GULFPORT, Miss. Gambling returned to Gulfport, Mississippi, last night (Monday) with the opening of the Island View Casino.
Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr thanked owners Rick Carter and Terry Green for putting their money and heart back into Gulfport to create a premium resort.
Leland Speed, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, says the two men could have taken their insurance money and spent their time golfing in Palm Beach instead of reinvesting.
The men, who have been business partners since 1988, took a different route than other casino developers after Hurricane Katrina.
Carter and Green, who owned the Copa Casino, stayed focused on building back in Gulfport even though the mayor initially opposed allowing casinos to go north of U-S Highway 90.
When Harrah’s Entertainment opted to leave the city and put its resources in Biloxi, Carter and Green bought two hotels and a 40-acre site from Harrah’s.
Now, they have the only casino in the coast’s largest city.
The casino has over one-thousand slot machines and 14 table games. It will double in size by next spring.
Carter says 90 percent of the 12-hundred employees either worked for the Grand Gulfport or Copa before the storm.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
Open for business
Beau Rivage Resort & Casino: Please see our story, Staying at the Beau Rivage. Biloxi. 888-567-6667; www.beaurivage.com
Grand Casino Biloxi: 500 rooms. Restaurants. Spa. Pool. 800 slot machines. 29 table games. Jack Nicklaus-designed Grand Bear Golf Course. 228-436-2946
www.harrahs.com/casinos/grand-biloxi/hotel-casino
Hollywood Casino: Bay St. Louis. 291 rooms. RV park. Restaurants. 1,200 slot machines. 26 table games. Arnold Palmer-designed Bridges Golf Club to reopen in October. 866-758-2591; www.hollywoodcasinobsl.com
IP Hotel & Casino: Biloxi. 1,088 rooms and suites. Restaurants. 1,900 slot machines. 54 table games. A 16-table poker room. 888-946-2847; www.ipbiloxi.com
Isle of Capri Casino Resort: Biloxi. 900 rooms and suites. Restaurants. Spa. Pool. 1,100 slot machines. 27 table games. Poker room. 800-843-4753; www.isleofcapricasino.com/Biloxi/index.php
Palace Casino Resort: Biloxi. 234 rooms. Restaurants. Golf course. 800 slot machines. 14 table games. 800-725-2239; www.palacecasinoresort.com/welcome.asp
Treasure Bay Casino: Biloxi. Currently offers 81 slot machines, a restaurant and lounge. By October will have 250 hotel rooms, a second restaurant and more gaming. 800-747-2839; www.treasurebay.com
Boomtown Casino: Biloxi. 1,000 slot machines. 22 table games. Restaurant. No lodging. 800-627-0777; www.boomtownbiloxi.com
Under construction
Island View Casino Resort: Gulfport. Partial reopening Monday. Eventually will have 600 rooms, a marina, restaurants and lounges. Call 800-817-9089.
Hard Rock Casino: Biloxi. Projected July 2007 opening. Access www.hardrockbiloxi.com
Silver Slipper: Bayou Caddy (near Waveland), Hancock County. Anticipated mid-October opening. 866-775-4773; www.silverslipper-ms.com
Proposed
Bacaran Bay Casino Resort: $500 million project in Biloxi with 638 suites, 432 one- and two-bedroom condo units, an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, a 40-lane bowling alley and six movie theaters. Anticipated completion date in fall 2008.
The Broadwater: $1 billion project would consist of two casinos, 3,375 condo units, 1,900 hotel rooms, a golf course, a 585,000-square-foot retail entertainment space, convention facilities and a marina. No projected completion date.
Harrah’s: Another $1 billion development on the former Casino Magic Biloxi property along U.S. 90 in Biloxi.
Golden Nugget: A $600 million hotel, casino, amusement park and boardwalk at Point Cadet in Biloxi.
Trump Entertainment Resorts: A resort partly owned by Donald Trump at Diamondhead, located on Interstate 10 north of Bay St. Louis.
Pine Hills Isle of Capri: A $300,000 resort with at least 500 rooms near the northern extreme of the Bay of St. Louis.
Source: Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau
Island View Casino Resort, expected to open on September 18th,2006  with a temporary casino at the former site of the Grand Casino Gulfport.
The Island View Casino Resort will offer first-class amenities including over 500 newly designed hotel rooms and an impressive, 83,000 square foot gaming floor. With a diverse range of restaurant choices, including an 8,200 sq ft, 350 seat buffet with live action food stations, coupled with the coast’s most innovative new dessert bar, Island View will have something to suit almost anyone’s tastes.
Upon completion of Phase I, Island View Casino Resort will employ approximately 800 staff members and will provide an additional 500 positions at the grand opening. “The support we have received in Gulfport enabled us to operate a successful casino in the past, and because of it, we will continue to give our support back to this community,” says Rick Carter. Island View Casino Resort is a property deeply rooted in the community and its landscape and will provide much needed employment for area residents, along with a commitment to local businesses for goods and services.
From the SunHerald
Located on 40 acres of waterfront property in Gulfport, the new Island View Casino Resort opens for business 7 p.m. Monday. Featuring 30,000 square feet of gaming space, the casino/resort employs about 800 people, 90 percent of whom are hired locally. The Island View boasts 1,035 slots, a 350-seat buffet, 14-table games and 562 hotel rooms (including 24 suites).
