With gross revenues from Coast casinos topping pre-Katrina levels, it looks like Mississippi gambled and won on its industry reinvestment strategy of allowing gaming to come onshore.
In the days after the hurricane struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the casino industry saw firsthand that floating barges were not the way to go – billions in investments in pieces along miles of shore, tossed up by the massive wind-blown tidal surge like toy boats.
The question was if Mississippi lawmakers would have the political courage to face anti-gaming interests and allow the onshore change.
Interests that opposed gaming on religious grounds saw an opportunity to reverse the 1990 law legalizing it, but despite a concerted effort, in a special session, lawmakers voted Oct. 3, 2005, to let casinos move 800 feet on shore.
Now, it appears, that decision is paying off. According to the State Tax Commission, Mississippi’s gross gaming revenue was $247.9 million in February, topping the pre-Katrina February 2005 level of $244.9 million.
And, with two additional casinos set to open this year, Mississippi is poised to break the $3 billion mark in gaming.
It’s also a good bet that in some races this year, candidates will attack those who voted to allow casinos onshore.
However one feels about gaming, it became a legal business in 1990 and without the onshore vote, it’s a stone cold reality that employment would not have returned to the 14,000 Coast pre-Hurricane Katrina levels, or that the Coast’s recovery would be as far as it is without the construction jobs that came from building them on shore since the hurricane hit.
The Coast still has a long way to go toward recovery, with thousands still living in temporary housing. But, if it’s imaginable, yes, it would be far worse, if Mississippi lawmakers had not gambled, and won, on allowing casinos to come ashore.
Source: Clarion LedgerÂ
It seems that moving the Biloxi Casinos ashore will pay off big time in the long run.
For a current Biloxi Casino Map, visist: Biloxi Map
I found this article and was a little upset. I think the Gulf Coast should be focusing on areas that don’t have access to gambling. I think they would get a lot more visitors if there were able to get more low cost carriers flying in and out of Biloxi/Gulfport. For instance, there is nothing from Orlando and only AirTran from Tampa. When I am comparing flights, it is isn’t much more to fly to Vegas..
Allegiant Air offers nonstops to Las Vegas
By MICHAEL A. BELL
mbell@sunherald.com
GULFPORT – Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport will announce this morning a new airline that will offer nonstop flights to Las Vegas, linking the gambling meccas in an effort to bolster the Coast’s recovering economy and the tourism industry.
Allegiant Air, which in January 2006 began nonstop jet service to Vegas from Shreveport, La., will soon begin its operations on the Coast. Details about the partnership will be released today at the airport.
“We’re bringing a new airline and new service that will be a tremendous boost to the tourism on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” said Jim Pitts, the airport’s director of marketing and business development.
Allegiant touts itself as an all-jet, low-cost carrier with a focus on making leisure travel easy for customers. They package expenses such as the costs of flight with hotel fares.
Airline spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said the Coast was attractive because it showcased a “good traffic pattern” and the economy is growing.
“Anytime we move people in and out of our areas – locals, visitors, whatever – we are better for it,” said Rae Anne Ryan, certified travel consultant and owner of Travel Affiliates in Gulfport. “We did more business and better business to Las Vegas after the casinos came to the Coast. What we saw was that a lot of people realize the recreational value that the casinos offered.”
Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr said the partnership will be beneficial to the Coast. “We’ve been building up this momentum all this time. Now it’s good to see someone here taking advantage of it.”
Founded in 1997, the Vegas-headquartered airline is publicly owned, and according to news reports, has offered free flights to Vegas when customers purchase vacation packages. The carrier’s charter customers include Harrah’s Entertainment, owner of Grand Casino in Biloxi.
Just over two years ago, the airline flew out of 14 cities to Vegas. Now that number is 40, and it has also expanded operations to Orlando and Tampa Bay.
Sensual circus
BILOXI — The first act of the new stage show “Imaginaya” ends with a tattooed and corpulent clown removing his top hat, slipping out of a shiny black jacket and gyrating with a large ring between his legs to the theme from “The Full Monty
The near-capacity crowd laughed and clapped for the pseudo-burlesque moves on a recent Saturday evening. The man in question, Ruslan Legostaeu, also yanked unsuspecting audience members into the spotlight, asking them to jump on his back, throw rings at a plunger stuck to his forehead and generally embarrass themselves. Many did so willingly.
While it was his only bit until the end of the show, it remained one of the most humorous aspects of the evening. “Imaginaya” (Russian for imagine) is more circus than theater with choreographed dance numbers sandwiched between others acts. It runs through June 24 in the renovated 1,550-seat theater situated within the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi.
The show, according to Beau Rivage spokeswoman Mary Cracchiolo, is the first long-running production to debut since the Beau Rivage Theatre completed renovations earlier this year. The venue was closed for more than a year after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the resort’s lower interior floors.
Created by Terry Burden, Beau Rivage’s vice president of entertainment, and Russian choreographer Alla Duhova, the show features performances by the Russian circus and Russian dance company Todes.
Duhova operates 32 dance schools and studios throughout Russia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, the Ukraine, and other countries that were part of the former Soviet Union. After tours through China and Monte Carlo, Todes will make the Beau Rivage Theatre home for its only United States appearance.
A counterpart of the Russian ballet, Todes mixes different styles of dancing, everything from hip-hop and jazz to classical and modern forms.
Most of the sets in “Imaginaya” included more than a dozen dancers performing to fast-paced music. Some of the numbers had the feel of 1980′s music videos when singers such as Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul would lead teams in choreographed performances. They tended to be formulaic, though well- executed. As in, if you’ve seen one modern dance number, you’ve seen six.
The 75-minute production features a cast of 52 Russian performers and includes trapeze, slinky and bungee acts, precision acrobatics, “sensual” dance routines and comedic interludes by some of Europe’s most recognized clowns and characters.
One act, performed by two men dressed like gladiators and a female gymnast, made the audience gasp more than once. The muscle-bound guys held either side of a bendable beam while the young woman maintained her balance while performing double and triple flips. Though there was no net and no harness she never slipped from the narrow beam.
Then, there was what we’ll refer to as the slinky performance, which was quite possibly the most original of the evening. Imagine four of the giant toys fused together then set to life.
People leaned forward in their seats, seemingly mesmerized by the colorful contraption. What most in the crowd didn’t know until the end was how many performers, if any, were inside the thing. Maybe they were using fans instead of the easily contorted to make the hulking galoot jiggle, shake and flip around the stage. It was compelling, puzzling fun. Turned out that instead of two or three performers only one man was wriggling around inside the slinky-like device. One of life’s great mysteries solved.
Source: CASANDRA ANDREWSÂ
More Biloxi Show and Biloxi Entertainment information can be found at Biloxi Entertainment.
