Today marks the start of the
Gulf Coast Poker Championship, a 10-event series at the Beau Rivage that's capped by a $10,000 championship that will be filmed and broadcast by the
World Poker Tour.
It also marks the two-year anniversary when an estimated 90 percent of Biloxi's buildings were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Images of the barge-casinos that were washed ashore - their slot machines planted on the beach - were shown over and over on national news. It was just another example of how vicious the storm was.
On this same day last year, the Beau Rivage, which is an MGM/Mirage property, joined three other casinos that managed to open at the end of 2005. The new casinos marked the start of a frantic boom that saw another seven casinos open for business. The 11 casinos that operate in Biloxi and Gulfport are only two shy from the 13 that operated before the storm. There are plans to build at least four more casinos in the area in the coming years. Atlantic City, by comparison, also has 11.
The casino industry in Mississippi has recovered so completely that the gambling revenue for this July fell only $100,000 short of the record month of July, 2002, when Gulf Coast casinos brought in $266.3 million.
n the first seven months of 2007, Gulf Coast casinos have generated a gambling revenue of $1.7 billion.
One of the reasons for the boom is Katrina changed the way casinos could be built in Mississippi. Before the storm, the complexes had to be near the water, and the actual casino floor had to be a "riverboat," which was always a moored barge. The hotels, if the casinos had them, were allowed to be land-based.
After the storm, casino owners convinced lawmakers that for the industry to return, they must be allowed to build on land. Casinos can now be built up to 800 feet onshore, allowing developers to go bigger.
The resurgence of the casino industry has put a fast track to the recovery of Biloxi. Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway has repeatedly told reporters that the casino industry is fueling the recovery of the area, as well as statewide, because state income from casino-generated taxes had already reached pre-Katrina levels.
The
WPT Gulf Coast Poker Championship, which takes place so close to the anniversary of the horrible storm, will undoubtedly serve as a sort of way to show that the casino industry in the Gulf Coast is back. And it continues to grow.
Satellites to the
Gulf Coast Poker Championship started today, and the full schedule kicks off tomorrow. Click
here to view it.
