Page 10 - Mississippi/Louisiana Gaming News - Fall, 2022

Mississippi marks milestone gaming anniversary
By David Grisham
and Lori Beth Susman
BILOXI — It is a story that has
been told many times in the past,
but this year, the story has a special twist as August 2022 marks the
30th anniversary of casino gaming in Mississippi. It began with cruises to nowhere and grew into a multi-billion- dollar industry that has seen some of its highest revenues in recent years.
In fact, Mississippi casinos generated total revenue of $3.3 billion last year with nearly $2.7 billion in gross gaming revenue — the most since 2008. Gross gaming revenue on the Mississippi Gulf Coast actually reached an all-time high of more than $1.6 billion. According to the American Gaming Association State of the States report, the Mississippi Gulf Coast was ranked as the fifth highest- grossing market in the country, with revenue totaling $1.61 billion in 2021. Only the Las Vegas Strip, Atlantic City, Chicagoland and Baltimore-Washington DC ranked higher.
Gaming in Mississippi, and more specifically along the Gulf Coast, got
its start in the late 1980s when the Europa Star began sailing during the administration of then-Mayor Gerald Blessey. The Europa Star offered gambling cruises in the Gulf of Mexico from Point Cadet, located on the tip
of the Biloxi peninsula, to waters 12 miles out, south of Ship Island. Known as cruises to nowhere, this form of unregulated gaming brought little in the way of revenues to the local area, which was suffering financially. This modest start can be traced as the beginning
of today’s Mississippi gaming industry, which at one point in its three decades
saw nearly 30 casinos statewide, directly employing as many as 30,000 people.
Following the
legalization of
riverboat gaming
by the state of
Iowa in July 1989,
South Mississippi
business and
tourism leaders
saw legalized
gaming as an
opportunity. Not
only would casinos
bring in tax money,
but those visiting
the local casinos
would most likely spend additional money in the area. The economic possibilities were encouraging.
Sen. Tommy Gollott introduced a bill to allow gambling aboard cruise ships, and in June 1990, the Legislature approved dockside gaming on the Mississippi River. “It was one of the greatest pieces of legislation we ever did in the Legislature,” Gollott said in an interview in 2017. “The gaming industry has done wonders for the state of Mississippi.”
Although the gaming bill had passed statewide, voters in each county where gaming was sought also needed to vote their approval. In December 1990, Hancock County voters readily approved dockside gaming, while the resolution failed in Harrison County. In Tunica County, gaming was approved without opposition in 1991, and in March 1992, given a second chance, Harrison County voters also gave their approval to
Grand Casino Tunica (above) opened in 1996 and closed in 2014. At one time, Lady Luck (left) and President Casino were Biloxi properties.
Isle of Capri Casinos brought two riverboats to Mississippi, and on Aug. 1, 1992, the state’s first casino opened in Biloxi. Thousands of guests stood in line for hours waiting to get inside and start playing.
10 MISSISSIPPI GAMING NEWS FALL 2022
dockside gaming.
First Casino Opens
On Aug. 1, 1992, Isle of Capri Casino — created from two riverboats — became the state’s first casino property. The late Bernie Goldstein, affectionately known as the “Father of Riverboat Gaming,” was the founder and chairman of the board of directors of Casino America Inc., which also owned the first casino in Iowa.
An astute businessman, Goldstein looked at the Point Cadet area in East Biloxi and liked what he saw. Although he had a gaming license for the city of Natchez, he returned it and applied for one in Biloxi. The city quickly leased the land to the Isle of Capri, which was able to develop the site and generate jobs in a way the city had never been able to do. On the Isle’s opening day, thousands of residents and visitors lined up and waited in the blistering summer sun for