Gulfport is back in the casino business. The Island View opened Monday evening about an hour and a half earlier than planned, giving people time to mingle, find the slot machine that felt lucky or check out the buffet offerings.

Rochelle Harper of Sister Jazz sang old standards at the north entrance, where dripping ice sculptures of pelicans kept the shrimp cool.

But first there were the speeches and the ribbon cutting.

Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr thanked owners Rick Carter and Terry Green “for putting their money and heart” back into Gulfport to create a premium resort. Leland Speed, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, said the two men could have taken their insurance money and spent their time golfing in Palm Beach instead of reinvesting.

“What we need in Mississippi are more Ricks and Terrys,” Speed said. “People with a dream and a skill to make that dream come to pass.”

The men, who have been business partners since 1988, took a different route than other casino developers after Hurricane Katrina. Carter and Green, who owned the Copa Casino, stayed focused on building back in Gulfport even though the mayor initially opposed allowing casinos to go north of U.S. 90. When Harrahs Entertainment opted to leave the city and put its resources in Biloxi, they bought two hotels and a 40-acre site from Harrahs for $55 million. They then leveraged the property to secure a quarter billion in financing.

Now, they have the only casino in the Coasts largest city.

The gambling floor that opened Monday night inside the old Gulfport Grand Casino Oasis Hotel with 1,033 slot machines and 14 table games will be much larger by next spring. Then it will have 2,400 slot machines and 50 table games along with new restaurants, a sand-beach swimming pool and a covered parking lot. Longer-term expansions are also in the works.

The Sun Herald | 09/19/2006 | Opening in grand style

For the next few years, openings and expansions will be big news on the Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Katrina accomplished what three other storms couldn’t — sink the buccaneer-themed Treasure Bay casino.

But Bernie Burkholder, who opened the pirate ship-styled gambling barge in 1994, isn’t ready to walk the plank.

He vowed to open a land-based, albeit smaller, version of the Treasure Bay by June once he secures financing.

“Some of the money will come through insurance proceeds, as well as from savings and from selling what we can salvage,” said Burkholder, watching as construction crews demolished the Treasure Bay’s dockside facilities. “But the largest portion will come from borrowing.”

Fellow Gulf Coast casino operators openly expressed admiration for Burkholder. Privately, many cast doubt on his ability to obtain financing to bring back the Treasure Bay.

During its years of operation, the Treasure Bay was more of a photo opportunity for tourists than a Gulf Coast gaming leader.

Today, the site sits amid a section of the Mississippi coastline ravaged by Katrina’s 135 mph winds and 30-foot storm surge. Motels, restaurants and bars and souvenir shops that were neighbors to the casino lay in ruins. In the Treasure Bay parking lot, casino debris was strewn about. Discarded “Silver Crew” slot club cards were scattered in the sand.

Before Katrina hit, the Treasure Bay had 978 slot machines and 47 table games on a 41,000 square foot-barge built to resemble a Jolly Roger. In addition to restaurants, the Treasure Bay operated a small hotel across Highway 90.

All were damaged beyond repair by the hurricane on Aug. 29. The barge broke from its moorings and came to rest about 100 yards from its dock, dragging two of its four 60-inch concrete and metal-cased pylons.

Because it wasn’t part of a publicly traded company, it is unclear what Treasure Bay contributed to the Gulf Coast’s $1.2 billion in annual gaming revenue.

“We had more of a loss history than other properties,” said Burkholder, president and chief executive officer of the privately held Treasure Bay LLC, which also operates three Caribbean Island casinos.

This casino will reopen, mateys

The Treasure Bay reopening is good news, but I wonder what will happen to the original pirate ship?

In other news, I’m currently in Rolla, Missouri, getting ready to give a lecture on “A Brief History of Gambling.” I had a great discussion this morning with Prof. Larry Gragg’s history class–look for some pictures later in the week.

