OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi – As reported by the Biloxi Sun Herald: “People who normally make their living dealing cards, serving cocktails or cooking food are being trained in construction safety so they can help rebuild their place of work, Casino Magic Biloxi.
“The casino’s parent company, Pinnacle Entertainment, is offering construction jobs to the employees through its contractor, Manhattan Construction Co. This is the same company that built Pinnacle’s newest property, the $365 million L’Auberge du Lac Hotel and Casino in Lake Charles.
“Casino Magic Biloxi’s gambling barge was destroyed when the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina picked it up and flung it over U.S. 90. The hotel also sustained heavy damage.
“Charlie Myers, the Manhattan representative teaching the safety class, said the rebuilding would be a slower process than constructing something from the ground up…”
Corchis third at helm since August
By TOM WILEMON
tewilemon@sunherald.com
BILOXI – George P. Corchis Jr., the brother of the man who temporarily took the helm at Beau Rivage after the August departure of Jeff Dahl, is the casino resort’s new president.
Corchis comes to Biloxi from Tunica, where he worked for Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. as general manager of the Horseshoe and Sheraton casinos. Beau Rivage is owned by MGM Mirage.
“His experience in the region provides invaluable insight, and his background and expertise will be instrumental in guiding Beau Rivage through reconstruction and the reopening of the property after the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina,” said Bobby Baldwin, CEO of Mirage Resorts. “We are committed to rebuilding Beau Rivage and the Gulf Coast region, and adding George to our team is a key step in moving this process forward.” Read the rest of this entry »
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — C.J. “Mac” McClendon spent years installing slot machines on the Gulf Coast. These days, he is exhuming them.
When Hurricane Katrina leveled the Gulfport and Biloxi area, it silenced about 18,000 slot machines at Mississippi’s floating casinos. Some of the one-armed bandits were washed into the sea. Looters ran off with others. And the vast majority — about 75 percent — were destroyed.
“I can’t think of anything that is even close to this,” said Mike Ulmer, North American casino services manager for International Game Technology, the world’s largest maker of slot machines.
IGT and other big slot makers are picking through the twisted casino barges, trying to salvage machines and reclaim the ones they leased to the gambling companies. They have not found much to save at the 13 casinos that dotted the Mississippi coast.
“Imagine throwing your computer into the ocean, drying it out and seeing how it works,” McClendon said. Read the rest of this entry »
