BILOXI — Employees from bellmen to chefs stretched across the driveway of Beau Rivage Resort & Casino as it reopened today on the first anniversary of the killer storm that shuttered the Coast’s gaming mecca.
Bryan Teates of Ocean Springs was among 12 bellman who opened the doors for the employees who streamed inside.
Teates began at Beau Rivage in 1999. After Hurricane Katrina heavily damaged the premiere casino on the Coast, he worked at the Cingular Wireless call center in Ocean Springs. He returned to Beau Rivage on Aug. 14 for training.
Teates said he wanted to come back because of the benefits — three weeks of vacation and seniority. He also said he is a people person.
Ashley Knowles of Mobile was among the flood of people who streamed into the renovated and reinvigorated casino when the doors opened to the public. She played the slots. “It’s a ray of hope, a ray of sunshine,” she said of the reopening of the casino.
Before Beau Rivage reopened, she played slots at IP, Palace, Boomtown and the Grand.
MGM-Mirage, parent company, invested $550 million to renovate the resort after Hurricane Katrina hit a year ago. It is the seventh casino to reopen since the storm.
It has 3,800 employees, about 400 more than it had before Katrina.
Source: Nell Luter Floyd – Clarion Ledger
Tommorrow is the Grand Opening of the Beau Rivage Resort Hotel and Casino in Biloxi Mississippi!
The 32-story Beau Rivage will include 1,740 newly remodeled rooms, a redesigned casino with 2,100 slots, 93 table games and a high-stakes poker room, seven restaurants, four lounges, six shops, a spa and salon, in addition to meeting and convention space, Cracchiolo said. Additional restaurants, shops and a theater are scheduled to open later this year.
Parent company, MGM-Mirage, put $800 million into the facility when it opened in 1999, and it put more than $500 million into the renovation.
The gaming industry will eye Beau Rivage’s return for its impact on tourism and the revenue, said Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission.
“When Beau Rivage opened in 1999, there was about a 30 percent increase in gross gaming revenues,” he said. “I think everyone is expecting to see an increase and will be
curious about what that will be. I expect a significant increase.”
Gross gaming revenue for July amounted to $74.4 million for the Coast, which at that time had five casinos open, and almost $29.6 million in tax revenue. That’s 74 percent of the $101.7 million in gross gaming revenues for July 2005, when there were 12 casinos open along the Coast.
Beau Rivage will be the seventh casino to reopen on the Coast since Katrina shut down all 12 casinos there and Hard Rock, which was days from its scheduled opening.
IP, New Palace, Isle of Capri, Treasure Bay, Boomtown and Grand Casino Biloxi reopened earlier this year. Hollywood Casino, formerly known as Casino Magic Bay St. Louis, is set to reopen at11 a.m. Thursday, and Island View Casino is scheduled to reopen at the site of Grand Casino Gulfport on Sept. 18.
When Island View opens, there will have been a $1.4 billion investment in casinos on the Coast, Gregory said. The gaming industry employed 15,000 before Katrina, and with the opening of Island View that number should be 13,000, he said.
For casino employees on the Gulf Coast, chances are good their pay is 30 to 40 percent better than it was before Katrina. The increase in wages and salaries is because there are more jobs to fill than people to fill them, Gregory said.
“It’s a very competitive business hiring and retaining employees,” he said, noting that casino executives have said positions for hotel housekeepers and cooks have been the most difficult to fill.
Connie Rockco of Biloxi, president of the Harrison County Board of Supervisors, said she expects the gaming industry on the Coast to continue to grow after Beau Rivage opens.
“Beau Rivage is wonderful, but I think there are gong to be bigger and better things down the road,” she said. “I understand Harrah’s Entertainment is planning to put $1 billion in the ground in Biloxi in The Grand.”
John Jagunich, president and general manager of Hollywood Casino, said he expects Beau Rivage to enrich the Gulf Coast gaming experience.
“It’s going to do nothing but make things better,” he said.
Source: Clarion Ledger
Photo Source: Sun Herald
I am still waiting on updated pictures from the re-opening of the Grand Casino Biloxi. However I did find a few pictures of the outside of the new casino and hotel.
Expansion is not completed yet, Harrah’s has plans to continue growth in Biloxi and Gulf Coast. Enjoy over 800 of your favorite slots, and more than 25 table games, including baccarat, craps, roulette and blackjack. The high-limits area has 75 slot machines and three blackjack tables where the bets start at $25 a hand.
Conveniently located in the heart of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the remodeled and soon to reopen, Grand Biloxi is your ideal gaming destination.Escape for a weekend of gaming, fine dining, golf, spa services and fun at the all-new Grand Biloxi.
Our hotel features 500 modern rooms, including 40 luxury suites, a 16,000-square-foot luxurious spa, salon and fitness center, outdoor swimming pool and a retail shop.
For your dining pleasure, we offer LB’s Steakhouse, a 300-seat buffet, an Asian noodle bar and an expanded Starbuck’s where you can order sandwiches and other items along with your favorite specialty coffee.
About an hour east of New Orleans and west of Mobile, Alabama, Grand Biloxi is just a short drive away.
Picture Source: Gulf Coast Information SystemsÂ