Here’s a travel advisory: for my third consecutive trip out of Nevada, it has rained. My trip to New Hampshire was heralded by flooding; in Portland it rained, and here in Missouri I saw an incredible downpour this morning. I don’t know what that means, but I’m glad that I brought a jacket.

Mississippi Governor Enlists Congress for the New Urbanism in Historic Coastal Planning Effort. Working with Gov. Haley Barbour, a national team of 100 architects, planners, development experts, and other professionals organized by the Chicago-based Congress for the New Urbanism, will gather in Biloxi, Mississippi Oct. 11 for a post-Katrina planning effort unprecedented in its scope and intensity.
Calling this “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to rebuild the Gulf Coast “the right way” in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Gov. Barbour has made the CNU initiative an integral part of his post-hurricane strategy of “recovery, rebuilding and renewal.”

The CNU team, headed by leading Miami architect-planner Andres Duany, will join with local colleagues, elected officials, and other citizens in the region for an intensive, weeklong set of workshops, dubbed the Mississippi Renewal Forum. Over its six and a half days, the forum will produce planning and architectural tools that can guide local and state officials in rebuilding 11 cities in three counties along the entire length of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“Governor Barbour has made it clear that he wants the people of Mississippi to come out of this stronger than ever,” says John Norquist, President and CEO of CNU, a membership organization of 2500 professionals committed to adapting traditional city and town planning principles to today’s community building challenges. “These workshops create the opportunity to focus on the future and on rebuilding communities of vibrant neighborhoods.”

MISSISSIPPI GOV. BARBOUR ENLISTS CONGRESS FOR THE NEW URBANISM

You can visit the Mississippi Renewal Forum yourself. I think the move to land-based casinos will be a big part of the “new Mississippi,” at least along the Gulf Coast. I wonder if they will be applying the lessons of Atlantic City?

From JacksonChannel.com:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Monday he would sign a bill this week that could keep coastal casinos on solid land the next time a hurricane hits.

The Senate voted 29-21 Monday for a bill that passed the House 60-53 last week. The bill will let coast casinos move 800 feet on shore — about the length of three football fields.

In Harrison County, casinos could go either 800 feet or to the southern boundary of Highway 90 — whichever is a greater distance. The east-west highway hugs the beach through Biloxi and Gulfport.

The decision to allow onshore gambling came a month after Hurricane Katrina smashed many of Mississippi’s floating casinos. The storm prompted Barbour to say casinos would be safer up on shore.

The state legalized casinos in 1990, but said they must float on either the Gulf of Mexico or the Mississippi River. The new bill does not allow the river casinos to move onto dry land.

Some religious groups, including the Mississippi Baptist Convention, oppose letting casinos onshore. The Baptists have about a quarter of the state’s population on their membership rolls.

Baptist Convention spokesman William Perkins said people can’t serve two masters — God and money. Perkins said the governor and some legislators are choosing to serve money.

Others said the move would hurt families and children.

“It greives my heart to think that the state of Mississippi wants to allow expansion of gambling further because it’s going to destroy more families; it’s going to hurt more children,” said Pastor David P. Smith.

“God’s destroyed it, you might as well look at it that way,” said protester Paul Jabur. “He brought in a storm. He washed those boats away for a reason. Now, I’m not saying that was his judgement, but it happened. Now, why build it back?”

Barbour said the onshore bill is consistent with a campaign promise he made two years ago to oppose any expansion of gambling into cities or counties where it has been illegal.

While Mississippi’s coastal casinos are losing $3.3 million in gaming revenue each day, gamblers aren’t sitting on their money.

Much of it is going to casinos in Vicksburg — between New Orleans and Memphis along Mississippi’s western border — and the state’s other casinos in Greenville, Natchez and Tunica and Philadelphia.

But the governor and other lawmakers said coastal casinos do have a reason. They bring in tourists, jobs and money.

“We’re losing $500,000 a day. Some 14,000 employees are displaced. So, this is a message of hope saying that we can come back, we can rebuild lives over again,” said Rep. George Flaggs (D) Warren County.

