Whilst much has been heard about Biloxi and New Orleans, that other Gulf Coast city has been mostly silent apart from the news some time ago that Harrah’s was upping anchor and selling its Gulfport casino operation. New Orleans has celebrated Mardi Gras, although in a lesser degree than normal years, and the reopened Biloxi casinos are reporting that business is booming. Now it is hoped that Gulfport will get its gambling economy back by this summer.

A US$250 million investment is being made for the purchase and rebuilding of a casino on the former site of Grand Casino. Gulfside Casino Partnership, which operated the Copa casino before Hurricane Katrina, is to buy the Harrah’s property and hopes to start construction as soon as the Mississippi Gaming Commission grants site approval. The first of the two casinos is expected to open this year, and a converted space inside the Oasis Hotel should be ready to roll with slot machines and table games within six months.

Once the expansion at the Oasis is finished it will employ around 1,500 people and Gulfside will schedule job fairs and post online job application forms. The second casino will add up to another 1,000 jobs. Plans for the casinos are said to be spectacular and include a marina, restaurants and lounges. So far a new name has not been chosen for the casino to replace Harrah’s Grand Casino, but the Copa will return when the second casino is built.

Following a law change, Mississippi now permits casinos to be built on land within 800 ft of the shoreline. Before the hurricanes last year that hit the Gulf Coast region, casinos had to built over the water, resulting in the widespread destruction of those properties. Today a public hearing is being held in Gulfport to discuss the rezoning of land where the casinos will be as an entertainment zone. (E-03.02.06)

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