Crowd Fills Up Casino In Five Minutes
Boomtown, a favorite casino for locals, also has a loyal clientele from Florida. Most of the people at the very front of the line for the casino’s reopening Thursday morning were from the Sunshine State. Abel and Jean Koren drove six hours from Apalachicola Bay to be there. They planned to gamble, then take something “big and sweet” from the bakery back home.
Harry and Edna Andes from Old Town, Fla., were already in town and decided to stay over another night to be on hand for the reopening.
“It’s just the friendliest,” Harry Andes said.
The casino’s general manager, Pat Murphy, stood just inside the entrance, smiling and greeting people after the doors opened at 10:10 a.m. There were no big changes in the layout of the casino, except for the absence of the Family Fun Center, a children’s arcade and baby-sitting service. Boomtown will use the space for more slot machines and a new restaurant.
“It’s been hectic. It’s been crazy,” Murphy said. “The employees are all jazzed up and excited.”
Rep. Bobby Moak, the chairman of the House Gaming Committee, and Larry Gregory, the executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, watched the preparations leading up to the reopening.
“Look at it,” Moak said. “The floor has just filled up in literally five minutes.”
Boomtown, which has no hotel, refurbished its gambling barge and installed all-new slot machines. The casino has 1,000 slots and 22 table games.
Boomtown is one of two Coast casinos owned by Penn National Gaming. The company is rebranding its Bay St. Louis property as a Hollywood Casino, which will reopen later this year.
The other Coast casinos back in business are the IP, the Isle of Capri, the Palace and Treasure Bay.
Grand Casino Biloxi reopens in mid-August. Beau Rivage reopens Aug. 29. Island View, a casino at the site of the former Gulfport Grand’s Oasis Hotel, opens in September. The Silver Slipper in Hancock County is slated to open in October.
Source: PokerMag . Com