But money won’t change the minds of those who believe gambling is wrong.

“I don’t want it there,” Jabur said. “I don’t want us to depend on gambling as a country. America doesn’t need gambling to survive. Neither does Jackson or in Harrison County.”

Despite Criticism, Barbour Plans To Sign Onshore Casino Bill

In response to Jabur, let me say that, as a resident of both cities, Las Vegas and Atlantic City might not need gambling to survive, they do need it to provide jobs and economic activity. Sure, we’d be alive without it, just unemployed.

I think that Rep. Flaggs said it best–religious principles aren’t bringing the state $500,000 a day, and they’re not creating 14,000 jobs. I imagine that’s what it comes down to.

Rep. Jim Simpson of Pass Christian couldn’t believe the e-mails he received from some self-proclaimed Christians this week attempting to lobby against casinos rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.

“I’ve gotten more than half a dozen from people who said, ‘I prayed for the destruction of Katrina. This is God’s wrath,’” said Simpson. “I got so mad I wanted to scream at them. But I didn’t respond. Not yet.”

Many of Simpson’s constituents died in Katrina. He lost his home and his business and pretty much everything he owns.

“I’m going to get together a list of all the obituaries,” Simpson said, “and send them in my response to them. I’m going to send that list and ask, ‘OK, was this part of your prayers? Did you want this to happen?’

Again, I’m not going to claim any kind of moral high ground or divine inspiration, but it seems to me that anyone who prays for harm to befall someone else is pretty twisted.

That’s not the biggest story that mixes gambling with religion today, though. For that we can thank Paddy Power, an Irish bookmaking company that felt it would be a tremendous laugh to restyle Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous Last Supper–as a gambling party.

From CNN:

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power was fending off the wrath of Christians in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Ireland on Friday over an advertisement depicting Jesus and the Apostles gambling at the Last Supper.

The billboard posters, on display in the Irish capital, adapt Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the event to show Jesus with a stack of poker chips, Judas with 30 pieces of silver and other apostles clutching hands of cards.

“There’s a place for fun and games,” says the caption.

Father Micheal MacGreil, Jesuit priest at St. Francis Xavier’s Church in central Dublin, branded the advert “grossly inappropriate and vulgar”.

“This is an insult to the religious sensitivities of a lot of people and should be withdrawn immediately,” he told Reuters.

“To abuse this image, which is central to Christian beliefs, in a vulgar advertising campaign is totally and grossly inappropriate and Paddy Power should apologize to the people.” Paddy Power acknowledged it had taken a “load of flak” over the advert.

‘Last Supper’ gambling ad blasted

A more apt painting of gambling in a religious context may have been one of several well-known crucifiction scenes that depict soldiers gambling for Christ’s robes at the foot of the cross. If you’re curious, here’s an article that actually compares the soliders to “Las Vegas Texas-hold ‘em world champions.” Everyone’s hopping on the poker bandwagon.

Religious sensibilities aside, Paddy Power’s depiction is of course anachronistic, as playing cards did not appear in Asia until c. 1100 A.D. and in the Mediterranean area for at least another 100 years.

Pedantic academic observations aside, could it be that Paddy Power chose a deliberately offensive image to get themselves in the news?

From Al.com:

Hurricane Katrina and other storms that battered the Gulf Coast were God’s judgment of sin, according to state Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo.

“New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness,” Erwin wrote this week in a column he distributes to news outlets. “It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God.”

After touring Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss., and Bayou La Batre, Erwin said he was awed and humbled by the power of the storm. But he wasn’t surprised.

“Warnings year after year by godly evangelists and preachers went unheeded. So why were we surprised when finally the hand of judgment fell?” Erwin wrote. “Sadly, innocents suffered along with the guilty. Sin always brings suffering to good people as well as the bad.”

Erwin, a former conservative talk-radio host and now a media consultant and senator, is not alone in seeing God’s wrath at work in the storms.

