Harrahs to sell assets of Grand Casino Gulfport

By Suzette Parmley
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. said today it has agreed to sell the assets of its Grand Casino Gulfport to Gulfside Casino Partnership, which owns the Copa Casino site next to it. The price was not disclosed.

The Grand Casino in Gulfport, Miss., was heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina in August, with parts of it ending up sprawled over a busy highway.

The definite sale agreement announced today calls for the assets to be sold in an “as is” condition. Harrah’s will retain all insurance proceeds from the hurricane damage.

A Harrah’s executive said the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2006, will provide Gulfside Casino Partnership additional space to develop another project where the Copa Casino currently sits. The Copa also sustained heavy damage during the storm.

More than half of Mississippi’s 12 floating casinos in Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis were destroyed by Katrina, including two belonging to Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest gambling company. In addition to losing Grand Casino Gulfport, it also lost Grand Casino Biloxi. Both floating casinos detached from their barges during the hurricane and ended up sprawled over U.S. Highway 90. About 9,000 Harrah’s employees worked in the two casinos.

Harrah’s spokesman David Strow said the company was still developing plans for the Grand Casino Biloxi site.

“We plan to develop a first-class resort at that site,” he said today. “This is not simply going to be a rebuild.”

Harrah’s chairman, president and chief executive Gary Loveman announced last fall the company’s commitment to rebuilding its gambling operations in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.

Today, the company gave the same message. “We are fully committed to this state, and are excited about the opportunity to design and develop a first-class resort at our Biloxi site that will complement our substantial entertainment offerings in northwest Mississippi,” Anthony Sanfilippo, president of Harrah’s Central Division, said. “This agreement is a significant step toward the rebuilding of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2005 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Biloxi Casinos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.