Mississippi’s floating casinos heavily damaged
Mississippi’s floating casinos were left in ruins after Hurricane Katrina’s rampage.
The assessment was incomplete Tuesday, but Webster Franklin, CEO of the Tunica, Miss., Convention and Visitors Bureau, said all are likely to be heavily damaged or destroyed.
“It’s devastating. It’ll take months, if not years, to rebuild,” he said.
On Sunday, The Mississippi Gaming Commission shut down all 12 casinos operating on the Gulf Coast before Katrina hit.
Harrah’s Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman told Bloomberg News that its riverboat Grand Casino in Biloxi, Miss., is likely “a complete loss” after it separated from its moorings. The casino was “literally taken across the street and plopped down about a block or so away from where it normally sits,” he said.
Harrah’s Grand Casino in Gulfport was also “severely” damaged, he said.
In a statement, MGM Mirage said its Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi sustained “significant damage.”
Video footage has shown a number of riverboat casinos sitting on roadways and Interstate highways. State law prohibits developing land-based casinos.
Marc Falcone, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimates six casinos in the three cities that sit on the Gulf Coast - Gulfport, Biloxi and Bay St. Louis - likely are destroyed.
The state’s 30 casinos generated about $2.8 billion in revenue and accounted for $330 million of the state and local governments’ tax revenues, according to the American Gaming Association.
The region is the nation’s third-largest casino market, after Las Vegas and Atlantic City. The industry employs about 29,000 in the state. Casinos on the Gulf Coast employ about 14,000 people, according to the Mississippi Gaming Commission.
Casinos in Louisiana suffered less damage. But five casinos in the New Orleans area, including Harrah’s New Orleans, remain closed, says Wade Duty, executive director of Casino Association of Louisiana.
Since communications channels on the Gulf Coast have collapsed, companies are finding it difficult to properly assess the extent of the damage, says Holly Thomson, a spokeswoman for the American Gaming Association.
Deutsche Bank’s Falcone expects Harrah’s to lose $1.8 million to $2.5million in revenue for each day its casinos remain closed. MGM Mirage could lose $700,000 to $1.1 million. He made the estimates based on the assumption that more than half the casinos on the Gulf Coast are damaged beyond repair.
Tunica’s Franklin says the rebuilding process will include legislative debate on whether to allow casinos on land, where they’re less vulnerable.
USA TODAY