The al-Qaida in Iraq group hailed the hurricane deaths in America as the “wrath of God,” and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan suggested the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment for the violence America had inflicted on Iraq.

Televangelist Pat Robertson said Katrina might be linked to God’s judgment concerning legalized abortion, and some rabbis suggested Katrina was a retribution for supporting the Israeli pullout from Gaza.

Senator says storms are punishment from God

According to Erwin, those who weren’t in the sin business–like the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and the millions of Americans who were simply minding their own business–were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Collateral damage, if you will, in the divine war against sin.

Later in the article, a theologian speculated that God is probably not as vindictive, surly, and mean-spirited as Erwin suspects.

I’m no theologian myself, but there are several subtle ways that an angry and jealous god could dissuade people from gambling and drinking. For example, by fooling around with slot machine RNGs, every pull of the handle could yield a jackpot–something that would quickly drive every casino out of business and not result in “civilian” casulties. Anyone who read Stranger in a Strange Land knows what I’m talking about.

In a related story, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour is having some trouble within his conservative base, as a group of Baptist pastors have lobbied against his support for ending the farce of “floating” casinos and, in the name of safety and economic development, allowing casinos to be built on dry land.

The Grand didn’t fare so well in Hurricane Katrina: it was swept from its moorings and deposited across Highway 90.

Today, I was emailed a series of photos of its implosion:

Why the implosion? Read on…

From the Sun-Herald:

It took only a few seconds to undo what took months to put together.

With a series of loud bangs and a cloud of dust, Grand Casino Gulfport’s entertainment barge pancaked down Wednesday to a fraction of its original size to make its removal from U.S. 90 more manageable.

Explosives & Diving Services of Clarksville, Fla., handled the implosion work and Tony Parnell Construction of Vancleave will cut and remove the remains of the 160- by 110-foot barge.

The project is being supervised by the Mississippi Department of Transportation because the barge fit its description of a highway obstruction. They will pay the contract on a cost-plus basis, but there is no word on whether MDOT will be reimbursed for the project.

Goodbye, barge

To ensure that the next hurricane to strike the Coast doesn’t dump its casinos across Highway 90, Harrison County authorities want casinos to be rebuilt on land:

The Harrison County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday asking the Legislature to amend state law and allow casinos to move ashore within 1,500 feet of their current locations.

Specifically, they endorsed putting casinos within 1,500 feet from the mean high tide line of the Bay of Biloxi, the Mississippi Sound and the Bay of St. Louis. Casino companies would have to contiguously own the property from the water except for highway easements and other public rights of way.

The measure would be limited to only those possessing a valid gaming license as of Oct. 1 – two days after the next scheduled meeting of the Mississippi Gaming Commission. The tight window would allow partially permitted casino projects, such as Bacaran Bay and Havana Casino, to complete their application processes.

Harrison County wants casinos ashore

I predict that casinos will, in fact, be built on land, though Atlantic City-style zoning requirements will prevent them from spreading throughout the area.

From the LV Sun:

The governor would not say whether he will recommend the Legislature change state gaming laws. Barbour said he was waiting on a recommendation from the Mississippi Gaming Commission before offering any proposal.

Mississippi legalized dockside casinos in 1990, limiting them to already touristy areas on the waters of the Mississippi River or the Mississippi Sound. The first casinos opened in 1992.

The thriving gaming industry generated $500,000 a day in tax revenue before Katrina hit Aug. 29. More than half of the 13 coast casinos located — 12 that were already open and one that was set to open this month — were heavily damaged.

Mississippi special session may address gaming laws

My guess is that the half-million dollars a day in state revenue, plus the jobs and stimulus for further economic development, will outweigh any lingering desires to make the casinos remain on the water.

For all practical purposes, Mississippi has had “fixed” gambling sites for 13 years now. This is an opportunity to change the law to reflect that reality.

From BusinessWeek:

Hurricane Katrina picked up several Gulf Coast casinos and hurled them hundreds of yards inland, crippling the region’s gambling industry for months and potentially even years.

