurants are nearly all provided by the casinos. In April, twenty months after Katrina, Biloxi alone had US$153.7 million in funding requests pending with FEMA and MEMA, based on assessments of dozens of damaged city facilities and equipment.

As the City of Biloxi stated: ‘Biloxi has discovered the truth of the American Gaming Association’s assertion that the gaming industry has grown into more than simply an entertainment past-time: it has created thousands of local jobs, it has increased state and local tax revenues, it has expanded opportunities for small business suppliers, and it has helped upgrade and diversify Biloxi’s tourism industry with resort caliber restaurants, convention and meeting space, nightclubs, marinas, and retail shops.’

This was published in May 2005, before Hurricane Katrina battered its way through the Gulf Coast city, but the casino industry has been at the forefront of bringing revenue and jobs back to the region. So far the casino companies have spent US$1.7 billion in rebuilding and employ around 17,000 people. Both figures are growing as Mississippi recreates itself as what has been described as ‘the Las Vegas of the Deep South.’ (E-10.12.07)

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