Katrina destroys riverboat casinos

As reported by: Northwest Indiana News:

Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the Gulf Coast gambling industry could sway Mississippi legislators to consider allowing land-based casinos and scrap the law that placed them on the water in vulnerable spots.

"I think that will be a public policy question that will be on the minds of every legislator when they come in for the next session," said Larry Gregory, the Mississippi Gaming Commission's executive director. "That discussion will be the No. 1 issue in this legislative cycle. This will definitely put the fire under their feet."

More than half of the 13 casinos in Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis were destroyed by the hurricane that roared in off the ocean, Gregory said Wednesday.

"The only casino I saw that looked intact and stable was the Beau Rivage," in Biloxi, he said of property owned by Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage Inc. "It's more than just the casinos. It's the infrastructure. It's going to take several years to get that up and running."

Mississippi requires casinos to float, either along the Gulf Coast or on the Mississippi River. A state law that took effect earlier this year allows the floating casinos to build permanent pilings to stabilize the barges.

It's not clear if that reinforcement would have been enough to save the casinos in a Category 4 or 5 hurricane. None of the casinos had a chance to construct pilings.

Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, said the law should be rewritten to allow land-based casinos, but only in areas that had gambling barges before.

"I think if they had been on land, it still would have been disastrous, but not nearly as much," said Holland , a member of the Gaming Committee in the Mississippi House.

Some lawmakers, particularly religious conservatives, have opposed land-based casinos along the coast or the Mississippi River because they fear other, inland counties would push for gambling house, too.

After the hurricane, "I think what you're going to see, politically, is a different mind-set on everything," Holland said.

Powerful winds and a massive storm surge laid waste to the region, tossing some of the barges on which the casinos rested like toy boats and crippling the state's $2.7 billion gambling industry.

Las Vegas-based Harrah's Entertainment Inc. likely lost two casinos in the powerful hurricane: the Grand Casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport. The Beau Rivage sustained "significant damage, " as did Biloxi's Casino Magic, which is owned by Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas.

The Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi was a total loss, said Bernie Burkholder, president and chief executive.

Northwest Indiana News - 2005-09-05 02:08:07