At least three of the floating barge casinos in hard-hit Biloxi were tossed from their moorings by the storm’s 25-foot wall of water, their barnacle-covered hulls coming to rest up to 200 yards from the shore.

At the Grand Casino, the walkway visitors once took from the lobby to the poker rooms and blackjack tables was now an open hole into the bay. All the windows were blown out. The mast of a sunken sailboat stuck up from where the barge once was.

Gary Loveman, chairman of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest gambling company, told CNBC the casino was “probably ruined.” Aerial footage showed the ravaged barge had washed ashore and landed on the other side of a busy highway.

“I think it will have to be cut into pieces simply to be moved out of there,” Loveman said.

At the Beau Rivage, Biloxi’s most opulent casino, the first and second floors were blown out. Mattresses, chairs and yellow insulation were in piles on the once-manicured landscaping.

Bernie Burkholder, president and chief executive of Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi, told The Associated Press the casino was “a total loss” in excess of $100 million.

He estimated losses would be even greater at many of the other coast casinos. Statewide damage estimates were not available, and efforts to reach Mississippi Gaming Commission director Larry Gregory on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

The first two gambling floors at the Hard Rock casino were blown out by Katrina. The casino hadn’t even opened to the public yet — that was supposed to happen Sept. 8.

“We had worked hard to put this place together,” Hard Rock employee Debra Harville said as she surveyed the damage. “It was so beautiful. I don’t know what I”m going to do now. A lot of people ain’t got nowhere to go.”

Katrina cripples Gulf gambling industry

There’s little more to say.

From the Sun Herald:

The storm also inflicted a punishing blow to Biloxi’s waterfront casinos, down the beach from the apartment building. The Grand Casino gambling barge and a second casino broke away from their moorings, ending up in a ditch now filled with water and slot machines.

“Basically, it’s a total loss, and that’s in excess of $100 million to replace what was lost here,” Bernie Burkholder, president and chief executive of Treasure Bay Casino in Biloxi, said as he walked around the casino property.

At apartment building where at least 30 died, nothing left but a pile of rubble

So the casino whose barges have been swept away, it seems, are going to have to start from scratch.

But even if the casinos themselves weren’t badly damaged, they have no power and a severely damaged transportation infrastructure. People often talk about “worst case scenarios.” Well, I know that things can always get worse, but this has to be pretty close to the worst case scenario for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Here, for example, is a cold look at the market impact from CNN:

Hurricane Katrina may cause casinos in the affected areas to lose millions of dollars each day they are closed, analysts said Monday.

Casinos on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans were ordered to shut down on Sunday, as the hurricane approached landfall. Harrah’s Entertainment has the highest exposure in the affected region, with nine casinos there.

Goldman Sachs analyst Steve Kent estimates that Harrah’s, the world’s largest casino operator, will get nine percent of its 2005 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from its three casinos in the Gulf Coast — Harrah’s New Orleans in Louisiana, and Grand Casino Biloxi and Grand Casino Gulfport in Mississippi.

Kent also estimates that Harrah’s will get 12 percent of its 2005 EBITDA from six other casinos in the Tunica, Miss., inland riverboat region.

Harrah’s is also developing a $150 million hotel tower addition at Harrah’s New Orleans, expected to open in the first quarter of 2006.

Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Falcone expects Harrah’s to lose $1.8 million to $2.5 million in revenue for each day its casinos in the area remain closed. He expects them to stay closed into Tuesday and “potentially beyond.”

“While difficult to determine the financial impacts to operators with exposure to these markets … we would anticipate there will be some level of earnings impacts,” he said.

Falcone also expects MGM Mirage, which has two casinos in Mississippi, to lose $700 thousand to $1.1 million in revenue each day the casinos remain closed.

He also expects big daily losses at Pinnacle Entertainment,Boyd Gaming. and Isle of Capri Casinos.

Losing hand: Storm hurts casinos

A bit more on point is the Sun Herald’s coverage, with stories about buildings imploding and other horror scenes. I haven’t been able to read too much specifically about the impact on casinos, but there was mention of water on the first two floors of Beau Rivage, which I believe is one of the more solidly-constructed coast casinos. I hesitate to even think about what’s going with the Treasure Bay.

Thankfully, there’s no report of fatalities in the area, but with oil prices rising and the state of Mississippi out $500,000 a day in revenue taxes, this is going to be as much an economic catastrophe as a natural disaster.

From the Sun-Herald:

Hundreds of workers at President Casino learned this week that their jobs will end in October, months earlier than they had expected.

Of the more than 700 people who work at the casino, only 62 will be retained.

Some of the workers who received termination notices said they felt misled. They knew they would be without work when the gambling barge’s new owner, Silver Slipper, moved it to a new location in

Hancock County, but they didn’t know it would be so soon.

John Ferrucci, chief operating officer of Silver Slipper, said the timetable was changed because of tidal flows. Engineers told casino officials that tidal charts indicate a four-day period in early November would be the best time to move the barge.

“If we miss that window of opportunity, we may not be able to move the barge out before the end of the year,” Ferrucci said. “We chose to target that date to start our journey, which would mean ceasing operations here at the President Casino sometime between Oct. 15 and Oct. 30.”

The Sun Herald | 08/10/2005 | President Casino shutting down in October

This only works for me if the management is airlifted out of Biloxi and, before getting into the helicopter the president flashes the “V for victory.” That would be pretty neat.

I originally thought that “President” was a lame name for a casino. I mean, why not the “Prime Minister” or “Supreme Allied Commander?”

But I think there is a way it could work: really extensive theming based on different American presidents. The possibilities are endless. For example:
The William Howard Taft Buffet
James Garfield Human Resources office
The Abraham Lincoln Theater
James Knox Polk Tex-Mex restaurant

If I was really creative, of course, I could think of theme rooms for John Tyler and Warren Harding, but inspiration deserts me.

Straight from a Grand Casino Gulfport press release:

Gulfport, MS � The Tom Jones with Special Guest Tower of Power, concerts scheduled for Grand Casino Gulfport on Saturday July 9 and Grand Casino Biloxi, Sunday July 10, have been canceled due to Hurricane Dennis.

All tickets must be refunded at the original purchase location only.

Ticket holders for the Saturday, July 9 performances of Cats at Grand Casino Biloxi are asked to call the Grand Casino box office at 1-800-946-2946 for status of show.

Now, if only it was Hurricane Delilah, this would really be a story.

I’ve got to say that I really liked the Gulf Coast. I got a great idea for a novel that might be my next project after Roll the Bones, and I definitely enjoyed being beachside for a while.

On the negative side, I had a really cruddy rental car with unexplained, hideous stains on all of the seats. I don’t even want to know how they got there. Also, I got carded just about every time I entered a casino. It was amusing at first, but got to be a real hassle after a while.

All told, though, it was a good time had by all. I got to see many parts of the Gulf Coast, and learned a great deal about globalization at the conference.

I also got some very encouraging news about my second book, which will no longer be called Uneasy Convictions. Email me with your title ideas, and win a mention in the acknowledgements!

Now, I’ve just got 4 article to write (2 by the end of the week), and 4 more trips in the next month. Also, there’s Roll the Bones to research and write, and the revisions on the second book.

Overextended doesn’t begin to describe where I’m at. Still, it’s better than sitting at home.

Look for an actual news update later. I’ve got some thoughts on the Westward Ho’s expansion project–as soon as I find something to link to the main story, I’ll post them.

Later in the week, look for photos of Mississippi and an additiion to the casino carpet gallery. Security was much stricter there–I got yelled at almost every time I took a picture. Still, for your web-browsing pleasure, I successfully captured images of all 12 Mississippi Gulf Coast properties. You won’t be disappointed.